A (posthumous) shoutout to Joe Williams

I’ve rediscovered (again) the first jazz album I ever fell in love with: Joe Williams' Ballad and Blues Master. Back in the diz-ay (high school jazz choir…) we did an arrangement of a tune on this album, “One Hundred Years from Today/Tomorrow Night”. Since I was brand new to jazz, I listened to that track on the album over and over. Let’s add, it was on a dubbed tape copy of the CD, further demonstrating my dedication. Somewhere along the line I realized that every lick of piano on the whole thing is pure genius: a pure genius by the name of Norman Simmons. Between these two, it’s jazz that’s interesting, tasty, and completely accessible. What more can you ask for?A couple of years later I saw Joe live with George Shearing, another brilliant pianist--just the two of them. They had an album, Here's to Life, coming out shortly thereafter, which of course I bought. Most of it is highly orchestral (so I missed the tasty jazz piano) but the last track is an excruciatingly beautiful Joe-plus-George duet of the title song, made all the more poignant since Joe passed away a few years later.During my first college jazz band audition, which I found terribly intimidating, the director asked about my musical influences. Off the bat I listed Keith Jarrett and Norman Simmons, and as soon as I related Norman back to Joe, the director (who was pretty stone-faced up until this point) broke into a big smile and said that Joe Williams was his dream guest for the annual jazz festival. I made the first band and the rest is history.