Davey Williams (musician)

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Davey J. Williams (1952, York, Alabama – April 5, 2019) was an American free improvisation and avant-garde music guitarist. In addition to his solo work, he was noted for his membership in Curlew and his collaborations with LaDonna Smith.

Davey Williams

Biography[]

Williams began playing guitar when he was 12. He played in rock bands in high school, and studied with blues musician Johnny Shines from the late 1960s until 1971. In the early 1970s Williams played in the University of Alabama B Jazz Ensemble and the Salt & Pepper Soul Band. He also started working with LaDonna Smith around this time, and founded a musical ensemble and recording project called . He toured the U.S. and Europe in 1978. In the early 1980s he worked in a blues band called . In 1986 Williams joined Curlew, who released several albums on Cuneiform Records in the 1990s.

In the 1980s he also worked with Col. Bruce Hampton and , and in the early 1990s played in a punk rock band called . Williams played in an improvisational three-piece called Say What?, and worked with and Ikue Mori. Williams appeared live at some 1,500 concerts worldwide.

Williams co-founded The Improviser, a journal of experimental music, in 1981. He also worked as a music critic for the Birmingham News and published freelance criticism elsewhere.

Williams died in Birmingham, Alabama on April 5, 2019, from cancer.^[1]

Discography[]

• Trans with LaDonna Smith, , Timothy Reed, , 1977
• Lacrosse with [John Zorn], 1977-1978
• Folk Music, LaDonna Smith, , 1978
• Juwels with Anne LeBaron, LaDonna Smith, 1979
• Velocity with Andrea Centazzo, LaDonna Smith, 1979
• Direct Waves with LaDonna Smith, 1980
• USA Tour with Andrea Centazzo, LaDonna Smith, 1980
• Alchemical Rowdies with LaDonna Smith. , , Paul Watson, 1982
• White Earth Streak with LaDonna Smith, Gunter Christmann,  [de], 1983
• Criminal Pursuits, 1985
• Locales for Ecstasy with LaDonna Smith, , 1987
• Dix Improvisations with LaDonna Smith, 1989
• Say What! with , , 1992
• Transmutating with Steve Noble, Oren Marshall, 1993
• Northern Dancer with Jim Staley, Ikue Mori, 1996
• Charmed, I'm Sure (Ecstatic Peace, 1997)
• Texas Was Delicious (, 2000)
• Humdinger (Atavistic Records, 2001)
• Numb Right (Megalon, 2002)
• Cooking With Dynamite! - Hawk Tubley & The Airtight Chiefs (2011)

References[]

• Davey Williams at Allmusic