AprilCadence2013

Interview Buster Williams
i had never been away from school from camden—i was 17 years old. so, four
o’clock in the morning, sunday morning we packed up the cars and drove off and—i
ain’t been home since!!” (Buster breaks out in laughter.)
AS: What was your dad’s first name?
BW: cholly, they called him cholly. his name was charles anthony Williams, sr.,
and i’m charles anthony Williams, jr. They called him not “charlie”, they called him
cholly-c-h-o-l-l-Y.”
AS: That’s almost like “Cholly” Mingus.
BW: Yes
AS: Wait a second—you stole the gig from your dad.
BW: Yeh, right!
AS: How did Cholly react?
BW: he was happy.
AS: He was proud of you.
BW: oh, yeh.
BW: i have to write a book, man. There’s all kinds of insides in these stories.
i have had people say: “Buster, can i just travel with you?” people who are
journalists, and that’s what i need, ‘cause i’m not going to sit down and write. i had
one guy in new York, this guy took me into the studio and tried to set up a series
where i went into the studio and talked—we did a few of these things, and i know
this guy has this stuff. if he puts it out, i’m going to make sure, i hope i see it on
Youtube so i can demand to be paid. (laughs) i actually did a few hours of sittin’
there telling stories.
AS: Ben Sidran–the piano player, he put out a bunch of interviews six years
ago, in a big CD boxed set, and he interviewed Dizzy, McCoy. Miles, and Sonny
Rollins. He spends about 1/2 hour with each musician, and it’s a fascinating oral
history of this music. Some people brought their horn and played and talked—
sort of like a master class.
BW: i think i saw some of his stuff on Youtube.
AS: My wife got me the set for my birthday, it’s 24 CD’s-60 interviews done for
NPR. When he interviews Miles Davis he says something like: “my last name
S-i-d-r-a-n backwards, is the name of your tune “Nardis.” How did you meet
Herbie Hancock when you moved to New York in 1969, and how did your tune
“Firewater” get recorded (on The Prisoner) and Mwandishi afterwards?
BW: now this goes back to 1960. in 1960, i graduated from high school, and that
summer i played the showboat with Gene ammons and sonny stitt and went out
on the road. now, our first gig, we left philadelphia, and we drove to st. louis—
there was a club in st. louis called Georgie’s. it was in what they called Gaslight
square—a little hip area in st. louis. We went straight to the club and closing
that night was donald Byrd and pepper adams. We got there just as the band
was finishing up, and i met donald Byrd and i met pepper adams and they told
me about their new piano player who had left to go back to the hotel—and it was
herbie hancock. That’s when i first heard herbie hancock’s name. That was the
91 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013