Tony

I was thumbing through
the Village Voice one
day, looking under drum
instruction, hoping that
I would find Billy Cobham,
of course, knowing that
I wouldn't... and what
turns up but this tiny
little ad that says that
Tony Williams is now ac-
cepting students for a
short time. My eyes fell
out of their sockets. I
called immediately.

I talked with someone
who's voice was a lot
higher than I expected,
taking down the inform-
ation about a Friday
lesson at 4:30pm. I
was SO excited! I was
going to take lessons
with the greatest drum-
mer in the world, I told
my mom, whom I borrowed
the money from.

I went to his apartment
on W141st Street. I now
forget the address but
I remember the corner
store very well.

The stoop was long and
went straight up, it
seemed. I took a deep
breath, having been wond-
ering what this moment
would be like.

I rang the bell and Alan
Pasqua answered. I did
not know who he was until
later on.

"I'm here for my lesson
with Tony Williams."

"Are you sure you have a
lesson with Tony today?"

"It's Friday at 4:30pm.
Yes. I have waiting for
this day all week."

"Well, OK... He went to
the store on the corner
for some cigars but he'll
be right back. Why don't
you wait right here for
him? As a matter of fact,
that's him walking up the
street right now."

He went back inside.

In the distance, I saw a
thin man walking up the
block, towards me. I sat
on the steps waiting.

When he came to the steps,
he looked up at me.

"You're NOT Peter, are
you, here for a drum
lesson, right?

"Yes, I am."

"That was for NEXT Friday,
not today!"

All I could was look down...

He stopped and introduced
himself. "Hi, I'm Tony
Williams.", reaching out
with his right hand.

Shaking, I greeted him.

"Peter, the first you have
to do is relax. RELAX."

I could never relax around
him and looking back, that
was about the nicest he
was to me...

[img]cool.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 05, 2003 11:52 PM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

The Yellow Submarine. It was
way in the back of a long
and mostly empty apartment.
There was a piano.

The jumpsuit, only live, from
what I could tell, which was
not much.

I asked who he listened to and
he said himself.

Now, you have to realize that
before I went to him, I was
a rocker, playing ELP and Yes.
I asked him if he liked Palmer
and he said, "Who?"

I'm pretty sure he told me that
he did not live far from Miles
place and that Miles house had
a sign on the front door that
said the following:

"You better have a good reason
for knocking on this door."

He never broke any rims, to my
knowledge but it sure looked
like he would one night at the
"Bottom Line".

Hiram Bullock had replaced Alan
Holdsworth on guitar and some
people in the audience were dis-
appointed and let it be known.

After "Sweet Revenge", Tony got
up, announced the band and walked
off the stage. They did NOT come
back and we were sent home.

I don't know about the Vanguard
but he was playing very loud but
that's where he was going. He
was changing. He wanted to play
harder, faster - become more
athletic behind the kit. It was
a "thing" with him.

I don't think it was about the
music, at this time but that's
my perception. It seemed to me
that his performances were very
egocentric. He would try and work
new ideas, right in the middle of
a tune. I can see him miss the
black dot and he'd stop. The band
kept going. Then, he'd attempt
the riff again and again until
he got it. He would then go on
with the tune. Remmember that
these tunes had a lot of vamp
in them and there was a lot of
room for him to shed blood.

You had to be there. It was kind
of eerie sometimes. Maybe it's
the music I'm playing, while I
am writing this...

[img]cool.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 06, 2003 01:28 AM: Message edited by: peter c ]</font>

"I can see him miss the
black dot and he'd stop. The band
kept going."

[img]wink.gif[/img] .

What a wonderful story ! It gives me the creeps.

Wonder why he liked black dots top and bottom?

Exactly - I wondered that too, watching his Live video. Black Dots sound like boxes, in my opinion. I used to play them when I was in my Alex Van Halen phase. I would think a nice set of coated Ambassadors would have been a nicer sound.

Peter:
Do you teach drums, or are you in a advisory role to youth in other ways? (I see you are a father, which is the most important role of all!) I guess you could be a counter-example to the way Tony acted towards you, by reaching out to young people in a positive way. (It sounds like you do already with your son - I know that my sons embody everything worthwhile that I'll ever do in my life...)

I'd love to be a drum teacher someday. Like a coach, Scoutmaster, etc... It's such a great opportunity to shape young lives, and show that there is great strength/machismo in kindness....

What drums did Tony have set up in his apartment, peter? I'm amazed New Yorkers allow drums in apartments. Texan apartment dwellers would bust a cap in you after one note!

Moving one's drums from room to room requires serious re-tuning. What sounds good in the practice space often sounds awful on the stage.

I used to be a black dot man until I sat in on a set with coated heads. Now I'm a firm believer in them. I have relatively small DW toms and can't decide if coated Emperors make them sound fatter than coated Ambassadors. The tidy whack of Tony and Bonham's black dots can't be denied though. I loved the sound of Vinnie's drums at the Zildjian Day in NY and tried some pinstripes but they didn't sound like Vinnie's.

I'm not one of the foremost drummers on the planet though. [img]confused.gif[/img]

Tony was in a place. I
can't explain it. I can
only now look back on it
and try and envision what
was going on that animat-
ed his behavior as it did
but of course, that's just
speculation. I wasn't his
brother or anything like
that. You have to take
what I say with a few
grains of salt.

I was very young, when I
studied with him. As a
youngster, you look at
the world differenty. I
was never a shy person
but I was impressionable.

To give you an example,
after I took my first few
lessons with him, I start-
ed smoking the gastly Tip-
arellos. See what I mean?

It's just like a teen to
do that. He was the top
to me and I believed that
there was no other way to
go but then this was ano-
ther sign of the idealist-
ic boy, looking for the
'unified field theory',
the 'answer of answers'.
I wanted a "total package"
and he was it (then). I
wanted to be him but of
course, I could not be
him and eventually would
not, an inevitability.

I didn't realize that my
world was going to cont-
inue to change and includ-
ing what I wanted for my-
self and the drums; not
to mention the huge life-
changes that were just
down the road. You just
don't have foresight as
a teen. No one does. It's
more like hope (which is
not a bad thing).

Everyone has ideas about
Tony and they all have
their reasons for them.

While I may have stud-
ied with him doesn't
mean that much, though.
Many others have had
more intimate contact
with him.

We have to realize that
even though they (I) may
have, it doesn't mean any-
thing more than having a
video, that others didn't
or don't have or perhaps a
cd that isn't generally
available, if you know
what I mean.

On the other hand, based
on what he said, did and
tried to make me do, I
might have an idea of
where he might have
wanted to go. Still,
that's just speculation,
though it comes easy to
me, it being my job.

"Wildnerness" was a fit-
ting swan song for him.
Apparently, he was real-
ly focusing on his comp-
ositional talents, later
on. He really started
listening to classical
music alot more and also
filmscores, which I also
find ironic, since I am
a collector of it.

He was very complex but
as most of us are. I am
fortunate to have my
little experience with
him, as misunderstood as
they were, at the time
and now, I have the bene-
fit of 30 years of exper-
iences to water down,
dilute and/or enhance
these memories for re-
consumption. I try and
think that I do under-
stand them better.

I'll put that with the
grains of salt, a glass
of water, shavings of
a 2B and again try and
rationalize why the US
dollar is trading against
the stock market.

[img]wink.gif[/img] [img]cool.gif[/img]

GREAT stories Peter, thanks for sharing.

The New York Live show floors me every time.