Musician and composer. Noted trumpeter of the 1930s. Known for his "growling, muted horn" and played primarily with the Duke Ellington (see memorial this website) orchestra. Started out with the Chick Webb (see memorial this website) orchestra, then he took a job with Ellington and moved on to join the Benny Goodman (see memorial this website) orchestra and played with him at the historic Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert in 1938. Williams co-wrote the jazz classic, "Round Midnight" with Thelonius Monk (see memorial this website). Formed his own band in 1941 and had a hit with "Gator;" by 1948 Cootie had cut his group down to a sextet. Then, playing R&B-oriented music, he worked steadily at the Savoy, but by the 1950s was becoming into obscure. After a 22-year absence, Williams rejoined Duke Ellington in 1962, and stayed beyond Duke's death in 1974 as a featured soloist. Then semi-retired, played a final solo in 1978 on a Theresa Brewer album. ∼Musician. Jazz trumpeter was born Charles Melvin Williams. His fame came being a long time member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He began his professional career at age 14 playing with Lester Young in the Young Family Band. Cootie's first run with the Ellington Orchestra ran from 1929-1940. He left in 1940 to join the Benny Goodman Orchestra. One year later he began his own orchestra which over the years included a number of important jazz players, including, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis. He eventually rejoined the Ellington Orchestra for his final run from 1962-1974. Inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1991.
Chicago Tribune (IL) - Tuesday, September 17, 1985
COOTIE WILLIAMS, 'BEST TRUMPET PLAYER IN JAZZ'
Cootie Williams, 77, a jazz trumpeter, was the last surviving member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra that played the Cotton Club in Harlem during the 1920s. Playing professionally for more than 50 years, he was noted for his ''growling'' style on the muted trumpet with a sound that has been compared to ''talking through the horn.'
''In his heyday,'' the Encyclopedia of Jazz states, ''Cootie Williams was a magnificent product of the best of Bubber Miley and Louis Armstrong and probably the best all-around trumpet player in jazz.''
Services for Mr. Williams, a resident of Queens, will be held on Wednesday in St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York City. He died Sunday in Long Island Jewish Hospital.
His mother was a church organist, and his father ran a gambling house. They named him Charles Williams, but at an early age he picked up the nickname, Cootie, by which jazz lovers knew him for more than a half century. He had attended a concert as a child and been asked afterwards what he had heard. He said, ''Cootie, cootie, cootie.''
In high school, he played the trumpet in the band. He had wanted to play the trombone, but his arms were not long enough. His first professional appearance was at the age of 17 with the Eagle Eye Shields Band in Florida.
He joined Ellington's Band at the Cotton Club in the spring of 1929 and played with it through 1940, contributing one of its most distinctive sounds in the 1930s.'' When he left, Duke Ellington wrote a piece, ''Concerto for Cootie'' that later became the pop song, ''Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me.''
''Cootie was part of the funky contingent of Duke Ellington's Band,'' according to Bob Koester, proprietor of Chicago's Jazz Record Mart. ''He was associated with the wa-wa-wa mutes and the plunger sound because he followed Bubber Miley in the band and imitated him. His own orientation was more blues and had more of the looseness of the Southern sound. His sound was distinctive even when he didn't use the mutes or the plunger. He also was a vocalist with Duke's and later his own band.''
He played for a year with Benny Goodman, mixing his funkiness with its almost symphonic sound. He then formed his own band, which featured such performers as Pearl Bailey, Thelonius Monk and Bob Merrill. Its success was limited, and he cut the band down to combo size by the early 1950s.
While Louis Armstrong was his hero and model from the middle 1920s, Mr. Williams beat him out as the best all-around jazz player and won the Esquire Gold Medal in 1945-46.
In the 1950s, he played for 7 years at the Savoy Ballroom in New York until it was closed. He rejoined the Ellington Band and played with it from 1972 to 1975 under Duke's son, Mercer.
Survivors include his wife, Catherine, and a brother, Barney Leroy Williams∼Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues,[1] and rhythm and blues trumpeter. Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams began his professional career at the age of fourteen with the Young Family band, which included saxophonist Lester Young. According to Williams he acquired his nickname as a boy when his father took him to a band concert. When it was over his father asked him what he'd heard and he replied, "Cootie, cootie, cootie."
In 1928, he made his first recordings with pianist James P. Johnson in New York, where he also worked briefly in the bands of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson. He rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra when the band was playing at the Cotton Club, with which he first performed from 1929 to 1940. He also recorded his own sessions during this time, both freelance and with other Ellington sidemen. Williams was renowned for his "jungle" style trumpet playing (in the manner of Ellington's earlier trumpeter Bubber Miley and trombonist Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton) and for his use of the plunger mute. He also sang occasionally. A notable instrumental feature being in the Ellington piece, "Echoes of the Jungle". For him, Duke Ellington wrote ''Concerto for Cootie,'' which when lyrics were added became "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me". He was also the soloist in other Ellington compositions like ''"Echoes of Harlem"'', "Harlem Air Shaft", and the religious piece ''The Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock,'' which was dedicated to the Rev. John Gensel.
In 1940 he joined Benny Goodman's orchestra, a highly publicized move that caused quite a stir at the time[5] (commemorated by Raymond Scott with the song "When Cootie Left the Duke"), then in 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which over the years he employed Charlie Parker, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bud Powell, Eddie Vinson, and other young players.
In 1947, Williams wrote the song "Cowpox Boogie" while recuperating from a bout with smallpox. He contracted the disease from a vaccination he insisted all band members receive.
By the late 1940s, Williams had fallen into obscurity, having had to reduce his band numbers and finally to disband.[2] In the 1950s, he began to play more rhythm and blues, toured with small groups, and played in the Savoy Ballroom.
In the late 1950s, he formed a small jazz group and recorded a number of albums with Rex Stewart, as well as his own album, Cootie in Hi-Fi (1958). In 1962, he rejoined Ellington and stayed with the orchestra until 1974, after Ellington's death. In 1975, he performed during the Super Bowl IX halftime show. He was a 1991 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Williams died in New York City on September 15, 1985, at age 74 from a kidney ailment.
Chicago Tribune (IL) - Tuesday, September 17, 1985
COOTIE WILLIAMS, 'BEST TRUMPET PLAYER IN JAZZ'
Cootie Williams, 77, a jazz trumpeter, was the last surviving member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra that played the Cotton Club in Harlem during the 1920s. Playing professionally for more than 50 years, he was noted for his ''growling'' style on the muted trumpet with a sound that has been compared to ''talking through the horn.'
''In his heyday,'' the Encyclopedia of Jazz states, ''Cootie Williams was a magnificent product of the best of Bubber Miley and Louis Armstrong and probably the best all-around trumpet player in jazz.''
Services for Mr. Williams, a resident of Queens, will be held on Wednesday in St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York City. He died Sunday in Long Island Jewish Hospital.
His mother was a church organist, and his father ran a gambling house. They named him Charles Williams, but at an early age he picked up the nickname, Cootie, by which jazz lovers knew him for more than a half century. He had attended a concert as a child and been asked afterwards what he had heard. He said, ''Cootie, cootie, cootie.''
In high school, he played the trumpet in the band. He had wanted to play the trombone, but his arms were not long enough. His first professional appearance was at the age of 17 with the Eagle Eye Shields Band in Florida.
He joined Ellington's Band at the Cotton Club in the spring of 1929 and played with it through 1940, contributing one of its most distinctive sounds in the 1930s.'' When he left, Duke Ellington wrote a piece, ''Concerto for Cootie'' that later became the pop song, ''Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me.''
''Cootie was part of the funky contingent of Duke Ellington's Band,'' according to Bob Koester, proprietor of Chicago's Jazz Record Mart. ''He was associated with the wa-wa-wa mutes and the plunger sound because he followed Bubber Miley in the band and imitated him. His own orientation was more blues and had more of the looseness of the Southern sound. His sound was distinctive even when he didn't use the mutes or the plunger. He also was a vocalist with Duke's and later his own band.''
He played for a year with Benny Goodman, mixing his funkiness with its almost symphonic sound. He then formed his own band, which featured such performers as Pearl Bailey, Thelonius Monk and Bob Merrill. Its success was limited, and he cut the band down to combo size by the early 1950s.
While Louis Armstrong was his hero and model from the middle 1920s, Mr. Williams beat him out as the best all-around jazz player and won the Esquire Gold Medal in 1945-46.
In the 1950s, he played for 7 years at the Savoy Ballroom in New York until it was closed. He rejoined the Ellington Band and played with it from 1972 to 1975 under Duke's son, Mercer.
Survivors include his wife, Catherine, and a brother, Barney Leroy Williams∼Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues,[1] and rhythm and blues trumpeter. Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams began his professional career at the age of fourteen with the Young Family band, which included saxophonist Lester Young. According to Williams he acquired his nickname as a boy when his father took him to a band concert. When it was over his father asked him what he'd heard and he replied, "Cootie, cootie, cootie."
In 1928, he made his first recordings with pianist James P. Johnson in New York, where he also worked briefly in the bands of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson. He rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra when the band was playing at the Cotton Club, with which he first performed from 1929 to 1940. He also recorded his own sessions during this time, both freelance and with other Ellington sidemen. Williams was renowned for his "jungle" style trumpet playing (in the manner of Ellington's earlier trumpeter Bubber Miley and trombonist Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton) and for his use of the plunger mute. He also sang occasionally. A notable instrumental feature being in the Ellington piece, "Echoes of the Jungle". For him, Duke Ellington wrote ''Concerto for Cootie,'' which when lyrics were added became "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me". He was also the soloist in other Ellington compositions like ''"Echoes of Harlem"'', "Harlem Air Shaft", and the religious piece ''The Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock,'' which was dedicated to the Rev. John Gensel.
In 1940 he joined Benny Goodman's orchestra, a highly publicized move that caused quite a stir at the time[5] (commemorated by Raymond Scott with the song "When Cootie Left the Duke"), then in 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which over the years he employed Charlie Parker, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bud Powell, Eddie Vinson, and other young players.
In 1947, Williams wrote the song "Cowpox Boogie" while recuperating from a bout with smallpox. He contracted the disease from a vaccination he insisted all band members receive.
By the late 1940s, Williams had fallen into obscurity, having had to reduce his band numbers and finally to disband.[2] In the 1950s, he began to play more rhythm and blues, toured with small groups, and played in the Savoy Ballroom.
In the late 1950s, he formed a small jazz group and recorded a number of albums with Rex Stewart, as well as his own album, Cootie in Hi-Fi (1958). In 1962, he rejoined Ellington and stayed with the orchestra until 1974, after Ellington's death. In 1975, he performed during the Super Bowl IX halftime show. He was a 1991 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Williams died in New York City on September 15, 1985, at age 74 from a kidney ailment.
Musician and composer. Noted trumpeter of the 1930s. Known for his "growling, muted horn" and played primarily with the Duke Ellington (see memorial this website) orchestra. Started out with the Chick Webb (see memorial this website) orchestra, then he took a job with Ellington and moved on to join the Benny Goodman (see memorial this website) orchestra and played with him at the historic Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert in 1938. Williams co-wrote the jazz classic, "Round Midnight" with Thelonius Monk (see memorial this website). Formed his own band in 1941 and had a hit with "Gator;" by 1948 Cootie had cut his group down to a sextet. Then, playing R&B-oriented music, he worked steadily at the Savoy, but by the 1950s was becoming into obscure. After a 22-year absence, Williams rejoined Duke Ellington in 1962, and stayed beyond Duke's death in 1974 as a featured soloist. Then semi-retired, played a final solo in 1978 on a Theresa Brewer album. ∼Musician. Jazz trumpeter was born Charles Melvin Williams. His fame came being a long time member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He began his professional career at age 14 playing with Lester Young in the Young Family Band. Cootie's first run with the Ellington Orchestra ran from 1929-1940. He left in 1940 to join the Benny Goodman Orchestra. One year later he began his own orchestra which over the years included a number of important jazz players, including, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis. He eventually rejoined the Ellington Orchestra for his final run from 1962-1974. Inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1991.
Chicago Tribune (IL) - Tuesday, September 17, 1985
COOTIE WILLIAMS, 'BEST TRUMPET PLAYER IN JAZZ'
Cootie Williams, 77, a jazz trumpeter, was the last surviving member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra that played the Cotton Club in Harlem during the 1920s. Playing professionally for more than 50 years, he was noted for his ''growling'' style on the muted trumpet with a sound that has been compared to ''talking through the horn.'
''In his heyday,'' the Encyclopedia of Jazz states, ''Cootie Williams was a magnificent product of the best of Bubber Miley and Louis Armstrong and probably the best all-around trumpet player in jazz.''
Services for Mr. Williams, a resident of Queens, will be held on Wednesday in St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York City. He died Sunday in Long Island Jewish Hospital.
His mother was a church organist, and his father ran a gambling house. They named him Charles Williams, but at an early age he picked up the nickname, Cootie, by which jazz lovers knew him for more than a half century. He had attended a concert as a child and been asked afterwards what he had heard. He said, ''Cootie, cootie, cootie.''
In high school, he played the trumpet in the band. He had wanted to play the trombone, but his arms were not long enough. His first professional appearance was at the age of 17 with the Eagle Eye Shields Band in Florida.
He joined Ellington's Band at the Cotton Club in the spring of 1929 and played with it through 1940, contributing one of its most distinctive sounds in the 1930s.'' When he left, Duke Ellington wrote a piece, ''Concerto for Cootie'' that later became the pop song, ''Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me.''
''Cootie was part of the funky contingent of Duke Ellington's Band,'' according to Bob Koester, proprietor of Chicago's Jazz Record Mart. ''He was associated with the wa-wa-wa mutes and the plunger sound because he followed Bubber Miley in the band and imitated him. His own orientation was more blues and had more of the looseness of the Southern sound. His sound was distinctive even when he didn't use the mutes or the plunger. He also was a vocalist with Duke's and later his own band.''
He played for a year with Benny Goodman, mixing his funkiness with its almost symphonic sound. He then formed his own band, which featured such performers as Pearl Bailey, Thelonius Monk and Bob Merrill. Its success was limited, and he cut the band down to combo size by the early 1950s.
While Louis Armstrong was his hero and model from the middle 1920s, Mr. Williams beat him out as the best all-around jazz player and won the Esquire Gold Medal in 1945-46.
In the 1950s, he played for 7 years at the Savoy Ballroom in New York until it was closed. He rejoined the Ellington Band and played with it from 1972 to 1975 under Duke's son, Mercer.
Survivors include his wife, Catherine, and a brother, Barney Leroy Williams∼Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues,[1] and rhythm and blues trumpeter. Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams began his professional career at the age of fourteen with the Young Family band, which included saxophonist Lester Young. According to Williams he acquired his nickname as a boy when his father took him to a band concert. When it was over his father asked him what he'd heard and he replied, "Cootie, cootie, cootie."
In 1928, he made his first recordings with pianist James P. Johnson in New York, where he also worked briefly in the bands of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson. He rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra when the band was playing at the Cotton Club, with which he first performed from 1929 to 1940. He also recorded his own sessions during this time, both freelance and with other Ellington sidemen. Williams was renowned for his "jungle" style trumpet playing (in the manner of Ellington's earlier trumpeter Bubber Miley and trombonist Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton) and for his use of the plunger mute. He also sang occasionally. A notable instrumental feature being in the Ellington piece, "Echoes of the Jungle". For him, Duke Ellington wrote ''Concerto for Cootie,'' which when lyrics were added became "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me". He was also the soloist in other Ellington compositions like ''"Echoes of Harlem"'', "Harlem Air Shaft", and the religious piece ''The Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock,'' which was dedicated to the Rev. John Gensel.
In 1940 he joined Benny Goodman's orchestra, a highly publicized move that caused quite a stir at the time[5] (commemorated by Raymond Scott with the song "When Cootie Left the Duke"), then in 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which over the years he employed Charlie Parker, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bud Powell, Eddie Vinson, and other young players.
In 1947, Williams wrote the song "Cowpox Boogie" while recuperating from a bout with smallpox. He contracted the disease from a vaccination he insisted all band members receive.
By the late 1940s, Williams had fallen into obscurity, having had to reduce his band numbers and finally to disband.[2] In the 1950s, he began to play more rhythm and blues, toured with small groups, and played in the Savoy Ballroom.
In the late 1950s, he formed a small jazz group and recorded a number of albums with Rex Stewart, as well as his own album, Cootie in Hi-Fi (1958). In 1962, he rejoined Ellington and stayed with the orchestra until 1974, after Ellington's death. In 1975, he performed during the Super Bowl IX halftime show. He was a 1991 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Williams died in New York City on September 15, 1985, at age 74 from a kidney ailment.
Chicago Tribune (IL) - Tuesday, September 17, 1985
COOTIE WILLIAMS, 'BEST TRUMPET PLAYER IN JAZZ'
Cootie Williams, 77, a jazz trumpeter, was the last surviving member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra that played the Cotton Club in Harlem during the 1920s. Playing professionally for more than 50 years, he was noted for his ''growling'' style on the muted trumpet with a sound that has been compared to ''talking through the horn.'
''In his heyday,'' the Encyclopedia of Jazz states, ''Cootie Williams was a magnificent product of the best of Bubber Miley and Louis Armstrong and probably the best all-around trumpet player in jazz.''
Services for Mr. Williams, a resident of Queens, will be held on Wednesday in St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York City. He died Sunday in Long Island Jewish Hospital.
His mother was a church organist, and his father ran a gambling house. They named him Charles Williams, but at an early age he picked up the nickname, Cootie, by which jazz lovers knew him for more than a half century. He had attended a concert as a child and been asked afterwards what he had heard. He said, ''Cootie, cootie, cootie.''
In high school, he played the trumpet in the band. He had wanted to play the trombone, but his arms were not long enough. His first professional appearance was at the age of 17 with the Eagle Eye Shields Band in Florida.
He joined Ellington's Band at the Cotton Club in the spring of 1929 and played with it through 1940, contributing one of its most distinctive sounds in the 1930s.'' When he left, Duke Ellington wrote a piece, ''Concerto for Cootie'' that later became the pop song, ''Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me.''
''Cootie was part of the funky contingent of Duke Ellington's Band,'' according to Bob Koester, proprietor of Chicago's Jazz Record Mart. ''He was associated with the wa-wa-wa mutes and the plunger sound because he followed Bubber Miley in the band and imitated him. His own orientation was more blues and had more of the looseness of the Southern sound. His sound was distinctive even when he didn't use the mutes or the plunger. He also was a vocalist with Duke's and later his own band.''
He played for a year with Benny Goodman, mixing his funkiness with its almost symphonic sound. He then formed his own band, which featured such performers as Pearl Bailey, Thelonius Monk and Bob Merrill. Its success was limited, and he cut the band down to combo size by the early 1950s.
While Louis Armstrong was his hero and model from the middle 1920s, Mr. Williams beat him out as the best all-around jazz player and won the Esquire Gold Medal in 1945-46.
In the 1950s, he played for 7 years at the Savoy Ballroom in New York until it was closed. He rejoined the Ellington Band and played with it from 1972 to 1975 under Duke's son, Mercer.
Survivors include his wife, Catherine, and a brother, Barney Leroy Williams∼Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues,[1] and rhythm and blues trumpeter. Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams began his professional career at the age of fourteen with the Young Family band, which included saxophonist Lester Young. According to Williams he acquired his nickname as a boy when his father took him to a band concert. When it was over his father asked him what he'd heard and he replied, "Cootie, cootie, cootie."
In 1928, he made his first recordings with pianist James P. Johnson in New York, where he also worked briefly in the bands of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson. He rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra when the band was playing at the Cotton Club, with which he first performed from 1929 to 1940. He also recorded his own sessions during this time, both freelance and with other Ellington sidemen. Williams was renowned for his "jungle" style trumpet playing (in the manner of Ellington's earlier trumpeter Bubber Miley and trombonist Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton) and for his use of the plunger mute. He also sang occasionally. A notable instrumental feature being in the Ellington piece, "Echoes of the Jungle". For him, Duke Ellington wrote ''Concerto for Cootie,'' which when lyrics were added became "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me". He was also the soloist in other Ellington compositions like ''"Echoes of Harlem"'', "Harlem Air Shaft", and the religious piece ''The Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock,'' which was dedicated to the Rev. John Gensel.
In 1940 he joined Benny Goodman's orchestra, a highly publicized move that caused quite a stir at the time[5] (commemorated by Raymond Scott with the song "When Cootie Left the Duke"), then in 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which over the years he employed Charlie Parker, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bud Powell, Eddie Vinson, and other young players.
In 1947, Williams wrote the song "Cowpox Boogie" while recuperating from a bout with smallpox. He contracted the disease from a vaccination he insisted all band members receive.
By the late 1940s, Williams had fallen into obscurity, having had to reduce his band numbers and finally to disband.[2] In the 1950s, he began to play more rhythm and blues, toured with small groups, and played in the Savoy Ballroom.
In the late 1950s, he formed a small jazz group and recorded a number of albums with Rex Stewart, as well as his own album, Cootie in Hi-Fi (1958). In 1962, he rejoined Ellington and stayed with the orchestra until 1974, after Ellington's death. In 1975, he performed during the Super Bowl IX halftime show. He was a 1991 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Williams died in New York City on September 15, 1985, at age 74 from a kidney ailment.
Family Members
Spouse
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
