I was a nineteen year old drummer when I went to Philharmonic Hall to see Miles' quintet on Lincoln's Birthday 1964. It only took the first few minutes of one tune for me to realize I could play ten hours a day for the rest of my life and never be as good as Tony Williams. It depressed me for a bit but then inspired me. Tony was sui generis--one of a kind. As has been said, there was no one like him before him, and no one like him afterwards. Sheer genius, and while it's sad he died so young, I am eternally grateful we were able to share the planet with him for as long as we did.
He was and still is a National Treasure. The fact that most Americans don’t know that is typical of the way Americans thoughtlessly abuse their National Treasures… and Natural Resources…
I was a nineteen year old drummer when I went to Philharmonic Hall to see Miles' quintet on Lincoln's Birthday 1964. It only took the first few minutes of one tune for me to realize I could play ten hours a day for the rest of my life and never be as good as Tony Williams. It depressed me for a bit but then inspired me. Tony was sui generis--one of a kind. As has been said, there was no one like him before him, and no one like him afterwards. Sheer genius, and while it's sad he died so young, I am eternally grateful we were able to share the planet with him for as long as we did.
He was and still is a National Treasure. The fact that most Americans don’t know that is typical of the way Americans thoughtlessly abuse their National Treasures… and Natural Resources…
Makes me sad that he couldn’t pursue all the things that he wanted to explore.