R.I.P. Mars Williams

He'd been ailing for a while - there was a thread about his health issues on here several months ago.

He seemed to gravitate to bands masterminded by Butlers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2023 02:19PM by breno.

He was great. Per the Chicago Reader:

...probably best known to Chicago jazz fans as a longtime member of the NRG Ensemble, the wild and woolly free-jazz quintet started in the late 70s by the late eccentric Hal Russell. A native of Chicago who’s been playing since he was ten, Williams first encountered Russell playing free-music duets with his dog around 1978. “I’ll never forget that moment,” Williams reminisces. “It was a textural piece and he brought his dog onstage and started blowing his horn. The dog just looked at him, cocking its head while Hal blew this big squealing noise. After a while he finally gave up and turned around, and then the dog let loose with this moan. That was it–I had to play with Hal.”

A small NEA grant took Williams away from Chicago, first to study with the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s Roscoe Mitchell in Madison, and later to attend the influential Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York. He wended his way down to New York City, and quickly became involved with downtown regulars like Fred Frith, Bill Laswell, and John Zorn. But it was a regular stint with the Waitresses, the ironic new wave band best known for the hit “I Know What Boys Like,” that gave him his first taste of commercial success. As that band started to collapse, Williams began playing with the Psychedelic Furs and ended up recording and touring for three of the group’s biggest albums.

He never left jazz and was very prolific, whether it was leading his own groups like Liquid Soul or playing with greats like Peter Brötzmann on The Chicago Octet/Tentet.

That's some sad news. Williams was a fantastic sax player with a road map all over the musical spectrum. I was truly wowed by him the last time I saw The Psychedelic Furs…over a decade ago. I will miss the gentleman, but at least the last Psychedelic Furs album got in the can while he was a contributor. I still need to buy a copy.

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

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