American musician, producer, composer, and arranger
Larry Williams |
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 Williams in 2006 |
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| Birth name | Lawrence Lowell Williams |
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| Genres | |
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| Occupation(s) | Producer, composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist |
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| Instrument(s) | Keyboards, saxophone, flute, clarinet |
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| Website | willyworldmusic.com |
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Musical artist
Lawrence Lowell Williams is an American record producer, composer, arranger, and multi-instrumentalist. He is proficient on the keyboards, saxophone, flute, and clarinet. Williams began his musical career in the 1970s, and has since established himself as a prominent figure in the music industry. He regularly toured and recorded with Al Jarreau for over 3 decades and also was a musician on Michael Jackson's albums Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad.[1][2]
Early life
Williams was born in Kansas City, Kansas and grew up in Overland Park. He began learning the clarinet at age 8, under the influence of his father who played the saxophone.
Williams went on to study music at New Mexico State University and later transferred to Indiana University School of Music in 1969. While at university, Williams began playing with visiting orchestras, including those of Glen Campbell, Henry Mancini, and Johnny Mathis.
While studying at Indiana University, he met Jerry Hey and Kim Hutchcroft, who would later become members of jazz-fusion band Seawind.
He decided to leave university and focus to work full-time with Seawind in Hawaii.[3]
A notable part of the band's sound was the "Seawind Horns" (Williams with trumpeter Jerry Hey, and sax and flute player Kim Hutchcroft).
Seawind caught the attention of drummer-producer Harvey Mason. He encouraged the group to move to Los Angeles where they quickly established a regular gig at the club The Baked Potato.[2]
Career
In LA, the band was noticed by producer and arranger Quincy Jones. This led to Williams and the other members of the Seawind Horns becoming studio musicians for Jones himself and several Jones’ productions such as George Benson, Brothers Johnson and Michael Jackson.[2]
He has further recorded with Christopher Cross, David Crosby, Helen Reddy, Lee Ritenour, Lionel Richie, Mezzoforte, Michael Bolton, Michael Franks, Minnie Riperton, Natalie Cole, Olivia Newton-John, Pat Benatar, Patrice Rushen, Paul Young, Pink Floyd, Randy Crawford, Randy Newman, Ray Parker Jr., Richard Marx, Rick Astley, Roberta Flack, Sheena Easton, Simply Red and Stevie Nicks among others.
Williams played tenor saxophone, flute and keyboards on Michael Jackson's album Thriller and is featured on keyboards and sax synth solo on “Speed Demon” from the album Bad . [4]
