Irv Williams: A Life in Music

Jeff Bailey (L) and Irv Williams at Irv's 90th birthday in 2009

In the spring of 2009, Irv Williams is playing a shiny new tenor saxophone. He has a young miniature schnauzer named Ditto who, in Irv’s words, is “very exuberant about everything.” He’s writing new songs for his next CD, his fifth since 2004. He has two regular weekly gigs, one at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis and the other at Il Vesco Vino on West Seventh in Saint Paul. He’s making plans to celebrate his birthday with parties at both the Artists’ Quarter in Saint Paul and the Dakota.

On August 17, 2009, Williams—fans call him “Mr. Smooth”—turned ninety. He has lived in Saint Paul for forty-seven years, moving here in 1962 to be closer to his job at the Sherwood Supper Club, now long gone. Most of the clubs he has played over the years—Cassius’s Bamboo Room, the Flame Bar, the Red Feather, Freddie’s, the Crystal Coach, the Top of the Hilton, Suzette’s—have shut their doors, been torn down or redeveloped.

Williams could have left town, hit the road with Duke Ellington, Count Basie, or Louis Armstrong, ended up in New York, and become a star. Instead, he chose to stay and become part of Saint Paul’s history.

Along with playing at every jazz club in the Twin Cities since the 1940s, Williams has taught in the public schools, lectured at the University of Minnesota, and mentored many musicians. In 1984, he was the first jazz musician to be honored by the State of Minnesota with his own “Irv Williams Day.” His picture appeared on the Celebrate Minnesota state map in 1990 (he appears on this year’s Almanac cover; take a look).

Williams was named an Arts Midwest Jazz Master in 1995 and is a member of the Minnesota Jazz Hall of Fame. He plays a new sax because his old one is now in the “Minnesota’s Greatest Generation” exhibit at the Minnesota History Center.

Acclaim is appreciated, but for Williams, it’s all about the music. His first instrument was the violin, which he played as a cute little kid growing up in Cincinnati and Little Rock. The older he got, the more other kids teased him for playing a “sissy instrument.” They also called him “Ir-vin-ee” because his name was Irvine, with an e at the end.

Williams dropped the violin and later the e. By the time he was eleven, he had switched to clarinet and then to tenor saxophone. He started playing professionally at fifteen. He attended college as a pre-med student, with plans to be a doctor like his father, but music’s pull was too strong. Besides, there was plenty of work for young sax players during the Big Band era of the 1930s and early ’40s. When World War II began, Williams joined the Navy and came to the Naval Air Station in Minneapolis with the U.S. Navy Band.

He had ample time to practice his horn and explore the Twin Cities. On his first weekend here, he met the great bassist Oscar Pettiford and his family. Pettiford introduced Williams to the local jazz scene and places like Buford’s BBQ and the Elk’s Rest. Williams remembers, “We walked into the Elk’s Rest, I didn’t have a horn, and a guy named Rail says, ‘You can play my horn.’ So I played it and their mouths dropped open. I always like that.”

Two marriages and nine children followed. When money was tight, Williams worked two jobs: dry cleaner by day, jazz musician by night. Today he’s free to spend as much time as he wants on his music. He walks and talks a bit slowly, and he admits to having problems with getting tired, but many people believe he has never sounded better.

After all these years as a musician—Williams started playing violin at age six, so he’s had eighty-four years of playing and practicing, learning and trying to get better every day—does he still enjoy it? “I enjoy it more than ever now,” he says. “I can’t slack off. I have to put every ounce of myself into my music. That’s what I do. It keeps me going—myself and my dog.”

His tone is breathy and warm. Sometimes his playing is like a kiss on your cheek or a gentle hand on the back of your neck. He’s a master of the love song. The next time you and your sweetheart are alone together, if you’re old enough, forget the R&B and play a little Irv.

***

Originally published in the 2010 Saint Paul Almanac.
Photo by John Whiting.

Irv Williams at nearly 90: Music and Irvisms

When: Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 • Where: Artists’ Quarter • Who: Irv Williams, tenor saxophone; Peter Schimke, piano; Jeff Bailey, bass; Kenny Horst, drums

Irv Williams doesn’t turn 90 until August 17 but can be forgiven for celebrating a few days early. (The party continues on Monday night at the Dakota, where the Steeles will open.) A mainstay of the Twin Cities jazz scene since he arrived here at the start of WWII, when he was assigned to the Naval Air Station in Minneapolis as part of the US Navy Band, Williams, known as “Mr. Smooth,” is still playing beautifully, still charming his audiences, still tossing out bon mots.

Out-of-towners and others who might not know him can read a little background here.

Williams is playing a shiny new Selmer tenor sax these days, and in his words, “It’s killing me. My old one cost $900. I had to get insurance for this one. I’m a nervous wreck.” The horn he played for decades now resides in the Minnesota History Center as part of the Minnesota’s Greatest Generation exhibit. Williams says of the Selmer, “It’s a real fine instrument but it doesn’t have that mellow sound I like to have.” Yes, it does. He makes any horn sound like his own, full of warmth and depth, resonance and emotion, and living human breath, the first maker of music.

Williams plays standards (he doesn’t compose that much, although his next CD, he says, will be mostly original compositions), and tonight is almost all legacy tunes: “I Hear a Rhapsody,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Here’s to Life” (which he was inspired to play by Shirley Horn), "Betsi's Song" (written for his daughter), “Green Dolphin Street,” “How Deep Is the Ocean,” “Besame Mucho,” “Alone Together,” “Bye Bye Blackbird,” “Old Folks,” “In a Mellow Tone,” “Soul Eyes.”

The near capacity crowd is there to listen and honor the birthday man (and eat cake, which comes later). The band is perfection. Williams shares a special simpatico with the great pianist Peter Schimke, his partner at his regular gigs and on the CD they made together in 2006, the exquisite Williams/Schimke Duo. Williams has known bassist Jeff Bailey since Bailey was a child, and drummer/AQ owner Kenny Horst has played with Williams more times than anyone can count.

After the first set, Horst gets up from behind his drums, walks over to Williams, and kisses him on the cheek. “I guess he likes me...a lot,” Williams says.

More Irvisms from throughout this enjoyable night:

On his birthday: “What’s all the noise about? It’s just 90. It’s just a number.”

On his new Selmer saxophone: “I wish I could play it.”

On playing the saxophone: “This is my 75th year playing this horn and I’m sick and tired of it. Seriously, I think it has something to do with my so-called longevity.”

On introducing the tune “How Deep Is the Ocean”: “Do you know how deep it is? I don’t. I don’t care.”

And, toward the end of the evening: “I’m old. I’m really old. I can play the race card and the old-age card. I can’t lose.” At that, he throws back his head and laughs.

Photos by John Whiting. T to b: Jeff Bailey and Irv Williams; Peter Schimke

Three CD release events to cure those February blues

You can count on having a good time at a CD release event. The months and sometimes years of work that go into creating a CD are over, and the artist has shiny new music to share. Friends and relatives show up. (They're fairly easy to spot because they're the ones who make most of the crowd noise and pay the least attention to the performance.)

If you like, you can meet the artist and "take the band home in a box," as Craig Eichhorn will suggest at the Dakota.

February brings three CD releases by three area artists, each a unique talent and a major presence on our music scene. The first happens tonight (Wednesday).

Dan (Daddy Squeeze) Newton: 'Hi-Top Sneakers'

When: 8 tonight, Feb. 13
Where: The Varsity Theater
How much: $12

This is a jazz column, and "Hi-Top Sneakers" is not a jazz CD, but I've been a Daddy Squeeze fan since he came to my house several years ago and played for a bowling party. He's so busy with his other bands (Café Accordion Orchestra, the Rockin' Pinecones) and gigs (he's a frequent guest of the Guy's All-Star Show Band on "A Prairie Home Companion") that I'm surprised he had time for a solo CD, especially one with all-original tunes.

It's a rollicking mix of roots music and Western swing, jug band, Latin jazz, Colombian cumbia, gospel polka, Parisian romance and kitchen sink. If you can sit still while hearing it, you're probably dead.

Newton's CD releases often include dancing, and although the Varsity is not a dance hall, "people can feel free to make their own space to dance," Newton says. "Almost all the music I play is dancer-friendly."

A self-taught musician who began on piano, Newton earned his name and fame playing the accordion, an instrument widely considered uncool. By mastering a variety of musical styles and surrounding himself with other fine musicians, he made it cool.

"I guess I've never been too concerned about being a part of the accordion world," he says. "One of the things that sets me apart from the stereotypical accordionist is the music I choose to play. Fortunately, most musical traditions before rock had a history of accordion. So it was easy to find recordings of accordions in Jazz, Western Swing, Country, Tex-Mex, Blues, Cajun, Latin, Scandinavian, Irish, et cetera … all the music that I liked to play. Or maybe it's because I'm just an old hippie at heart."

For the Varsity gig, Newton will sing and play accordion and piano, maybe tambourine and kazoo. He'll bring the musicians who joined him on the CD, including Pat Donahue, Gary Raynor, Bob Ekstrand, Tom Lewis and Steve Kaul.

Apologies for the late notice, but imagine what this music can do to lift the "it's-too-cold-for-February-won't-winter-ever-end?" blues. See him perform here.
 
Connie Evingson: 'Little Did I Dream'

When: 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25
Where: The Dakota
How much: $20

"My Attorney Bernie," "Zoot Walks In" and "Peel Me a Grape" ("Pop me a cork/French me a fry") are a few of the smart and witty tunes on Evingson's latest CD, her eighth. Earlier releases spotlight gypsy jazz, the Beatles and Peggy Lee. This time it's songs by St. Paul native and jazz great Dave Frishberg, a four-time Grammy nominee the New York Times described as "the Stephen Sondheim of jazz songwriting."

"I've been in love with Dave Frishberg's work forever," Evingson says. When she discovered that Frishberg and Twin Cities saxophonist Dave Karr had been classmates and friends at the University of Minnesota in the 1950s, she thought it would be fun to bring them together in the studio. (Karr also provides the hipster spoken introduction to "Zoot Walks In.")

The songs are first-class, including better-known and lesser-known Frishberg gems. Some are wry and others are romantic, giving Evingson ample room to display her impeccable interpretative skills. She's in beautiful voice on the CD and you can expect the same at the Dakota, where her band will include Karr, Gordy Johnson, Phil Hey, and Mark Henderson — everyone who appears on the CD except Frishberg. His place at the piano will be taken by Phil Aaron, and you won't mind a bit. It will all be very classy.

Irv Williams: 'Finality'

When: 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 29 and March 1
Where: The Artists' Quarter
How much: $10 

True, Williams already had a CD release event at the Dakota in early January. But if he wants another one across the river, who's going to stop him? There will probably be at least one table full of his grandchildren, and plenty of the AQ's regulars will come out to celebrate "Mr. Smooth," who's "88 and playing great."

Some of the songs on "Finality" are wistful and nostalgic — "Wee Small Hours," "Old Folks" (he'll try to tell you this is his theme song), "Too Late Now." Others, like "Come Rain or Come Shine," swing hard. His tone is sublime. For the CD release, it's likely he'll be joined by Peter Schimke, Gordy Johnson and Kenny Horst.

I waited too long to start listening to Williams and I've been trying to catch up ever since. This is jazz everyone can enjoy, full of emotion, wisdom, experience, and soul. View a video of Williams performing at his own 88th birthday party at the AQ here.

Originally published on MinnPost.com on February 13, 2008

Irv Williams

When: 1/6/08
Where: The Dakota
Who: Irv Williams (saxophone), Peter Schimke (piano), Gordy Johnson (bass), Phil Hey (drums)

At 88, Irv Williams (a.k.a. "Mr. Smooth," but certainly not because he plays smooth jazz) has released a new CD. He called it Finality which just makes people roll their eyes. Williams is the Energizer Bunny of jazz without the dorky drum. We caught the first set of his CD release at the Dakota, where he and his trio celebrated with standards: "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams," "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" (a melody that makes me vow never to travel anywhere without my husband again), a spry, snappy reading of "I Thought About You," "Old Folks" (what Irv calls "my theme song"), "Come Rain or Come Shine." The downstairs was full, the crowd was devoted, and Williams' sax was warm and velvety.

Introducing his new CD, Williams pointed out the image on the cover: himself as a six-year-old child. Due to the age of the photo, it needed some restoring. He also mentioned he'd been born prematurely, a much bigger problem in 1919 than it is today. Then he told us he had his pen out and was ready to sign. He stayed on stage during the break and people got in line.

Read about Finality, listen to bits of each track, and maybe order yourself a copy.
Still my favorite Irv CD.

Photos: Irv then, Irv now.