JAZZ SOUTH PACIFIC 1951-52

Absolutely no connection with the operette "South Pacific". This is a jazz record !!!

SOUTH PACIFIC JAZZ

Howard McGHEE tp, jay Jay JOHNSON tb, Rudy WILLIAMS ts, Clifton BEST as Keeter BETTS g, Oscar PETTIFORD b, Charlie RICE dr,

Piano is missing due to the lack of facilities on remote island posts and forward battle position where the group performed... recorded in concert on Guam Island.

You certainly know the musicians of the band except maybe the tenor Rudy WILLIAMS... a hard-blowing saxophonist, who made many records in the '30s,'40s and '50s with combos and big bands. He was best known for his tenure in The Savoy Sultans. Williams began playing saxophone at 12, and eventually emphasized alto, though he also played baritone and tenor. He joined Al Cooper's Savoy Sultans in 1937 and was featured on many recordings, among them the hit "Little Sally Water" in 1939. He played with Hot Lips Page, Luis Russell, Chris Columbus and John Kirby in the '40s, and led bands in the mid and late '40s in Boston and New York. Williams played with Tadd Dameron in 1948, then led bands in Boston in the late '40s and early '50s. He worked with Illinois Jacquet and Gene Ammons in California, and later toured the Far East with Oscar Pettiford's band and recorded in Howard McGhee's group. Upon returning to America, Williams led bands, and recorded with Dud Bascomb and Don Byas, Babs Gonzales, Dameron and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Gene Ammons and Bennie Green, and Johnny Hodges. He does not have any sessions under his own name available on CD, but can be heard on various discs featuring Jacquet, McGhee, Ammons, and others.