(Drummer Billy Williams (pictured) and his quartet will perform Saturday, September 26 as part of the Phoebus Jazz Festival.
By Jerome Langston
“Then, Billy…Billy is one of my former students, of course, but this young man has grown up to be one of the most sought-after jazz drummers in the world…” said Jae Sinnett, early on in our recent phone chat — referring to jazz drummer and bandleader, Billy Williams, who is one of the headliners of this year’s Phoebus Jazz Festival, which is being presented for the third year by Hampton Roads Jazz Inc., an organization founded by Sinnett. The two-day festival will also feature world-class jazz from the likes of contemporary jazz saxophone legend, Eric Marienthal, vocalist Lori Williams, acclaimed jazz pianist Justin Kauflin, and the return of the popular Latin Jazz Conspiracy, amongst some high-profile others. All performing at The American Theatre in Hampton.
I applauded Sinnett during our convo for continuing to produce a real jazz music festival, where his curation yet again includes acclaimed jazz acts of national prominence, who have some significant VA connection. Both Justin and Billy are millennials from Hampton Roads. The founders of the Latin Jazz Conspiracy ensemble are based here. Jazz singer Lori Williams graduated from Hampton University, and Dr. Weldon Hill, who is also performing this year, is a Richmond native. And then there’s, of course, Sinnett himself, who is long regarded as a legendary jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, of national prominence…with over 20 recordings as a leader to his credit, including his recent release, “Parallel 49,” which he’s calling his final album as a leader. And he’s also still host of the highly popular “Sinnett in Session” jazz radio show on local NPR member station, WHRV.
“We still need the resources of funding…That’s my ultimate objective — to get it where it’s self-sustaining,” Sinnett stated, regarding the growth opportunities for the festival, which continues to show steady growth in terms of attendance and local audience engagement. “We really want to grow the festival. And we have momentum… I’m gonna keep the momentum going, but it’s a struggle,” he later added. Following my phone chat with Sinnett, I connected with bassist Jordan Ponzi, one of the three founders of The Latin Jazz Conspiracy, a celebrated local ensemble that incorporates bolero, samba, salsa and other Latin music genres within its eclectic repertoire. The group has been around since 2007, and generally performs with three horns, two to three percussionists, piano, and bass. “We have at least one or two Ray Barretto tunes that I’ve arranged for the group,” said Ponzi, who is still working on formalizing the setlist for their upcoming return performance at the Phoebus festival. “There’s an arrangement of ‘Passion Dance,’ the McCoy Tyner song…” he also mentioned as a possibility to perform.
Earlier in the week, I had a wonderful conversation with the aforementioned Billy Williams, who now lives in RVA, with his wife and daughter. After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University back in 2010, the Virginia Beach native has enjoyed touring internationally, as well as becoming a go-to drummer for many jazz recording sessions. He estimates having appeared thus far on over 50 recordings. Williams grew up in the church, where he indeed played drums as a kid, but it was his acceptance into The Governor’s School for the Arts, that he describes as being “life changing for sure.” He started at GSA playing the French horn… but when he found out about jazz music as an option to explore, he was later admitted into the jazz program, under the watchful eye of Jae Sinnett. “Jae was the teacher that I definitely really needed — in terms of my growth and development. I still refer to a lot of things that he spoke about, even just during that one year,” recalled Williams. It was at GSA where he also met piano wunderkind, Justin Kauflin, who was a year ahead of Williams. His time at GSA prepared him later for his time playing gigs in Richmond, while attending VCU.
Billy was in his last semester at VCU, when he was offered the opportunity to tour Europe with legendary jazz pianist, Larry Willis, for a few weeks. His professors at VCU supported him, so he was able to play those dates with Willis but then came back to graduate. Besides the great Larry Willis, Williams has also worked with the likes of Cyrus Chestnut, Warren Wolf, Christian McBride, Gary Bartz, and many others. He’s also taught at prestigious institutions like Duke University and the National Conservatory of Music. I asked the VA native what drummers inspired him as a young-un on the instrument. “Definitely Elvin Jones is my favorite,” he stated. He also mentioned Tony Williams, Roy Haynes, and Clifford Jarvis. The Billy Williams quartet will perform during the second night of the Phoebus festival. Williams on drums, will be joined by Marcus Tenney on tenor saxophone. George Maddox will join on piano, while Jimmy Trussell is the quartet’s bassist. Williams is excited to perform with his quartet at the festival. “When he (Jae) asked me about it, I was definitely super honored. It’s like a full circle moment for me.”
WANT TO GO?
The Phoebus Jazz Festival
Presented by Hampton Roads Jazz Inc.
September 25: The Latin Jazz Conspiracy, Ada Rovatti Quartet, Lori Williams, Jae Sinnett
September 26: Billy Williams Quartet, Justin Kauflin, Eric Marienthal
The American Theatre
hamptonarts.org