Joe Williams

Big Joe Williams was a Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist famous for the distinctive sound of his unique nine-string guitar, as well as for recording classic songs like Baby Please Don't Go and Crawling King Snake. His career was remarkable for the fact that he recorded through every decade from the mid-1930s into the'70s, although his periods of active recording were somewhat erratic, while he maintained a constant round of 'live' performing. This great-value 115-track 5-CD set comprises most of the A & B sides of his releases on the Bluebird, Columbia, Bullet, Trumpet & VeeJay labels from 1935 to 1957, plus EP titles and the titles from his albums Piney Woods Blues, A Man Sings The Blues, Tough Times, Blues On Highway 69, Nine-String Guitar Blues and Mississippi's Big Joe Williams & his Nine-String Guitar from 1957 through to 1962. It includes recordings where he is accompanied by noted contemporaries like Sonny Boy Williamson, Ransom Knowling, Robert Lee McCoy, Judge Riley and others. He was one of the most impressive blues performers of his era who inspired many artists of later years like Bob Dylan, and this substantial collection offers an entertaining showcase for a highly original and influential artist.

This recording could be considered a near-sibling to April in Paris, since several of its tracks date from sessions recorded the same month. Others overlap with material cut for The Greatest!! Count Basie Plays, Joe Williams Sings Standards, and aren't as compelling, either as Joe Williams vehicles or Basie showcases. As either of those, though, it does have its moments, most notably the original finale, arranger Ernie Wilkins' "From Coast to Coast," an eight-and-a-half-minute blow-out, the Ella Fitzgerald-Joe Williams duet on "Too Close for Comfort," and the title track, rearranged by Wilkins but close to the classic rendering, which features lively solos by Frank Wess, Benny Powell, Frank Foster, and (especially) Joe Newman and Henry Coker.

Joe Williams (born Joseph Goreed; December 12, 1918 – March 29, 1999) was an American jazz singer. He sang with big bands, such as the Count Basie Orchestra and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, and with small combos.

Joseph Lee "Big Joe" Williams (October 16, 1903 – December 17, 1982) was an American Delta blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, notable for the distinctive sound of his nine-string guitar. Performing over four decades, he recorded the songs "Baby Please Don't Go", "Crawlin' King Snake" and "Peach Orchard Mama", among many others, for various record labels, including Bluebird, Delmark, Okeh, Prestige and Vocalion. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame on October 4, 1992.

Everyday I Have the Blues is an album by singer Joe Williams with Count Basie and His Orchestra featuring tracks recorded in 1959 (with one track from 1957 on the original LP) which was originally released on the Roulette label.

I bought Big Joe Williams’ Blues On Highway 49 because it won the French Grand Prix Du Disque de Jazz about 9 years before Jimmy Dawkins won for his Fast Fingers album.

A Night at Count Basie's is a live album by vocalist Joe Williams recorded at Count Basie's nightclub in Harlem in 1956 and released on the Vanguard label.