Podcast 963: A Conversation with Buster Williams

Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show

As 2023 comes to a close, Straight No Chaser posts a few conversations with artists who produced memorable albums this year. Today’s podcast features bassist Buster Williams, who released Unalome on the Smoke Sessions label this past winter.

While the band on Unalome is familiar – drummer Lenny White, pianist George Colligan, alto saxophonist Bruce Williams and Vibes master Stefon Harris are all long-time running partners – the album adds vocalist Jean Baylor for covers and Williams originals that take his music in a less familiar territory. One of the most revered bassists of the last half century, the Grammy-winning Williams has played, recorded, and collaborated with such jazz giants as Art Blakey, Chet Baker, Chick Corea, Dexter Gordon, Jimmy Heath, Larry Coryell, Wynton, and Branford Marsalis, Sonny Rollins, Count Basie, Errol Garner, Freddie Hubbard, and countless others. He was a charter member of Herbie Hancock’s groundbreaking Mwandishi band and the all-star Thelonious Monk tribute ensemble Sphere. And at 80 years of age, Buster Williams shows no sign of slowing his climb along that ascending path. Among the topics we disucss was the recent documentary about Buster's life, "From Bass to Ininity" directed by Adam Kahan.

Musical selections for Podcast 96_ include the Williams original “In the Middle of a Rainbow,” and a revamped take on the classic “42nd Street.” If you enjoyed this podcast, please check out Podcast 486 for another conversation with Buster from 2015.