Leroy Williams

Leroy Williams ( born February 3, 1937 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American jazz drummer.

Life and career

Williams was born in Chicago in 1937, learned to play the drums largely self-taught, but he was a pupil of Oliver Coleman. He worked in his hometown with Wilbur Ware, Eddie Harris, Jack DeJohnette and Judy Roberts. In 1967 he went to New York City. Here he soon became a sought-after partner of well-known musicians such as Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Woody Shaw, Pepper Adams, Sonny Stitt, James Moody, Ray Bryant, and Andrew Hill, with whom he recorded numerous albums and toured the U.S., Europe, Japan and undertook recently to Africa.

Since 1968 he is a regular partner of Barry Harris since 1980 by Richard Wyands. In the 1980s he formed with Art Davis rhythm section of pianist Tommy Flanagan. In 2004 he released his first album as a bandleader Time is ... by Leroy Williams Quartet.