Harold Ivory Williams

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Harold "Ivory" Williams, Jr.

Background information
Birth name	Harold I. Williams
Also known as	Harold "Ivory" Williams, Harold Williams
Genre(s)	Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Funk, Soul, Electronic, Gospel
Instrument(s)	Piano
Years active	1950s - present
Associated acts	Miles Davis, Bloodstone

Harold "Ivory" Williams, Jr. is an American jazz keyboardist most known for working with Miles Davis, the Rev. James Cleveland and as a member of the band Bloodstone.

1 Biography
2 Gallery
3 Select discography
4 References

[edit] Biography

Williams was named after his father, Bishop Harold I. Williams, D.D., who has been the Senior prelate of the Mount Calvary Churches Of America and International Inc. since 1972. He has one sister, Rev. Hope Ivy Mason, and is the step-son to Grammy Award-winning gospel singer Shirley Caesar. Williams started playing piano at the age of 3, becoming an accomplished and sought-after pianist.

Raised in church where his grandmother, father and mother were the Pastors at one time or another, Williams was the church organist. He was often in demand all over the city, as well as up and down the East Coast. Williams appeared on the album, The Best Of James Cleveland and the Gospel Music Workshop of America.

He was heralded by many in the late 1960s - 80's as a musical genius, electronic wizard (long before technology became the norm and was consequently revered as being ahead of his time. He played an active roll in the development of the Jazz Fusion Era introducing elements of Gospel and classical music to the mix as evidence on the Big Fun, Miles Davis album.^{[citation needed]}

Equally proficient in jazz, gospel, and classical music, Williams is a former student of the Peabody Institute.^{[citation needed]}

Williams has appeared as a solo artist at Carnegie Hall and has performed with Miles Davis, James Cleveland, George Duke, Sounds of Philly, Albertina Walker, Michal Urbaniak, and his wife, singer Ursula Dudziak, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and others while still a teenage prodigy.^{[citation needed]} Williams, on the verge of international success, was forced to stop due to a debilitating illness.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Gallery

Harold Ivory Williams

70's Fusion Era

[edit] Select discography

Miles Davis - Miles Davis: The Columbia Years 1955-1985, Columbia - synthesizer on "Thinkin' One Thing And Doin' Another"
Miles Davis - On the Corner (1972), Columbia - keyboards
MFSB - MFSB (1973), CBS/Sony
Miles Davis - Big Fun (1974), Columbia - piano on "Ife"
Urszula Dudziak - Urszula (1976), Arista
Miles Davis/Bill Laswell - Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-1974 (1998)
Miles Davis - The Complete On the Corner Sessions (2007), Columbia

[edit] References

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