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Greg Williamson

BIO - The Short Version

Greg Williamson, drummer, percussionist and composer, has toured as a member of the swinging big bands of Woody Herman, Glenn Miller and Harry James. He has appeared on over 30 CDs, including the recent "JazzIn It" by singer Dee Daniels, which charted #1 across Canada. He travelled several years with Steve Allen and Tonight Show Live with legendary pianist Paul Smith. He has performed with Seattle's own and widely renown vocalist Ernestine Anderson since 1991, acting in later years as her musical director. He has led his own groups ranging from Greg Williamson Quartet to the Pony Boy All-Star Big Band, and recently formed an organ-quartet "The Young Lizards" bringing jazz sounds to the alt-club scene. He also focuses on large scale multi-media projects, including the award winning "Conversations & Deconstructions" the "1909 AYP - Jazz Music For Seattle's World's Fair." Greg's early experiences came from hanging out with the cats on the scene - legendary jazzers like Buddy Catlett, Ray Brown, Red Kelly, Bill Ramsay and Jay Thomas. In 1994 he founded Pony Boy Records which has produced 40 releases, the annual Pony Boy Records Jazz Picnic, and the weekly series Jazz & Sushi. He is the musical director for Boxley's Jazz Club in North Bend, WA, which features music nightly, and hopes to continue to foster jazz music, and hang out with the cats on the scene

BIO - The Long Version

Greg Williamson began playing drums and piano at an early age, listening to the record collection of his parents, always returning to that curious double live LP by Thelonious Monk. His mother still takes credit for bringing him - at an age less than one year - to concerts of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong in 1965. By the time he hit high school, ha had won several college festival awards. In 1986 he gained a degree in jazz studies from Western Washington University, also studying classical percussion & composition. During this time he played many musicals, big band shows, local gigs, and was principal percussion, timpanist and clinician with the Seattle Youth Symphony.

Woody Herman's Thundering Herd

Woody, Glenn & Harry While in college, he also began hanging out and mentoring with jazz drummers Jeff Hamilton and Mel Lewis - and bassists John Clayton and Ray Brown, soaking up the lineage of jazz. Relocating to Los Angeles, he was very quickly touring with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, then Woody Herman's Young Thundering Herd, and then the Harry James Orchestra. Greg counts these years of road band experience and performing behind guest artists as priceless and immeasurable. Wonderful people like Rosemary Clooney, The Mills Brothers, Anita O'Day, Helen Forest, Helen O'Connell, Art Lund, and others.

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Album Review

Greg Williamson & the Big Bad Groove Society: Swing Your Big Head

Read "Swing Your Big Head" reviewed by Jack Bowers


When one has no idea what to envision, what ensues can sometimes be a pleasant surprise - which is exactly the case with drummer Greg Williamson's new release, Swing Your Big Head. From the instrumentation and (some) song titles, I was half expecting to hear a Dixieland group. What I heard instead was a pretty competent mainstream sextet from the Seattle area whose program gives new meaning to the word “eclectic." There are eight compositions by Williamson, two by Greg ...

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"Williamson provides supple, swinging underpinnings." - Jazz Steps

"Williamson drives with a big band energy." - Cadence Review

"Capturing a groove and sticking with it, a nimble rhythm section... how could you miss?" -Jazz Times

"High on the rhythmic and melodic slam-o-meter... with lushness and rich lustre."- The Rocket

"His enthusiasm is infectious... something very special." - Earshot Jazz

Primary Instrument

Drums

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Credentials/Background

http://www.ponyboyrecords.com/files/williamson/williamson_teach_studio.pdf

Clinic/Workshop Information

http://www.ponyboyrecords.com/files/williamson/williamson_teach_studio.pdf

Photos

Concerts

Apr 20 Sat

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

When You're Smiling

Pony Boy Records
2021

buy

Danny Kolke Trio...

Pony Boy Records
2014

buy

Sunday Nights by...

Pony Boy Records
2013

buy

Jazzinit

OA2 Records
2007

buy

I Could Have Told You

Vivify Music, Inc.
2006

buy

Oo Bop

Pony Boy Records
2005

buy

The Thought of You

From: Jazzinit
By Greg Williamson

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