Tony Williams Essential Emergency!!

I first heard this album after Tony Williams died at the young age of 51. He was an amazing drummer who at the age of almost 18 played with Miles Davis for five years in the classic quartet that included Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Wayne Shorter. All of these musicians in their own right are top notch players. At 15 he was doing jam sessions in Boston and at around 18 before he did play in Miles Davis's band he was in two important Jazz albums Andrew Hill's Point of Departure and Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch.

His tenure in Miles Davis's band gained him a lot of popularity and gave him a lot of knowledge on how to play the right way. His loud playing made him a force not to be messed with in most circles of Jazz. When I heard him for the first time I heard him with Miles and I could understand how great and how many people revered him. Even more when you hear him on Out to Lunch his technical skills are out of this world.



His jazz chops were left behind on this album though. His wonderful mix of Funk, Fusion, Rock and Hard Bop are pretty clear. Also, for the first time you hear Tony sing. He may be not the best singer in the world, but his voice adds some unique charm to this album. What is even better is the people he is playing with on this album. One of them I talked about in one of my first posts, John McLaughlin. The Amazing guitar player got his first big break here with Tony Williams and Tony introduced him to Miles Davis and the rest is history.

The other is Larry Young. Not many people know the organ player Larry Young, but his presence in Jazz was amazing. Larry at one point was considered the John Coltrane of organ playing. Larry Young sadly too lived a short life, but his organ playing will last a lifetime with the people he played with and on his own albums. I suggest an album from him that came out in 1965 called Unity. One of the best album of it's time.



You get three important giants of the Jazz world and now you have one hell of an album. Originally issued as two separate album this would have been a double album in most worlds, but they broke it up in two. It was something that should not have been done. The album is a monster and hearing all three superstars is amazing. What is odd about the album is the fact that Tony Sings on a few tracks. What makes this album unique is that Williams pushes into new territory, creating dense, adventurous, unpredictable soundscapes.

The album with only eight tracks is an album that needs to be heard. the shortest songs are five minutes in length. The longest being thirteen and they all pack so much into them in the time they have. McLaughlin's guitar sings so well and the organ is just amazing. Tony has never sounded better. Still I go back to the title track again and again and not to mention "Where" is amazing. Even the song "Spectrum" has got some great chops! The album was a defining moment in history and will change what you think about in music. Go get it now!!! Enjoy!!