Born in New York City, Richie Morales is a versatile player who has performed and recorded with a wide range of contemporary artists such as The Brecker Brothers, Spyro Gyra, Grover Washington Jr., Michael Franks, Al DiMeola, Mike Stern, Saxophonist Bill Evans, Diane Reeves, Stevie Wonder, Carly Simon, George Russell’s Living Time Orchestra, Gato Barbieri, Dave Valentin, Ray Barretto, and Herbie Mann. He also leads his own group performing a mixture of Jazz standards and original music. Richie has been a member of the jazz faculty at Purchase College Conservatory of Music SUNY since 2000. He has also taught at the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program.
“The first time I really “heard” Tony Williams, I was at a friend’s house; he was a couple of years older and had a hip Jazz record collection. Eye of The Hurricane from Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage was on the turntable. It suddenly dawned on me that, “Hey these guys have this stuff really worked out - they aren’t just jamming or playing whatever they feel like playing!” I liked jazz prior to that, although I had mainly been listening to Modal stuff like Miles Smiles ( another great Tony Williams performance), and jazz influenced Rock Music. I didn’t really know what I was hearing, I was just drawn to it. Oh, and then we realized that the turntable was on 45 RPM not 33, meaning that the recording was playing twice as fast as it should have been... Ha, well we were partying, I was 16 years old, it was the late 1960’s after all. We had a good laugh, but still the tricky syncopation and meter change in the seventh bar, the minor blues form and the improvisation of the piece still blow my mind to this day and served to open my young ears to form and melody in Jazz. Tony’s cymbal sound of the period is so organic it doesn’t even sound like stick on metal to me. His orchestration of phrases across the whole set, the use of the bass drum as an extra tom voice, the shift of the primary time keeping to stepped 1/8th notes on the hi hat, splashes of colorful cymbal work, all new to my ears, and everybody else’s too. Like so many other musicians I fell under the influence of Anthony Tillman Williams.
By now, everyone is familiar with his story or should be. The wunderkind who turned professional with saxophonists Sam Rivers at age 13, Jackie McLean at 16 and then at 17 hired by trumpeter Miles Davis with whom he helped change the world of jazz drumming and music. Basing his style on the tradition laid down by Max Roach and Art Blakey Tony changed the language of jazz drumming and the role of the drummer in a jazz band, or any band for that matter, as Baby Dodds, Gene Krupa, Papa Joe Jones, and Max Roach did before him. His highly interactive, polyrhythmic, straight 8ths on the hi hat style combined with a brilliant technique reset the bar for drumming, bringing the drummer even more to the forefront of the ensemble than his predecessors had. His band Lifetime was the genesis of fusion music, his compositional skills further illustrating his creativity and musicianship. Lately I’ve been listening to his last recording “Wilderness” which features his orchestral writing. According to Pat Metheny everyone that played on this recording (Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, and Stanley Clarke) were totally impressed at the level of Tony’s skills in classical composition and orchestration.
I first saw Tony play live in 1972 or ’73 at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge in Detroit. It was the beginning or near the beginning of his yellow Gretsch “Big Drum” period. It was an interesting quintet with a vocalist and the great Anthony Jackson on electric bass. They were playing music from “The Old Bum’s Rush” album. The story goes that he knew he was being released from his record label Polydor and that this was the last record of the deal hence the title. This was prior to his legendary “Second Lifetime “ Group with Allan Holdsworth, Alan Pasqua et.al. My mind was blown. I had seen most of the great rock drummers of the era several times, Mitch Mitchell, Ginger Baker, John Bonham, Carmine Appice, all of whom Tony admired by the way. He played with that presence, that heavy beat that they all had, but on another level in terms of concept, technique, sophistication and swing. Make no mistake, this was rock, funk, r&b and jazz influenced music, but from another galaxy. Directly to the shed I went to try and figure out what was going on with my relationship with the drums, if anything.
Fast forward fifteen years or so to the late 1980’s - I was touring with the group Spyro Gyra internationally. We were part of a jazz package that was put together with multiple bands appearing on the same bill on the summer festival circuit. The Tony Williams Quartet, a Post-Bop ensemble with Mulgrew Miller on piano, Billy Pierce on sax, Wallace Roney on trumpet, and Charnett Moffett or Ira Coleman on bass was on the bill. I got to see them several times in the States and Europe all in outdoor venues. You can see this group on the internet in “The Tony Williams Quartet Live in New York” video, full on Big Yellow Kit Tony. Black Dot heads, big cymbals, big hats, fat snare drum, 24” bass drum, 5 perfectly tuned toms. Seeing and hearing him play was frightening and inspirational at the same time. Explosive power, in control and on the edge at the same time, with other worldly technique and striking use of color and melodic expression. Hearing Tony outdoors was ideal because his power and attack could be overwhelming sonically in an indoor venue.
We were in Madrid checking out of the hotel one early morning, lots of musicians of every stripe milling about the lobby, trying to get some coffee, bleary eyed from yet another one nighter in a long string of one nighters. I was a casual acquaintance of Mulgrew Miller Tony’s pianist. He, Tony and I were standing at the front desk trying to check out. He introduced us. We shook hands, he looked at me with a brief moment of recognition and said “ Oh yeah...” I was in heaven. I last saw Tony perform a few months before his untimely passing. Hardly a day goes by where I don’t listen to something he played on. Thank you, Mr. Williams.
Suggested Listening (A few of my favorites not complete by any means)
As a leader:
Spectrum: The Anthology (Early Lifetime)
Believe it ( The Second Lifetime)
The Joy of Flying (Solo record with All Star Cast)
Foreign Intrigue (Next three with The Tony Williams Quartet)
Native Heart
The Story of Neptune
Wilderness ( Featuring an All-Star cast showcasing his orchestral writing)
As a sideman:
Jackie Mclean: One Step Beyond
Herbie Hancock : Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage Miles Davis: Seven Steps to Heaven
ESP
Miles Smiles Nefertiti
In a Silent Way
Charles Lloyd: Of Course, Of Course McCoy Tyner: Super Trios
Richie Morales -- Endorses Yamaha drums, Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth sticks and Aquarian drumheads
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