The drum is a very spiritual instrument,” says Buddy Williams, “if you look at the African thing and communication and at the drum as being the second instrument, behind the voice.” Williams is a good one to talk about the roots of his instrument, since his own musical roots run very deep. He has a dozen “uncles” in the business—close family ties to some of the giants of jazz. Perhaps it’s been partly by osmosis that this drummer got the chops, taste, and instincts that have attracted artists like David Sanborn, Manhattan Transfer, Tania Maria, Grover Washington, Jr., and the Honeydrippers to use him on recent albums and tours, and enabled him to continue to hold down the drum chair in the house band at Saturday Night Live. “Buddy and I have been good friends for about ten years, ” says former Saturday Night Live keyboardist Paul Shaffer. “It’s always […]

March 1986 Issue