[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 149 (Thursday, September 14, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1234-E1235]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING BEN WILLIAMS

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 14, 2017

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, jazz artist Ben Williams will be honored 
this year by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation at the Jazz 
Forum and Concert during the 47th Annual Legislative Conference. Mr. 
Williams, an internationally renowned bassist and composer, will also 
perform his Protest Anthology at the concert, which will take place on 
Thursday, September 21, 2017, at the Walter E. Washington Convention 
Center, in Washington, D.C. Mr. Williams will receive the 2017 CBCF ALC 
Jazz Innovator Award for his highly creative and multi-faceted 
contributions to jazz and world culture.
  I am very proud to have known this very talented artist for many 
years. I am also pleased to share the following details of his 
impressive career as they appear in his biography.
  Ben's mother used to work in my Capitol Hill office. When she took 
Ben, an energetic and curious six-year-old, into the office on his 
school break, a watchful eye was in order. One afternoon, while 
rambling around my personal office, Ben discovered a huge object that 
instantly captured his imagination. The shiny upright bass was like 
nothing the kid had ever seen. He tapped on it. He popped a string. He 
climbed up on it. ``What is this thing?'' he wondered.
  Twenty years later, Ben Williams is still surprised at that chance 
meeting.
  ``Its low frequency attracted me,'' Williams recalls, ``the way the 
instrument felt when I touched it. Then later, just the feeling of 
playing a groove. When you play a bass the whole instrument vibrates. 
It almost feels like the spirit of another human being. It's like 
dancing with somebody and being in full contact with them. And the 
sound of the instrument appealed to me. It's warm and deep and it 
resonated with me.''
  On the eve of his first CD, State of Art, Ben Williams had become one 
of the most sought after bassists in the world, his resume a who's who 
of jazz wisdom: Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Terence 
Blanchard, Christian McBride Big Band, Nicholas Payton,

[[Page E1235]]

Paquito D'Rivera, Cyrus Chestnut, Benny Golson, George Duke, Eric Reed, 
Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Hargrove, and Mulgrew Miller, to name a few. 
State of Art signaled Williams' emergence as a prominent voice in the 
greater jazz community.
  Ben's warm, woody tone, flowing groove, melodic phrasing, and 
storytelling approach has found favor among not just musicians, but 
also a larger audience. A bandleader, musical educator, composer, and 
electric and acoustic bassist, Ben was the winner of the 2009 
Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition, a prestigious 
and important award that has propelled many a promising career. Working 
with New York's finest jazz musicians even before graduating from 
Juilliard, Williams showcased his band, Sound Effect, at The Jazz 
Gallery in New York, receiving an enthusiastic New York Times review. 
Writer Nate Chinen stated, ``Williams took several long solos in his 
first set at The Jazz Gallery . . . and each one felt more like an 
entitlement than an indulgence.'' Williams has recorded and performed 
regularly as a member of bands led by saxophonist Marcus Strickland, 
pianist Jacky Terrasson, and vibraphonist Stefon Harris. He has led his 
own groups at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Harlem Stage, Rubin Museum of 
Art, Tribeca PAC in New York City, and SPAC in Saratoga Springs, NY.
  Growing up in a family of musicians, visual artists, and rappers, 
young Ben Williams didn't plan on being a bassist and band leader. He 
wanted to be a rock star. His heroes were Prince and Michael Jackson, 
not Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus. Once again, a chance meeting 
altered his future.
  ``I'd been playing piano by ear, but I wanted to play guitar,'' 
Williams recalls. ``My middle school offered a strings class where 
figured I could learn guitar. Then I got there and it was all violins 
and cellos--no guitars. So I choose the coolest instrument I saw, the 
bass. It just looked right.''
  Williams was a natural. He excelled on both bass and piano, and once 
enrolled at the Duke Ellington High School of the Arts, he became a 
star student, performing in jazz band, gospel choir, and orchestra, as 
well as extracurricular gigs. Williams graduated with honors and with a 
Best in Instrumental Music Award. He won scholarships from the Fish 
Middleton Scholarship Competition of the East Coast Jazz Festival, the 
International Society of Bassist's Competition, the Steans Music 
Institute, the Duke Ellington Jazz Society, the International 
Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), and the DC Public Schools City-
Wide Annual Piano Competition. Williams received his Bachelor's in 
Music Education at Michigan State University in 2007, and his Master's 
in Music from the Juilliard School in 2009.
  ``In high school I dedicated myself to the bass and to jazz,'' 
Williams says. ``I knew this could be a profession, and if I could do 
what I love for a living--man, what is better than that? You always 
feel like a student playing jazz, there is so much to learn. There's 
never a point where you think you've arrived. I am trying to get better 
every day. Even Roy Haynes, when you see him play you get a sense that 
he is still trying to find new things.''
  Like many self-aware jazz musicians, Ben Williams has several 
influences, from ``Wayne Shorter, Stevie Wonder and Duke Ellington'' to 
``hip-hop and gospel, Little Dragon, Billy Joel, Marvin Gaye.'' And 
like his colleagues in the new guard of jazz, Williams is constantly 
looking ahead, seeking the music's potential and his place in it.
  ``I've worked with Stefon Harris' Blackout for the past few years,'' 
Williams cites. ``He has definitely been a huge influence in my concept 
of playing music. We have a similar viewpoint to music and jazz. He's 
very much about addressing modern times and not rehashing old material. 
To really interpret what is happening right now, a lot of jazz 
musicians are into hip-hop and R&B, but they don't put that into their 
music. We keep up with the times and we're not afraid to put that into 
our music.''
  To other musician's music Williams brings his great natural skill and 
determination to explore, to expand boundaries while sustaining 
tradition. State of Art is a mature statement stamped with his voice, 
the next step in Ben Williams' evolution.
  ``I wanted to make an album that regular nine-to-five people could 
enjoy,'' Williams says; ``and to make a deep artistic statement as 
well. I like music that grooves, and I make sure that my music feels 
good.''
  ``I always bring a certain energy to whatever the musical situation 
is,'' the soft-spoken musician adds. ``I try to be a team player and be 
supportive, but also, I try to add my voice to the situation. It's a 
fine balance between putting your stamp on things and being supportive. 
I've found that balance pretty well.
  ``The diversity of my musical upbringing has allowed me to be 
comfortable in many different musical situations. I don't try to sound 
like anyone else, I just try to be honest musically and bring a 
youthful spirit.''
  Mr. Speaker, Ben Williams is an accomplished young artist and band 
leader that has made a lasting impression on jazz as an art and as a 
field. Ben Williams has become a national jazz treasure of 
international acclaim, and I urge all Members to join me in commending 
him for his magnificent contributions.

                          ____________________