Who She Do – 1998

Joe Williams

Williams has fun on an uptempo blues

One of the great jazz singers, Joe Williams came to fame with Count Basie during the second half of the 1950s and had a busy solo career after he left Basie in the early 1960s.

While he loved singing ballads and standards, his renditions of medium and uptempo blues were particularly memorable, particularly when he would toss in double entendres with a smile.

On this film from a year before his passing, Joe Williams (1918-99) is full of youthful spirit and sass, swinging hard with a group that includes violinist Nicole Yarling, guitarist Henry Johnson, and pianist David Siegel.

-Scott Yanow