Lamar Williams

Lamar Williams (January 14, 1949 – January 21, 1983) was an American musician best known for serving as the bassist of The Allman Brothers Band (1972–1976) and Sea Level (1976–1980).

Lamar Williams
Born(1949-01-14)January 14, 1949
Gulfport, Mississippi , U.S.
DiedJanuary 21, 1983(1983-01-21) (aged 34)
GenresRock, Jam, Alternative rock, Southern rock
Occupation(s)Musician
InstrumentsBass guitar
Years active1972 - 1983
Associated actsSounds of Soul
The Allman Brothers Band
Sea Level
Wayne Sharp and The Sharpshooter Band

Early years

Williams was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew up in nearby Handsboro, Mississippi.[1] He also spent time in Newton, Mississippi.[2] A self-taught musician, he was attracted to the bass lines in songs and so sought to master that instrument.[2] Beginning at age 14 he played with Deep South, a gospel music group that his father sang with.[2]

Around 1965 he met drummer Jai Johanny Johanson, later to be known as Jaimoe, in high school and began played in bands with him.[2] They played in a number of bands along with Gulf Coast, the most known of which was George Woods' Sounds of Soul,[1] for whom Williams played from 1965 to 1967.[2] Williams was influenced by players from James Jamerson in R&B to Stanley Clarke in jazz,[2] and in turn Williams' R&B playing helped Jaimoe gain a better understanding of how to play the bass drum and where to place the beat.[3]

Military service

In 1968, Williams was drafted into the United States Army.[4] Initially he was assigned to a Special Services band,[4] which performed for Army basic training recruits, for non-commissioned officers' clubs, and for local townspeople.[2] They played music in many different genres, including country and western and ragtime.[2] Williams later reflected that it had been an interesting time musically and that, "I think it's important to have perspectives on different types of music and not let yourself get into a rut by playing only one style. I like to keep track of all of it."[2]

Williams was then shipped overseas to South Vietnam, during the Vietnam War.[4] He was opposed to the war in particular and was a pacifist who was opposed to killing in general.[4][5] According to Willie Perkins, the Allmans' road manager, "one day when his unit took a column left, Lamar took a column right into the countryside."[5] According to author Scott Freeman, who wrote a history of the Allman Brothers, Williams related that he went AWOL as soon as he arrived at an airbase in South Vietnam, running between two barracks and into the jungle.[4] He wandered around the countryside for several months, occasionally joining a new unit and giving a story that he had become separated from his previous unit.[4]

Williams was given an honorable discharge in 1970,[4] with the rank of private.[6]

Musical career

The Allman Brothers

After jamming with a Biloxi group known as the Fungus Blues Band, Williams joined the Allman Brothers Band in late 1972 after the death of original bassist Berry Oakley. His tenure in the group coincided with the peak of their commercial success. When Williams auditioned, or 'tried out,' for the bass player gig with the Allmans, second drummer Butch Trucks suddenly declared after three songs, "Enough of this tryout shit, let's rehearse." Although rooted in the contrapuntal fluidity of Jamerson's style, Williams' style was more traditional than Oakley's lead guitar-like approach, freeing the band's drummers to be more adventurous.[7][3][8]

Sea Level

After the Allmans dissolved in 1976, Williams founded Sea Level with Johanson and pianist Chuck Leavell of the Allmans.[9] In Sea Level he played in a looser, jazzier fashion. Williams left Sea Level in 1980, shortly before that band broke up.[10][11]

Wayne Sharp and The Sharpshooter Band

Soon after, Jaimoe and Lamar were asked to join longtime friend from Mississippi, Wayne Sharp and his band, The SharpShooter Band, in California. The SharpShooter Band went into the studio and then went on tour. Lamar became ill while touring. In January 1983, Lamar died, and the band went on hold.[12][13][14]

Personal life and family

Williams married Marian Belina in 1974 and they had two children. One child, Lamar Williams, Jr., is also a musician and currently plays with the Athens, Georgia-based band The Revival. From 2015 to 2017, he also performed with several Allman Brothers alumni (including Johanson, Trucks, percussionist Marc Quiñones and bassist Oteil Burbridge) as a vocalist in Les Brers. The short-lived band (envisioned as a continuation of the Allman Brothers Band's stylistic approach) fulfilled its final engagement in August 2017 following Trucks' death in January of that year.

One of Williams' brothers, James Williams, is also a bassist. He is a founding member of the Lansing, Michigan-based blues band Root Doctor.[15][16]

Illness and death

Williams was found to have lung cancer in 1981. His doctors believed that the disease was derived from exposure to Agent Orange during his Vietnam service. He died less than two years later, seven days after his 34th birthday, and was buried in Biloxi National Cemetery in Biloxi, Mississippi.[17]

In 2015, the Mississippi Blues Trail placed a historical marker titled "Gulfport Boogie" to honor Jaimoe, Williams, and others from the immediate area who had left their mark on the American musical landscape.[1]

Discography
The Allman Brothers Band

References
  1. Leggett-Brown, Karrie (January 9, 2015). "Mississippi Blues Trail to unveil marker honoring Gulfport musicians". Laurel, Mississippi: WDAM. Visit Mississippi.
  2. Schwartz, Jim (January 1980). "Sea Level: Rock, Funk, and Blues from the South". Guitar Player.
  3. One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band, By Alan Paul - pages 199–200
  4. Freeman, Scott (1996). Midnight Riders: The Story of the Allman Brothers Band. Little, Brown and Company. p. 144. ISBN 978-0316294522.
  5. No Saints, No Saviors: My Years with the Allman Brothers Band, By Willie Perkins - Page 82
  6. See photo at Find-a-grave.
  7. Bman's Blues Library - A tribute to Lamar Williams
  8. No Saints, No Saviors: My Years with the Allman Brothers Band, By Willie Perkins - Page 82 21 A New Beginning
  9. The Artificial Southerner: Equivocations and Love Songs, By Philip Martin - Page 77
  10. Bman's Blues Library - A tribute to Lamar Williams
  11. The Shed Barebeque & Blues Joint - Bands, Wayne Sharp and The Sharpshooter Band
  12. The Allman Brothers Band Website - Family Tree
  13. Jaimoe
  14. The Shed Barebeque & Blues Joint - Bands, Wayne Sharp and The Sharpshooter Band
  15. All About Jazz, October 15, 2008 - Greg Nagy: Our Time Has Come - By David King
  16. Insurgentcountry.net - Root Doctor featuring Freddie Cunningham, 'New Attitude' by Johanna B. Bodde
  17. Findagrave.com memorial page for Lamar Williams (retrieved 11 June 2017)
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