Mike Williams is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

residing in

Lapeer, Michigan Lapeer ( ') is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is the county seat of Lapeer County. As of the 2020 census, the city population was . Most of the city was incorporated from land that was formerly in Lapeer Township, though portions were ...

. He is most noted as the lead trumpeter for the

Count Basie Orchestra The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16- to 18-piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 19 ...

, an esteemed chair which he held without interruption for more than 21 years. Mike can be heard on numerous Count Basie Orchestra recordings (some of them

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

winners), including the recent ''"Basie Is Back"'' (recorded live in Japan) and the Grammy nominated ''" Ray Sings, Basie Swings,"'' on which he was a featured soloist. As a member of the Basie Band, he has performed in all 50 states and 40 countries with such notable names as

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

Billy Eckstine William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993) was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras. He was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice. In 2019, Eckstine was posthumously a ...

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (, March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "List of nicknames of jazz musicians, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the ...

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

and

Diane Schuur Diane Joan Schuur (born December 10, 1953), nicknamed "Deedles", is an American jazz singer and pianist. As of 2015, Schuur had released 23 albums, and had extended her jazz repertoire to include essences of Latin, gospel, pop and country musi ...

. Mike is a native of

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...

. He attended the

University of North Texas College of Music The University of North Texas College of Music, based in Denton, is a comprehensive music school among the largest enrollment of any music institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. It developed the first jazz studies ...

, where he studied with noted trumpeter

Don Jacoby Don "Jake" Jacoby was a noted trumpeter, teacher, band leader and author who died December 25, 1992, at the age of seventy-two. He played with Benny Goodman, Les Brown, did session work for CBS, NBC and soloed at Carnegie Hall. In addition, he ...

, and was a member of the famous One O'Clock Lab Band. In addition to touring and recording with

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

, he also performs and records with other noted jazz groups, including Charles Tolliver Big Band. Mike also played trumpet for several years with the 156th Army Band, part of the

Louisiana Army National Guard The Louisiana Army National Guard (; ) is a component of the Louisiana National Guard, and the state's reserve force within the United States Army. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal ...

based in

Bossier City, Louisiana Bossier City ( ) is a city in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, Bossier Parish in the northwestern region of the U.S. state, state of Louisiana in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in the Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area ...

under the direction of Dr. Douglas Peterson.

External links

Count Basie Orchestra news page

Review of The Count Basie Orchestra and Vocalist Lizz Wright
at AllAboutJazz.com

by Tony Gieske
CD Reviews Count Basie: The Legend, The Legacy

*
Article: Count Basie' s Centennial Celebration (August 9, 2004)
by Jim Santella

* ttp://www.calicchio.com/playerDetails.cfm?pid=29 Mike Williams bio at Calicchio Musical Instruments website* {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Mike American jazz trumpeters American male trumpeters Swing musicians University of North Texas College of Music alumni Living people People from Lapeer, Michigan 21st-century American trumpeters Jazz musicians from Michigan 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians Year of birth missing (living people)