Marc Charles "Mars" Williams (May 29, 1955 – November 20, 2023) was 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

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

saxophonist. He was a member of the American new wave band

The Waitresses The Waitresses were an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, best known for their singles " I Know What Boys Like" and " Christmas Wrapping." The band released two albums, '' Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?'' and '' Bruiseology'', and one EP, '' ...

from 1980 to 1983, and a member of the British

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

band

The Psychedelic Furs The Psychedelic Furs are an English rock band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler (singer), Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from ...

from 1983 to 1989 and again from 2005 until his death in 2023. Williams also was a founding member of the

acid jazz Acid jazz (also known as club jazz, psychedelic jazz, or groove jazz) is a music genre that combines elements of funk, soul music, soul, and hip hop music, hip hop, as well as jazz and disco. Acid jazz originated in clubs in London during the 1 ...

group Liquid Soul, and a member of the

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

-oriented NRG Ensemble.

Career

Exposed to

swing music Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

and

Dixieland jazz Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

by his trumpeter father, Williams played classical

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

for ten years before migrating to saxophone in his last year of high school, citing the influence of

Eric Dolphy Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader. Primarily an alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist, Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain ...

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

and

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...

. After attending

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

for a period of time, he took courses from the

Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is an American nonprofit organization, founded in 1965 in Chicago by pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran. The AA ...

, where he studied under founders

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chi ...

and

Roscoe Mitchell Roscoe Mitchell (born August 3, 1940) is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' described him as "one of the key figure ...

. In 2004, he was selected by the

Moers Festival The Moers Festival is an annual international music festival in Moers, Moers, Germany. The festival has changed from concentrating on free jazz to including world music, world and pop music, though it still invites many avant-garde jazz musicians. ...

as their featured artist. As a musician,

orchestrator Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

and

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

, Williams was best known for his 1980-1983 tenure with The Waitresses and his ensuing career with The Psychedelic Furs. He was only to tour with The Furs in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

for a month in 1983 as a temporary replacement for touring saxophonist Gary Windo, who was unable to make the trip. Following a successful tour with The Furs and the concomitant breakup of The Waitresses, he stayed on as a permanent member of the former group until 1989, ultimately rejoining in 2005. He also performed with

Billy Idol William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Idol achieved fame in the 1970s on the London punk rock scene as the lead singer of Generation X ...

, the

Power Station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

Billy Squier William Haislip Squier (, born May 12, 1950) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who had a string of arena rock and crossover hits in the early 1980s. His best-known songs include " The Stroke", " Lonely Is the Night", " My Kinda Love ...

Massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

, Ministry, Die Warzau, and the Ike Reilly Assassination. According to longtime

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

manager Rock Scully, Williams occasionally performed in ad-hoc ensembles at the Blues Bar (a private

TriBeCa Tribeca ( ), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Str ...

afterhours club An afterhours club (''aka'' after hours club and afterhour club) is a nightclub that is open past the designated curfew closing time for clubs that serve alcohol (which is often an hour long). Such clubs may cease serving alcohol at the designated ...

operated by ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' cast members

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...

and

John Belushi John Adam Belushi ( ; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, singer and musician. He was one of seven ''Saturday Night Live'' cast members of the first season. He was arguably the most popular member of the ''Satur ...

, throughout their tenure on the show in the late 1970s) with such 1960s rock luminaries as Rick Danko and

Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to ...

. Williams toured and recorded with the

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (6 March 1941 – 22 June 2023) was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his m ...

Tentet, the

Vandermark 5 Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered composi ...

, Cinghiale,

Our Daughter's Wedding Our Daughter's Wedding was an American synthpop trio (music), trio, consisting of Layne Rico on Synare synthesizer, Keith Silva on human voice, vocals and keyboard instrument, keyboards, and Scott Simon on bass-synth and saxophone. Though the gr ...

, and Mark Freeland's Electroman, and was the bandleader of several spin-off jazz groups:

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 ...

nominated,

pioneer Liquid Soul,

Hal Russell Hal Russell (born Harold Russell Luttenbacher, August 28, 1926 – September 5, 1992) was an American free jazz composer, band leader and multi-instrumentalist who performed mainly on saxophone and drums but occasionally on trumpet or vibrapho ...

's NRG Ensemble, Witches & Devils, Slam, and XmarsX. He was active in the Chicago improvisational jazz underground scene both individually and as a member of the quartet Extraordinary Popular Delusions.

Death

Williams died in Chicago of

periampullary cancer Periampullary cancer is a cancer that forms near the ampulla of Vater, an enlargement of the ducts from the liver and pancreas where they join and enter the small intestine. Quoted material is in the public domain. It consists of: # ampullary t ...

on November 20, 2023, at the age of 68. He had been diagnosed with cancer in 2022. Williams had played his final concerts with the Psychedelic Furs in October 2023.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

*''

Eftsoons ''Eftsoons'' is an album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell with Mars Williams recorded in 1981 and originally released on the Nessa label.Nessa, 1981

985 Year 985 ( CMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Henry II (the Wrangler) is restored as duke of Bavaria by Empress Theophanu and her mother-in-law Adelaide at an ...

with

* Cinghiale: ''

Hoofbeats of the Snorting Swine ''Hoofbeats of the Snorting Swine'' is an album by Cinghiale, a reed duo composed of Mars Williams and Ken Vandermark, which was released in 1996 on Eighth Day Music. At the time of recording Vandermark was member of the post-Hal Russell NRG En ...

'' (Eight Day, 1996) with

Ken Vandermark Ken Vandermark (born September 22, 1964) is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist. A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered composit ...

* Witches & Devils: ''At the Empty Bottle'' (

Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment and is co-owned and co-operated by Knitting Factory Entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United Stat ...

, 2000) * ''Moments Form'' (Idyllic Noise, 2013) With Boneshaker (Mars Williams, Paal Nilssen-Love, Kent Kessler) * ''Boneshaker'' ( Trost, 2012) * ''Unusual Words'' (Soul What, 2014) * ''Thinking Out Loud'' (Trost, 2017) * ''Fake Music'' (Soul What, 2019) With the NRG Ensemble * '' Calling All Mothers'' (Quinnah, 1994) * '' This Is My House'' ( Delmark, 1996) * ''Bejazzo Gets a Facelift'' ( Atavaistic, 1998) With Liquid Soul * '' Liquid Soul'' (1995) * '' Make Some Noise'' (1998) * '' Here's the Deal'' (2000) * ''Evolution'' (2002) * ''One-Two Punch'' (2006) With '
Switchback
'' (Mars Williams / Wacław Zimpel / Hilliard Greene / Klaus Kugel) * Switchback (Multikulti, 2015) * Live in Ukraine (Multikulti, 2016)

As sideman

With Harrison Bankhead * '' Morning Sun/Harvest Moon'' (Engine, 2011) * '' Velvet Blue'' (Engine, 2013) With

* '' The Chicago Octet/Tentet'' (Okka Disc, 1998) With

/ NRG Ensemble * ''

Elixir An elixir is a sweet liquid used for medical purposes, to be taken orally and intended to cure one's illness. When used as a dosage form, pharmaceutical preparation, an elixir contains at least one active ingredient designed to be taken orall ...

'' (Atavistic, 1979 001 * '' Hal on Earth'' (Abduction, 1989) * '' The Finnish/Swiss Tour'' ( ECM, 1991) * '' The Hal Russell Story'' (ECM, 1993) With

* ''

Standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object t ...

'' (Quinnah, 1995) * Barrage Double Trio: '' Utility Hitter'' (Quinnah, 1996) * Vandermark 5: '' Single Piece Flow'' (Atavistic, 1997) * Vandermark 5: '' Target or Flag'' (Atavistic, 1998) With The Swollen Monkeys * ''Afterbirth of the Cool'' (Cachalot, 1981) produced by Hal Willner With The Luck of Eden Hall * '' Ten Meters Over The Ground'' (Alligators Eat Gumdrops, ltd edition 200, 2012) With Custard Flux * '' Oxygen/Gelatinous Mass'' (Oxygen CFX002, 2020) * '' Phosphorus, The Gardener, Strawberry Squid, Orbital Transport '' (Phosphorus CF003, 2022)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Mars 1955 births 2023 deaths American jazz saxophonists American male saxophonists American rock saxophonists The Psychedelic Furs members The Waitresses members People from Elmhurst, Illinois 21st-century American saxophonists Jazz musicians from Illinois American male jazz musicians NRG Ensemble members Atavistic Records artists Delmark Records artists Deaths from cancer in Illinois Deaths from small intestine cancer Liquid Soul members