Patrick Williams (composer)


Patrick Moody Williams was an American composer, arranger, and conductor who worked in many genres of music, and in film and television.
WWW patrickwilliamsmusic.com

Education

Williams was born in Bonne Terre, Missouri. At age 10, his family moved to Connecticut. He graduated from Darien High School in 1957, where he was taught classical trumpet and led his own swing-oriented jazz band. Williams earned a degree in history at Duke University in 1961. From 1959 to 1961, Williams performed with the student-run jazz big band, the Duke Ambassadors, and served as the band's leader the latter two years. After graduation, Williams moved to New York City, where, in post-graduate work at Columbia University, he studied music composition and conducting.

Early career

In New York City, Williams began work in conducting and arranging, eventually finding lucrative employment writing music for advertising jingles. In 1967, he was hired as music director for an NBC Television Network program titled "A Funny Thing Happened on The Way To Hollywood", hosted by Jack Paar. Independent record executive Pete Spargo produced three LPs for Williams in 1968 and 1969, released on the Verve label, featuring a "mod brass" band that included trombonist Bill Watrous, trumpeter Marvin Stamm, and percussionist Bill LaVorgna. "Pat Williams and his Shades of Today Orchestra" backed the 11th annual Grammy Awards ceremonies in New York City in March 1969.

Film and television

Inspired by the work of Henry Mancini, Williams moved to California to try his luck writing music for motion pictures. Mancini helped Williams get one of his earliest assignments, for the 1968 comedy "How Sweet It Is!", which starred James Garner and Debbie Reynolds. Williams kept a hand in commercial composition; in May 1969 he created musical station breaks and material for Radio Station KSFO in San Francisco. In early television work, Williams was the music director for the Fall 1969 ABC Television Network weekly program, "The Music Scene", and composed, arranged, and conducted its theme music.
Williams composed themes for the television series Lou Grant, The Bob Newhart Show, The Streets of San Francisco, and The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, and composed music for Columbo, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and more than 100 TV-movies and miniseries. Among the latter were " Decoration Day," " Geronimo" and "Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long", and miniseries " Jewels," " Jesus," and " Blonde." Williams’ jazz-funk arrangement of the Beatles' "Get Back", from his Verve album Heavy Vibrations, was used as the longtime theme for the 1970s sports quiz show Sports Challenge, emceed by Dick Enberg.
Over a period of nearly 40 years, Williams scored more than 65 feature films, including All of Me; Swing Shift; Cuba; The Grass Harp; and Breaking Away, for which he received a 1980 Oscar nomination. In 2009, Williams was a music arranger for the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

Recordings

Williams composed, produced, and conducted the album Threshold for Capitol Records in 1973. The following year it was awarded a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement.
In addition to Threshold, several of Williams' other recordings are also considered contemporary big-band standards, including Dreams and Themes ; Tenth Avenue—a double Grammy nominee in 1987; and Sinatraland, a tribute to the singer which was Grammy-nominated in 1998. Into the 21st century, Williams' Aurora and his Home Suite Home earned a combined three additional Grammy nominations.

Compositions

In contrast to his film and television work and pop recordings, Williams composed and conducted many works regarded as symphonic. An American Concerto, composed in 1976, was one of the first successful attempts to combine jazz elements with traditional symphonic writing. In addition to An American Concerto his compositions include Romances, Adagio, and August, as well as Suite Memories for trombone and symphony orchestra, which won a 1986 Grammy; Spring Wings, a double concerto for piano and saxophone and symphony orchestra; Appalachian Morning, recorded by the Boston Pops; Memento Mei for solo soprano and orchestra; and The Prayer of St. Francis for flute and strings.
Williams spent eight months composing the 1986 orchestral work Gulliver, which was recorded by London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with narration written by Larry Gelbart, read by John Gielgud. For the concert premiere, Williams conducted the Yale Philharmonic with Tony Randall narrating.
For clarinetist Eddie Daniels, Williams wrote A Concerto in Swing; for saxophonist Tom Scott, he penned Romances for Jazz Soloist and Orchestra. His Theme For Earth Day was recorded by John Williams and the Boston Pops.

Music education

Williams was prominent in the music-education field. For five years he served as the artistic director of the Henry Mancini Institute, one of the nation's premier training programs for young musicians seeking professional careers in music. Williams was Visiting Professor and Composer-in-Residence at the University of Utah and the University of Colorado, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. He also held an honorary doctorate from his alma mater Duke University and performed and/or lectured at such other institutions as the Berklee College of Music, Indiana University, Texas Christian University, UCLA, USC, and Yale University.

Collaborations

In 1992, Frank Sinatra approached Williams about conducting, producing and arranging the Duets albums. Williams agreed, and went on to conduct and re-arrange both Duets and Duets II in 1994. Williams often referred to this as one of the fondest accomplishments of his entire career. This was not the first time Williams had worked with Sinatra, however. In the 1980s the two had worked together on concert arrangements. Williams recalled writing an uptempo version of "September in the Rain."
In 2016, Deana Martin, daughter of Dean Martin, recorded a new swing album, which Williams scored and conducted. He also wrote five songs featured in the album: "52nd & Broadway," co-written with Gail Kantor; "I've Been Around," "Hearing Ella Sing,” and “Good Things Grow,” co-written with Arthur Hamilton; and “I Know What You Are” co-written with Will Jennings. The album Swing Street was released in 2016.
Williams was contracted frequently by the major labels; however, he always managed to find time to share his talents with up-and-comers he believed in. In 2013, Williams produced and arranged two singles for 23 year-old vocalist James DeFrances. The premise was Big Band, swing covers of current pop songs, similar to what Williams had done for Paul Anka on the latter's 2005 Rock Swings album. DeFrances and Williams subsequently created their covers of "Call Me Maybe" and "Suit & Tie". These sessions marked a reunion of the Sinatra Duets orchestra and production staff at Capitol Records for the first time since 1994. Al Schmitt engineered the sessions and, to add to the nostalgia, he set up a Neumann U47 microphone previously owned by Sinatra himself. Williams' daughter Greer acted as creative director for this project.

Awards and honors

Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for composing the orchestral work An American Concerto, Williams won two Grammys for his jazz arrangements, four Emmys for his television music, an Oscar nomination for film composition, and the Richard Kirk Award from BMI. Williams was nominated for a total of 21 Grammys and 22 Emmys.

Death

Williams died of cancer in Santa Monica, California, on July 25, 2018, at age 79.

Reception

Respected music critic Gene Lees was quoted as saying: "His An American Concerto is, in my opinion, the best mixture of jazz and classical that anybody has ever done. Pat's writing is breathtaking. He's just one of the finest arrangers and composers who ever put pen to paper."
Daniel Cariaga wrote in the Los Angeles Times: " An American Concerto must be one of the most attractive, affecting and original of jazz-symphonic meldings. The style is unrestrained, the tunes ingratiating, the writing expert. What Williams owes to the fair influences of Debussy, Bartok, Stravinsky and Rachmaninoff seems no more and no less than other living composers may owe in those directions. What sets him a cut above others is the individual integration he has achieved out of those influences."

Feature film credits

Television film and miniseries credits

Television series credits

This is a partial list.

Selected discography

  • Shades of Today
  • Think
  • Heavy Vibrations
  • Threshold
  • Feeling Free
  • Come On And Shine
  • Theme
  • An American Concerto
  • Dreams and Themes
  • 10th Avenue
  • Sinatraland
  • Aurora
  • Moments in Time
  • ''Home Suite Home''