Jamison Williams

Jamison Williams (born June 20, 1976) is an American soprano saxophone player specializing in experimental deconstructionism, and extended techniques; currently heading up the Experimental Arts Union of Florida. Resides in Jacksonville, Florida

Biography

Since 2005, Jamison Williams has been organizing, producing, and performing for Vantage Bulletin publishing, established and organized +SoLo Sound Gallery, and has been touring relentlessly throughout the state performing soprano saxophone at festivals, clubs, and galleries.

In addition to performing, and with great effort and support from the experimental arts community, Jamison Williams has also established the Experimental Arts Union of Florida, an experimental arts collective that utilizes public spaces and venues, in collaboration with union members and supportive music/arts associations, to bring to Jacksonville and the rest of Florida, a greater sense of experimental arts education and a more open experience towards the topic of understanding the many varieties of experimental art.

For the 2013 Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Jamison Williams was given the principal role as general curator of "Jazz After Dark" under the experimental jazz genre, due the his position in guaranteeing that avant jazz was given a highlight the previous year at +SoLo Gallery with performances showcasing select works of Sun Ra, as performed by an ensemble conducted by Jim Ivy, and a performance by the TRAPBOMB ensemble (12pc thrash jazz orchestra); it's now celebrated as an annual event performing the works of Albert Ayler, called "Truth Is Marching In" | an ALBERT AYLER commemoration.

From January through August 2013, hosted by Burro Bar, Jamison Williams assembled a full cast of experimental artists from every corner of Florida to perform during +SoLo: reprise, a four hour Art Walk showcase extravaganza, a literal smorgasbord of experimental musical talents: sound artists blasting off their latest creative electronics, modified instruments, as well as free improvisation and noise.

Currently, Jamison, along with Dan Kozak (baritone saxophone) and Bill Henderson (drums), has been providing the "searingly caustic, machinegun soprano saxophone role in the Florida thrash jazz trio", 'The Last Words of Lee Harvey Oswald'; "this intensely brutal jazz combo sharply slices and maliciously mauls the general expectation of the standard jazz lexicon: thrash/hardcore and traditional jazz roots bound tightly together with rusted spools of barbedwire. Genuinely smooth, yet "sandpaper on teeth" coarse, callously bitter, and optimally dense."

"In the tradition of players like Brötzmann and (most famously) Albert Ayler, Williams is a proponent of the extended techniques of the saxophone, spitting out harmonics, weeping “multiphonics”, the reed equivalent of a guitarist creating feedback and noise from an amplifier and effects pedals." Dan Brown (Folio Weekly)

"— the dutiful student of sound." Shelton Hull (Folio Weekly)

"More insanity from Florida. Using vocals and alto sax, the pair create a gut-split tableau that is equal parts unhinged words and blabbersome throat. Quite alarming." (The Wire)

"Surprised to see so many people in online reviews getting their dander up over this one; Florida electronics and sax punctuated by total bladder-burst approach and Jaap Blonk-esque vocalizations to scare the wildlife off for the immediate radius; granted this is the kind of thing that is tough to swallow in longform, but on a 7" single it rules. Playing it on the air got some fists in the air but also a couple of 'WHY' emails. Sort of a flashback to the time a guy literally threatened to come down and punch my lights out for playing a Peeeseye 7" that boiled down a singular 3 minute crystalline nugget of ugliness.I guess part of the hellride is knowing it would be over soon (but then again, listeners can't see a 45 spinning on the turntable so..." (Brian Turner, WFMU)

Discography

• STUDY TAPES: An Artist's Account Of Himself (2007)
• Intimate Portrait Of Youth (2007)
• Ukiyo-e Shunga (2008)
• Harry Houdini (2008)
• Thomas Edison (2008)
• Frank Lloyd Wright (2008)
• Helen Mirren (2008)
• Adolescence (2008)
• Vantage (Selects) Vol. 4 (2009)
• A Private History Of Comfort Women (2009)
• Piano Duets (2009)
• Williams/Henderson Duo & Torturing Nurse Split (2009)
• STUDY TAPES: The Artist's Account Of Himself, Jan-Aug '09 (2010)
• May 6, 1937 (2010)
• Emily Dickinson (2010)
• Mystics, Heretics, And Witches In The Western Tradition (2010)
• Auto De Fe (1481) (2011)
• Sobriety and Beyond (2012)
• The Gilded Age: Perspectives on the Origins of Modern America (2012)
• Britney Spears (2013)
• Un Portrait Simple de Valeurs (2013)
• Eiffel (2013)

References

1. ^Hull, Shelton, "Calm, then Storm", Folio Weekly, 29 Jan-2 Feb 2014: Print.
2. ^Brown, Dan, "Brass Knuckles", Folio Weekly, 24-30 April 2012: 40. Print.
3. ^Twachtman, Jack, (4 Dec 2012)"+ More at Art Walk!"
4. ^Rales, Jonathan Mo, (21 May 2013)"Jazz Fest After Dark"
5. ^The Wire, issue 330. AG DAVIS & JAMISON WILLIAMS Auto De Fe (1481). Gilgongo Records. 7"
6. ^Turner, Brian,"Recent WFMU New Bin faves", www.wfmu.org. April 27, 2011.

External links

• OFFICIAL PAGE
• Experimental Arts Union of Florida
• Vantage Bulletin publishing
• +SoLo Gallery
• Jamison Williams' Bandcamp