When Bubber Miley finally wore out the patience of Duke Ellington and was asked to leave the band, it was Cootie Williams who stepped in to lend his own brand of wah-wah trumpet to Ellington's "jungle" style. Williams joined the band in 1929 and stayed with Ellington for the next 11 years recording many classics including "Echoes of Harlem", "Rockin' in Rhythm" "Concerto for Cootie". He also lead his own sessions during that time, recording with Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson and Billie Holiday.
When he was asked to play with Benny Goodman's band at his Carnegie Hall Concert in 1938, it set the ball rolling for a switch over to the Goodman orchestra in 1940. Williams' sound had become such an integral part of the Ellington orchestra that his move to Goodman's band created a huge stir in the jazz community. Composer and band leader Raymond Scott commemorated the event with a song called "When Cootie Left the Duke". His stay was short lived and a year later Williams formed his own group which over the years employed Charlie Parker and Bud Powell among other young up-and-coming players. The band toured coast to coast and had several hits including "Round Midnight" which some historians say Williams co-wrote with Thelonious Monk who played piano briefly with the band.
As big bands fell out of favor, Williams cut his band down to a sextet, moving on to R&B and playing regularly at the Savoy Ballroom and touring on occasion but eventually falling into obscurity. In 1962, after a 22 year absence, Williams rejoined Ellington as a featured soloist recording and touring with the band until 1978.
Jazz historian Dave Krikorian sums up Williams, contribution to jazz this way, "Cootie is remembered as a master of the plunger mute. Yet he was far more than a 'trick' trumpeter: blessed with a melodic gift that rivaled Louis Armstrong's and an unusual depth of musical skill, the man with the slouched horn advanced the trumpet from the New Orleans sound into Big Band Swing and beyond."
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