From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Jul 13, 2003  2:05 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Paul Williams
 
PAUL "HUCKLEBUCK" WILLIAMS (By Phil Davies)

Born Paul Williams, 13 July 1915, Lewisburg, Tennessee
Died 4 September 2002, New York City, New York

Paul Williams was a honking sax player and bandleader who carved out a place in
R & B history with his 1949 Savoy label million selling smash The Hucklebuck,
charting in February 1949. The highly inflential song spent 32 weeks in the R &
B best sellers, reaching number one, where it stayed for an amazing 14 weeks!!.
A certain " Cretinous Goon" cut a cover version of this r&b classic, roll over
Francis Albert ;-).

Be-bop jazz legend Charlie Parker had also recorded a tune called Now's The
Time for Savoy in 1945. Paul renamed the tune The Hucklebuck after a popular
late 40s dance. Apparently the original riff/tune emanates from the 1920s. Paul
also charted in 1949 with a sequel called He Knows How To Hucklebuck, which
reached 13 in the R & B charts.Hits like 35-30 and Walkin' Around built up his
band's reputation. He cut some cool stuff for Savoy but nothing matched the
sales of Hucklebuck. 

Williams played in Clarence Dorsey's band in 1946 and then made his recording
debut with King Porter in 1947 for Paradise before forming his own band late
that year. Saxophonists Noble "Thin Man" Watts and Wild Bill Moore, trumpeter
Phil Guilbeau, and vocalists Danny Cobb, Jimmy Brown, Joan Shaw and Connie
Allen were among Williams' band members. Paul played on some of Amos Milburn's
great booze n blues tracks.

Williams' Orch played in the legendary Moondog's Coronation Ball in Cleveland
in 1952, before the overflowing crowd rioted. The band became the houseband on
the famous 50s tv prog Showtime At The Apollo. They also backed many acts on
the now legendary Alan Freed type 50s tours, check out Jim Lowe's great stories
on the link below, check out those mouth watering show bills and notice our boy
on there.

He was later part of Atlantic Records' house band, backing greats like Ruth
Brown on songs like Hello Little Boy. He also played with Elmore James (the
Fire sessions) and Dave "Baby" Cortez. Later he directed the Lloyd Price and
James Brown Orch. until 1964. He played with Otis Redding, Tommy Tucker and
even on the Fatback band's disco lp Gigolo.

After leaving the music business temporarily, Williams opened a booking agency
in New York in 1968. He died on September 4th 2002 in NY City, forever more to
be associated with the Hucklebuck. Chubby Checker, the Royal Showband and Coast
To Coast kept the Hucklebuck name alive in the later charts.

Recommended Listening:

Honkers & Shouters -Roots of RnR Vol 6 Savoy lp 
Dinah Washington -Live 48-55
Elmore James -the Fire Sessions
Ruth Brown -Hello Little Boy Atlantic
Amos Milburn -Proper 2cd
Great R & B Instros -Ace Cd CDCHD 819 ( Hucklebuck)
Sax Appeal -V Artists Vee Jay
Savoy 60s Anniversary Timeless- V A cd, has both Hucklebuck and Parker's Now's
The Time for comparison

Recommended link:

http://www.dumboozle.com/randb/rbdex.html