Tony Williams, celebrated sax player who jammed with Etta James and other jazz greats, has died at 92

Tony Williams, 92, celebrated alto saxophone player, longtime music and physical education teacher for the School District of Philadelphia, veteran, and mentor, died Saturday, Nov. 11, of age-associated decline and chronic illnesses at the home of his son and daughter-in-law in Wilmington.

Mr. Williams picked up the sax as a 10-year-old boy in Tennessee, joined the bands at Abington High School after his family moved to Willow Grove in the 1940s, and went on to become an immensely popular player in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, and elsewhere around the world. He played to full houses for years at La Rose Jazz Club in Germantown, the Blue Note in West Oak Lane, Zanzibar Blue in Center City, and other local jazz hot spots.

He did session work for Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff at Philadelphia International Records, and sat in with Grover Washington Jr., Wynton Marsalis, Harold Melvin, Etta James, and other big stars. He was a member of the house band for Bill Cosby’s 1992-93 TV version of You Bet Your Life, and he toured in Germany, Canada, Japan, and other countries.

Jazz was his passion. Improvisation was his motto, and he never played a piece the same way twice. “You have a chance to express [the music] how you want to,” he told The Inquirer in 2008. “Where you come from, how you jumped rope, it all gets in there. This music gives you freedom to express yourself. Everybody that breathes can have something to say.”

In the classroom for 30 years, Mr. Williams taught health and physical education at Barratt Junior High School in South Philadelphia, Ada H. Lewis Middle School in Germantown, and Academy for the Middle Years in Olney. He also coached track, basketball, and soccer, and served as vice principal at Lewis.

He started a jazz band and music program at Lewis, and retired in 1985. “I love kids, and I always wanted to teach,” he said in an online interview with Philly Jazz. “But I also wanted to play equally.”

Mr. Williams won dozens of awards for his music and teaching, including the 2003 Mellon Jazz Community Award and the 2015 Ovation Award from the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra for “inspiration and outstanding leadership in music education.” He is a member of several music halls of fame, and he was honored in April 2014 at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg during National Jazz Month.

“If people like Tony weren’t around, I don’t know where jazz would be,” jazz radio personality Bob Perkins told The Inquirer in 2008. “He’s been a mentor to many people in his lifetime.”

Mr. Williams helped many young musicians form their own bands, and he founded the Mount Airy Cultural Center for free music instruction in 1978. He was so revered that the local Council of Jazz Advocates named its annual college scholarship fundraiser the Tony Williams Scholarship Jazz Festival.

He released Thank God for Jazz in 2006, and critics often compared him to fellow sax player John Coltrane. “Tony’s playing is very soulful,” Kim Tucker, executive director of the Jazz Bridge Project, told The Inquirer in 2008. “If you have a problem, you don’t think about it. If you were feeling sad, you don’t any longer. It’s a gift.”

Anthony Harold Williams was born July 2, 1931, in Chattanooga, Tenn. He graduated from Abington High in 1949, attended what is now Tennessee State University, and earned a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education at Central State University in Ohio.

A track star in high school, he ran the 100-yard dash in 9.9 seconds and earned a scholarship to Central State. He joined the Army after college and received a master’s degree in education at Temple University in 1957 after his discharge.

He married Gloria Thurman in 1955, and they had sons Greg and Glenn, and daughter Antoinette, and lived in Germantown. His wife died in 2012.

Mr. Williams was friendly and charismatic. He went to the gym for workouts nearly every day and followed the Los Angeles Dodgers instead of the Phillies because he admired Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson.

He introduced the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at a school event in the 1960s and served for a time as artist-in-residence at Cheyney University. “He was loving and full of life,” said his son Greg. “He strongly committed to everything he did.”

Mr. Williams told Philly Jazz: “Philadelphia has been very good for me. I won’t say I’m successful, but I’m happy.”

In addition to his children, Mr. Williams is survived by five grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, and other relatives.

Services were held Nov. 20.