Play Or Die

Tony Williams certainly counts among those unique drummers in jazz today, whose work has had a lasting influence on styles and still does. At the tender age of 16, saxophonist Jackie McLean brought him to his band in New York. He also made his first recording with McLean. Soon after, aged 17, Williams was already making a splash in the second Miles Davis Quintet.

Almost twenty years later, in 1980, on May 30 and 31, Tony Williams went to the Zuckerfabrik recording studio in Stuttgart/Germany, together with Tom Grant (keyboards, synthesizer, he joined this band on the recommendation of Jeff Lorber) and Patrick O'Hearn (bass, synthesizer). In the 1970s and early 1980s, this studio was an illustrious address for audio productions of all kinds. Larry Coryell, Wolfgang Dauner, Stephane Grappeli, Elvin Jones, Martin Kolbe + Ralf Illenberger, Volker Kriegel, Alphonse Mouzon, John Scofield and the United Jazz+Rock Ensemble recorded there, to name just a few.

Tony Williams and Peter Schnyder co-produced the recording.

The album was recorded in just two days and mixed right there in the studio.

This timeless album, released in an edition of only 500 copies, was hardly promoted at the time and may therefore have remained unknown to one or the other. All the better that now for the first time since the release of the Vinyl it is also available on CD, with a significantly improved sound.