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J. Mayo Williams

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J. Mayo Williams
Williams in 1920
Born:(1894-09-25)September 25, 1894
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Died:January 2, 1980(1980-01-02)(aged 85)
Chicago, Illinois
Career information
Position(s)End
Height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight174 lb (79 kg)
CollegeBrown
Career history
As player
1921Canton Bulldogs
1921–1923Hammond Pros
1924Dayton Triangles
1924Hammond Pros
1925Cleveland Bulldogs
1925–1926Hammond Pros
Career highlights and awards
Military career
AllegianceUnited StatesUnited States
Service/branchUnited States Army sealU.S. Army
Years of service1917–1919
Battles/warsWorld War I

Jay Mayo"Ink"Williams(September 25, 1894 – January 2, 1980) was a pioneeringAfrican-Americanproducer of recordedbluesmusic. Some historians have claimed that Ink Williams earned his nickname by his ability to get the signatures of talented African-American musicians on recording contracts,[1]but in fact it was a racial sobriquet from his football days, when he was a rare Black player on white college and professional teams.[2]He was the most successful "race records"producer of his time, breaking all previous records for sales in this genre.

Biography

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Williams was born inPine Bluff, Arkansas,the son of Millie and Daniel Williams.[a]When he was seven years old, his father wasmurdered,and the family returned to his mother's hometown ofMonmouth, Illinois,where he grew up.

Williams attendedBrown University,where he was atrackstar and outstandingfootballplayer. He also served in theFirst World War.[b]During the 1920s, he played professional football and was one of three black athletes (along withPaul Robeson) to play in the fledglingNational Football Leagueduring its first year. His playing career lasted until 1926. During that span he played for theCanton Bulldogs,theDayton Triangles,theHammond Prosand theCleveland Bulldogs.

After graduating in 1921, he moved toChicago.Williams' first foray in the recording industry was working as a collection agent for the Black-owned Black Swan record label.[3]Although he continued to play football until 1926, his first love was music, and in 1924 he joinedParamount Records,which had recently begun to produce and market "race" records.[4]Williams became a talent scout and supervisor of recording sessions in the Chicago area, becoming the most successful blues producer of his time. Upon joining Paramount, Williams became the first African American to hold an executive position in a white-owned recording company. One of his duties was to arrange to have songs scored for publication in order to register them with the copyright division of the Library of Congress. Williams drew no salary but received a royalty from sessions he produced.[3]Two of his biggest discoveries as recording artists were the singerMa Rainey– already a popular live performer – andPapa Charlie Jackson,the first commercially successful self-accompanied blues singer. He recordedBlind Lemon Jefferson,Tampa Red,Thomas A. Dorsey,Ida Cox,Jimmy Blythe,Jelly Roll Morton,King Oliver,andFreddy Keppard.[4]He also managed a crew of songwriters, includingTiny Parham, Thomas A. Dorsey, and Alexander Robinson.[5]

ABlack Pattilabel

In 1927, Williams was recruited to operateThe Chicago Record Company,a venture co-founded by Edward Barrett, formerly with the Wisconsin Chair Company (Paramount's parent company) and Fred Gennett of Gennett Records, each contributing $10,000.[6]The Chicago Record Company sought to enter the 'race' music industry, issuing jazz, blues and gospel records on the "Black Patti"label.[4]Williams' role at Black Patti was to conduct A&R (Artists and Repertoire) activities, which entailed talent scouting, producing, promotion and publishing. One of these releases was The Down Home Boys' "Original Stack O' Lee Blues", believed to be the first recorded version of the song better known as "Stagger Lee",and of which only one copy is now known to exist. Black Patti soon failed, and Williams moved toBrunswick Recordsand its subsidiary labelVocalion,where he recordedClarence "Pine Top" SmithandLeroy Carr,among others.[4]However, after theWall Street Crash of 1929,record sales plummeted, and Williams found new work as a football coach atMorehouse CollegeinAtlanta.

In 1934, Williams was hired as head of the "race records" department atDecca,[4]where he recorded such musicians asMahalia Jackson,Alberta Hunter,Blind Boy Fuller,Roosevelt Sykes,Sleepy John Estes,Kokomo Arnold,Peetie Wheatstraw,Bill Gaither,Bumble Bee Slim,Georgia White,Trixie Smith,Monette Moore,Sister Rosetta Tharpe,Marie Knight,Tab Smithas well as pioneering the recording of the increasingly popular small group sound with such groups asThe Harlem Hamfats.

Williams was accused by some black musicians of a "dicty" attitude[7]– that is, acting as though he was a member of the white middle class. His efforts to refine the articulation of rural blues artists and polish their images were often met with hostility and misunderstanding. In addition to producing, he also managed some of the many artists he recorded, even sharing ownership of some songs as a co-writer. Songs on which he is credited as co-writer include "Corrine, Corrina",Nellie Lutcher's "Fine Brown Frame",Louis Jordan's "Mop Mop", "Keep A Knocking"Bert MaysandStick McGhee's "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee" among others.

Williams set up the Chicago Music Publishing Company (CMPC) as publisher for all the titles he recorded. The CMPC collected all royalties generated by the materials it held copyrights on, and was responsible for passing on some of the profits to the composer or performer. However, many successful artists that Williams recorded, includingBlind BlakeandBlind Lemon Jefferson,probably never received any royalties. Race record entrepreneurs knew that rural blues musicians were unfamiliar with copyright laws, and they further played upon the musicians' vulnerability by providing free liquor at recording sessions, hoping they would get drunk and sign their rights away.[1]

Williams' grave at Burr Oak Cemetery

After leaving Decca in 1945, Williams worked freelance and ran several small, independent labels.[4]From 1945 through 1949, he ran the Harlem label (based in New York City), and the Chicago, Southern, and Ebony label (based in Chicago); one of the artists he recorded was the youngMuddy Waters.[4]After a period of freelance producing, he reopened the Ebony label in 1952 and kept it going through the early 1970s, recordingLil Armstrong,Bonnie Lee,Oscar BrownandHammie Nixon.[8]

As plans were being initiated to conduct interviews with Williams to gather his life story in 1980, he died in a Chicago nursing home. He was buried atBurr Oak Cemeteryin Alsip, Illinois.

Legacy

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Williams was a member of the National Football Hall of Fame Association. In 2004, he was posthumously inducted into theBlues Hall of Fame.[9]

Notes

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  1. ^Most sources state that he was born inMonmouth, Illinois.This is incorrect; see talk page.
  2. ^See talk page.

References

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  1. ^abBarlow, William (1989)."Looking Up at Down": The Emergence of Blues Culture.Temple University Press. pp. 131–132.ISBN0-87722-583-4.
  2. ^Whitman, Burt (October 19, 1919) "22,000 See Brown Hold Harvard to a 7 to 0 Victory",Boston Herald.p. 17.
  3. ^abKelley, Norman, Ed.; Calt, Stephen (2005).R&B: Rhythm and Business.New York: Akashic Books. p. 95.ISBN978-1-888451-68-9.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^abcdefgColin Larkin,ed. (1995).The Guinness Who's Who of Blues(Second ed.).Guinness Publishing.pp. 379/380.ISBN0-85112-673-1.
  5. ^Ward, Brian; Huber, Patrick (2018).A & R pioneers: architects of American roots music on record.Nashville, [Tennessee]: Country music foundation press Vanderbilt University Press. p. 136.ISBN978-0-8265-2175-0.
  6. ^Kennedy, Rick; Gioia, Ted (2013).Jelly Roll, Bix, and Hoagy: Gennett Records and the rise of America's musical grassroots(Revised and expanded ed.). Bloomington Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. p. 217.ISBN978-0-253-00747-6.
  7. ^Jim Dawson;Steve Propes(1992).What Was the First Rock 'n' Roll Record?.Boston & London: Faber & Faber.ISBN0-571-12939-0.
  8. ^Clemson.eduArchivedJune 22, 2009, at theWayback Machine
  9. ^"2004 Blues Hall of Fame Inductees".Blues Foundation.RetrievedJanuary 7,2023.
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