Claude "Fiddler" Williams

1908 – 2004

Claude "Fiddler" Williams didn’t start playing the violin until he had mastered several other instruments, including the guitar, mandolin, banjo, cello, and bass. By age 10, he was already performing with his brother-in-law’s string band. Hearing jazz violin pioneer Joe Venuti sparked Williams’ passion for the violin. After pleading with his mother for one of his own, he fell in love with the instrument and soon earned his nickname.

He was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in 1908. In 1927, he moved to Oklahoma City to join the touring group the Dark Clouds of Joy. When the band’s original leader left, saxophonist and band leader Andy Kirk took over, renaming the group the Twelve Clouds of Joy. Williams continued with the band and relocated to Kansas City, where he performed alongside jazz legends, including pianist Mary Lou Williams.

Williams left the Clouds of Joy in 1931 and played with various groups before joining Nat "King" and Eddie Cole’s band in Chicago. By 1936, Count Basie recruited Williams to play guitar in his orchestra, where readers of DownBeat magazine named him “Best Guitarist of the Year.”

After years of touring, Williams returned to Kansas City in 1953, where he spent the rest of his life. Though he continued to perform regularly, it wasn’t until 1976 that he released his own album, "Call the Fiddler," with the Claude Williams Quintet. In 1980, he teamed up with fellow Kansas City jazz legend Jay McShann for the album, "The Man from Muskogee," a nod to their shared hometown and coming of age in the Kansas City jazz scene.

As Williams' reputation grew, so did the honors. In 1989, he was among the first musicians inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, and in 2015, he was added to the American Jazz Walk of Fame in Kansas City’s 18th and Vine Jazz District. He performed at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and in 1992, he played at a party celebrating President Bill Clinton’s inauguration.

Williams continued to perform and record late into his life, releasing his final album, "Swingin’ the Blues," in 2000. He passed away in 2004 at the age of 96. At the time of his death, he was the last remaining direct link to Kansas City’s vibrant jazz scene of the 1930s.