Sept. 13, 1975: Curtis "Fitz" Williams

 

An early glimpse of a young musical whiz who has gone a long way. 

Sept. 13, 1975 

Fitz Williams, 12, With Sabata,

Plays Organ, Sax and Sweet Flute 

CURTIS FITZGERALD WILLIAMS JR. is at that invisible age. He’s 12. Too old for a child prodigy, too young to be taking an adult share of the spotlight.

          As a result, it’s not hard to overlook him in this practice session with the group Sabata as they smooth out steps and harmonies in a couple songs for a weekend gig.

          Behind an organ off to the side of the instrumentalists, he’s altogether self-contained. Except for a little between-number noodling, which also tends to get overlooked.

          But in his quiet way, the progressive class eighth grader from Buffalo’s School 81 does a man-sized job on four instruments – sax, flute, organ and piano – whenever he gets a chance.

          Sabata, which over three years has developed the talent, tightness and professional determination that makes them one of the best soul bands in the city, gave him a chance about a month ago.

          “We heard them at an outdoor concert,” Curtis’ mother, Mrs. Barbara Williams, is saying on the sidelines, “and the bass player told us about the Isley Brothers concert they were playing for in Niagara Falls.

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“SO WE TRIED to get Fitz – that’s his nickname, he hates it – in for free. The band wanted to have him so in, so they brought the material over on Monday and he was ready by Thursday.”

          Curtis learns fast. He gets around on sax as if he’s been playing it a lot longer than just a year.

          And the depth he adds to the rhythmic backdrop laid down by guitarist Larry Patterson, his brother Curtis on drums and bass guitarist Lee Steele sounds as if he’s been with Sabata a lot longer than a month.

          His solos give the band’s solid instrumentation an embellishment that’s neither too weak nor too strong. It’s just right.

          Take that sweet flute intro to “Swear to God.” The sax filling in “Long Train Running.” The organ churning up the bottom of “Fight the Power.”

          “This group here is into pop music,” Curtis Williams Sr. explains, “but we’re still jazz people. Most of what he heard when he was little was jazz. Now we take him around to catch the heavies.

          “In Toronto he sat in with Grover Washington Jr., that’s his idol on sax. We go with him to everything, every practice, every affair. He never plays unchaperoned.

          “He’s sat in with Phil DiRe and the Buffalo Jazz Ensemble, the New Wave and Billy Taylor when he was up here with the Jazzmobile. That’s when all this started coming around. Billy liked him. They all liked him.”

          Curtis’ musical interests began before he started kindergarten. At five, he began piano lessons. Sax and flute he’s picked up in school, with his younger sister, Barbara Michelle, following on piano and flute. For two years, he’s been in the public school city-wide band.

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AT 10, HE PLAYED with a group of kids his age. After that, he began playing blues and such with the Queen City Express, based at the African Cultural Center. Now, Mr. Williams says, he’s more or less freelance.

          “Sometimes,” his father relates, “we have to tell him to stop practicing and go out and play. Once we told him to stop when he was fooling with the saxophone, making it honk, you know, and he took it over to his grandmother’s and played it there.

          “Basically, he’s a very serious boy. He reads a lot of books and he’s really reserved and quiet. He’s just into his own little thing.”

          He’s also into sports. Football, swimming, basketball. He came in third in a Buffalo Braves run, dribble and shoot contest.

          Lately, he’s picked up on tennis and still has a bit of a lump from where a racquet hit him.

          “He doesn’t have a big head about things,” Mr. Williams remarks. “He never talks about himself, even when he was winning spelling bees in school.

          “You ask him what happened in school and he’s say nothing. Then later he’d want to know if we still had last night’s paper. So we’d ask him why and he’d say my name’s in it. That’s the way he is.”

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IN THE PHOTO: Curtis Williams Jr.

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FOOTNOTE: Curtis fulfilled his promise. He went straight from the Berklee School of Music in Boston to a long-term gig as keyboardist with Kool & the Gang in 1982. When he came home in 1990 to do a date with the Unity band, he had been on hiatus from the group since early 1989, had moved to L.A. and was writing and producing for Klymaxx, the S.O.S. Band and Paula Abdul, on whose album he had two tracks. He was back with Kool & the Gang for their “State of Affairs” album in 1996, has continued to the play with them and does work as a composer and producer. His father died in 1997. Note to Buffalo Music Hall of Fame – there should be a place for Curtis in one of your next classes of inductees.