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Artist
Pamela Williams
12+ albums
Smooth JazzsaxophonejazzPamela WilliamsMJ-smooth jazz
about
Pamela Williams has lived in Los Angeles since 1989, but it was her native Philadelphia -- an artistic hotbed that everyone from John Coltrane to Teddy Pendergrass to the Fresh Prince has called home -- that did so much to shape her musical personality. "Philadelphia was a great place to learn music because the city's music scene was really happening when I was growing up," the saxophonist recalls. "Philadelphia International Records was big and everyone was recording in Philly -- The O'Jays, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The Stylistics, Patti LaBelle and Grover Washington, Jr."I love this great guy named Nassar Majeed who helped me along the way. Washington, in fact, was one of her earliest influences. Williams had been listening to soul and R&B religiously since childhood when Mr. Magic's cutting-edge blend of jazz and R&B ignited a teenage Williams' interest in jazz. "Grover's my idol," says Williams. "He laughs when I tell him that I learned to play the saxophone listening to his records, but it's true. I'd listen to Mr. Magic or Live at the Bijou and copy his solos. I think that when an artist finds his or her own style, it comes from having so many different influences. I loved everyone from The Crusaders to the Ohio Players." Other saxmen who helped Williams develop her own sound range from David Sanborn and his mentor Hank Crawford to bebop revolutionary Charlie Parker to long-time James Brown employee Maceo Parker to the late Don Myrick -- an unofficial Earth, W
