For bassist and pianist Sue Williams, performing is less about reaching a destination than continuing to grow.
That philosophy has carried Williams through decades of jazz, blues and R&B performances, recording sessions and teaching. It also keeps her active on stages around New Jersey, including frequent appearances with Highland Park-based pianist and composer John Bianculli at Americana Kitchen & Bar on Route 130 in East Windsor.
Williams most recently performed there with Bianculli on Sunday, Sept. 6, part of an ongoing series of local appearances that gives area audiences a chance to hear a musician whose career has taken her from jazz clubs to Broadway recording sessions and even the White House.
Like a farmer or a good amateur golfer, Williams long ago understood that playing jazz bass for a living is a Zen-like pursuit.
Like a farmer, she’s open to new technologies and new ways of teaching bass, piano or music theory, and she’s done all three. Like a talented amateur or professional golfer, there’s always the mental side of the game and the ability to focus, whether it’s a four-hour tournament round or a raucous three-set night of modern blues playing electric bass with master blues pianist and singer Dave Keyes.
“I am fortunate that I have many great opportunities to play music with people at a higher level so that is always a challenge to be out the acoustic bass is a world unto itself,” she said from her home in Franklin Lakes.
Williams attended William Paterson as a jazz studies major and focused on bass there, having taken piano lessons through high school. Bassist Rufus Reid was in charge of the jazz program at the school in Wayne when she was there, and she credits Reid and others with helping her develop her ear and ensemble-playing skills, whether on electric or acoustic bass.
Why jazz?
“I just fell in love with jazz when I was young,” she recalled. Her parents would send her to summer music camp. Her mother was a nurse, and her father worked as a printer in New York City and Bergen County.
Interestingly, “my parents didn’t insist on piano lessons, I wanted them for myself. Before piano lessons I was always in school bands and loved being in the orchestra and chorus.”
She wanted to play in the jazz band in high school, so she began studying bass in earnest in junior high.
“My first instrument was the trumpet in school band, but that was when I was in 4th grade,” she said.
Of her four years at William Paterson College, she said, “there were a lot of great educators there, a lot of great musicians there from New York, many good visiting professors, and I liked the fact that it was not a conservatory. I enjoyed all of my classes, not just music classes.”
Williams said there was not one revelatory moment when she decided to pursue music full time. Instead, performing had been part of her life from an early age.
“I just always wanted to play music with people and from an early age I love school band and Orchestra and then I went on to playing in jazz bands in high school and in college and then I also played in original rock bands as well after college classic R&B bands and wedding bands everything to get as much experience as I could.
“When I first moved into New York City I had a paper route but I used to do so I would do a big band gig and then I would be delivering papers at 4:00 a.m. in my car around Manhattan so I did things like that I’ve always been involved in education and I’ve always been an educator so I have a long history of teaching music at Bergen County Community College and I’ve also taught at Ramapo College and at even Montclair State University for a semester or two.”
By the time she was attending William Paterson, the program had some big names associated with it, including Thad Jones of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Reid and Latin jazz bandleader Chico Mendoza.
That background eventually led to a career that has moved easily between jazz, blues and R&B.
Williams has played with musicians including Keyes, harmonica player and vocalist Rob Paparozzi, saxophonist Jerry Vivino and drummer Bernard Purdie. Purdie, one of the most recorded drummers in the business, has played on thousands of recording sessions.
Asked about memorable shows, Williams cited touring China with Keyes in 2018 and playing at the White House for President Bill Clinton with LaBamba and the Hubcaps, a band led by Rich Rosenberg.
After earning her B.M. in jazz studies and performance at William Paterson, Williams pursued additional study at Indiana University. She earned a master’s degree in music technology there and became well-versed in digital recording techniques.
Given that she’s equally at home on bass or piano and keyboards, has Williams ever tried her hand as a vocalist?
“I don’t fancy myself a singer, but I have done some singing with different groups,” she said, again stressing, “I’ve been very fortunate to work with a lot of great musicians. I play a lot with John Bianculli these days I play with a great piano player Dean Tomanelli and we just played the Deerhead Inn with Jerry Vivino’s group.”
Her work with Bianculli has become one of her more visible recurring collaborations in the area, including the performances at Americana in East Windsor.
How common is it at a show for Williams to jump off bass and play piano instead?
“I have done that with certain projects but as a rule, I don’t do that, I stick to the bass, though I have performed separately as a pianist. For the most part I don’t mix the two up.”
Interestingly, given her years in the jazz world going back to the 1980s, Williams doesn’t have an album under her own name. Yet.
It’s in the works, she said.
“I recorded a couple of songs last year that are my own compositions, and I’m slowly putting those together,” she said, “but in general, I’m always the side person.”
She added that she has played on many recording sessions with musicians ranging from Keyes and Vivino to guitarist Mark Sganga, as well as on Broadway soundtracks. She joined the American Federation of Musicians in the 1980s and met Keyes when he was musical director for the Broadway show “Smokey Joe’s Cafe.”
Williams has also taught classes at Bergen Community College and, given her studies in music technology, has offered bass, piano and music theory instruction online.
“I think now in this day and age with technology you can do so much to reach people and get your music out there and contribute to the community with different educational ideas,” she said. “it’s pretty exciting how much computers and the internet have opened up so much for those of us in music performance and education.”
Williams also maintains a website and Facebook presence.
Her performance schedule continues into the end of the year. She is scheduled to appear with the Jeremy Baum Trio at The Falcon in Marlboro, New York, on Sunday, Dec. 13, and Thursday, Dec. 17.
The performances, billed as “Charlie ‘Baum’ Christmas,” feature Jeremy Baum on piano, Williams on upright bass and Peter O’Brien on drums in a tribute to Vince Guaraldi’s 1965 album “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
Asked about future plans, Williams said, “in the near future I’d like to get my own album out, maybe in the next three or so years, and I’m always working to improve my skills and talents.”
Like a farmer or amateur or even LPGA Tour player, Williams agrees with the notion that playing jazz, rock and blues bass is a Zen-like path.
“Every instrument has different physical demands. I just find that the longer I play — whether it’s piano the electric bass or acoustic bass — the more you have the opportunity to grow. That’s really the key: to keep your craft and yourself constantly evolving and happening, both musically and as a human being.”
