Claude "Fiddler" Williams Collection

Description
Claude "Fiddler" Williams (22 February 1908 - 25 April 2004), violinist and guitarist, was born Claude Gabriel Williams in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Williams enjoyed a great deal of well-deserved acclaim in the twilight of his long jazz career.
Member of
LaBudde Special Collections
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Fans of jazz music sit in a crowded Blue Room

The audience (both white people and African Americans) sits at tables or stands at museum exhibits in a crowded Blue Room in the American Jazz Museum in the 18th and Vine District of Kansas City, Missouri on the occasion of Claude "Fiddler" Williams 93rd birthday. A few balloons decorate one table. The date, "2 16 '03," is imprinted by the camera on the bottom right-hand corner of the photograph.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-098.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
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Claude "Fiddler" Williams gives a slight smile as he performs

Claude "Fiddler" Williams smiles slightly as he plays his fiddle in a close-up photograph. A microphone is on the left side of the photograph.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-189.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-190-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams gives a slight smile as he performs

Claude "Fiddler" Williams smiles slightly as he plays his fiddle in a close-up photograph. A microphone is on the left side of the photograph.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-190.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-191-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Marcus Belgrave and Claude "Fiddler" Williams have a cheerful greeting

Marcus Belgrave, trumpet, laughs as he put his left arm around the shoulders of Claude "Fiddler" Williams, who is also laughing as they stand just inside the open doorway. Both wear fedoras and business suits. The date, "4 14 '01," is imprinted by the camera on the bottom right-hand corner of the photograph. A decorative plate of a guitarist hangs on the wall by the door jamb.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-191.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-192-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams jams with two guitarists

Claude "Fiddler" Williams sits a bit sideways in a folding chair jamming with two seated, unidentified white male guitarists. Someone stands on the left side of the photograph mostly out of the picture. A table behind the three musicians has a paper blue tablecloth and the instruments cases on it.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-192.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-193-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams visits the Northeast neighborhood organization

Claude "Fiddler" Williams smiles as he stands holding a plate of food and balancing a beverage on the plate. He stands next to a desk at the Northeast neighborhood organization in Kansas City, Missouri, with an unidentified white woman sitting there and smiling at the camera. A poster behind her partially reads, "Historic Northeast." There are many posters on the walls with photos of home and boxes of snacks. She has a bouquet of flowers on her desk and a plant with a decorative bow on a stack of boxes. The date, "10 16 '99," is imprinted by the camera on the bottom right-hand corner of the photograph.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-193.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-194-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams rehearsing in a hotel room

A young Claude "Fiddler" Williams sits on a hotel bed rehearsing the high notes on his fiddle.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-194.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-195-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams performs with Frank Smith in a quartet

Frank Smith, piano, on the left side of the photograph, turns his head to looks seriously at the photographer as he plays a piano he is seated at. Behind and completely obscured by Frank is a double bass player. Center stage is Claude "Fiddler" Williams smiling as he stands and plays his fiddle while looking at the strings as he draws the bow across them. A guitarist sits on the right side of the photograph too much in the dark to recognize.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-195.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-196-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams entertains patrons

Claude "Fiddler" Williams, from behind the stage, stands and plays his fiddle as he performs for patrons at round tables with white tablecloths. There are only beverages on the tables. An unidentified African American drummer is mostly out of the right side of the photograph.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-196.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-197-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Frank Smith, Jerry Leonard, and Claude "Fiddler" Williams perform at JJ's Restaurant

In a photograph up from the floor in front of the stage at JJ's Restaurant, 910 West 48th Street in Kansas City, Missouri, to the stage, Frank Smith, on the left side of the photograph, sits behind a keyboard looking to his left at Claude "Fiddler" Williams, who stands and plays his fiddle on the right side of the photograph. Jerry Leonard stands on stage between the other two musicians playing an electric bass guitar. He crosses his legs at the ankles and leans back on a wrought iron railing around the stage as he plays. The date, "Aug. 81"," is imprinted by the camera on the bottom left-hand corner of the photograph.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-197.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-198-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams grins as he holds his fiddle ready to play

Claude "Fiddler" Williams looks forward and grins as he prepares to play. He holds his fiddle under his chin and his bow down by his side. The body of a double bass and a hand of the bass player is visible behind Claude. Claude and the double bassist stand between a grand piano and a drum set.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-198.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-199-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams closes his eyes as he plays next to a smiling drummer

Claude "Fiddler" Williams closes his eyes as he stands on the left side of the photograph and draws his bow across the strings of his fiddle. An unidentified white male drummer smiles above the cymbal of his drum set as he plays in the center of the photograph. A bit of a double bass is mostly out of the photograph on the left side.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-199.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-200-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams stands in front of an artwork in a kitchen while wearing a tuxedo

Claude "Fiddler" Williams smiles as he stands in a break room inside the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri; a bottle of white wine on the counter next to the toaster. He wears a tuxedo. Behind him on the counter is a microwave oven. A piece of artwork hangs on the wall behind him signed, "Millner '92." It is a representation of a glass paned cabinet with books on the top shelf, a guitar and drum on the middle shelf, and a violin, flute, and a jar on the bottom shelf.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-200.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-201-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams stands outdoors with a man of the clergy

An unidentified member of the clergy, who is a white man, stands outside beside Claude "Fiddler" Williams and both smile at the camera. Claude wears a fedora hat and a boutonniere. There is a small white clapboard church across the road behind them along with many trees. Cars and a van are parked on the road behind them. On the left side of the photograph, a man's back is to the camera as he packs or unpacks an instrument or sound system case.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-201.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147
umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-202-Thumbnail Image.jpg

Claude "Fiddler" Williams and Buddy Tate head into the Monterey Jazz Festival

Buddy Tate, wearing a brown and white large checked sports jacket and holding his saxophone in a case, looks to his left at Claude "Fiddler" Williams and points the other way from the direction they are facing going to the Monterey California Jazz Festival. Claude, in the foreground of the photograph, slightly turns his head toward the camera and looks confused as a cigar hangs out of the left-hand side of his mouth. He's wearing a lapel badge of white print on a green background. A panel truck with the word, "Budget," on the side is behind the two.
Type: Image
File: umkc_lsc_williams-claude_photo-202.png
Collection Identifier: MS-0147