Cootie Williams ranked among the leading trumpeters of the 1930s and developed further the position Bubber Miley had created inside Duke Ellington's Orchestra. He gained particular recognition for his plunger-mute technique while also distinguishing himself as an open soloist.
Beginning in his teenage years, Williams appeared with assorted local groups across the South and reached New York as a member of Alonzo Ross' Syncopators. Brief stints followed with the orchestras of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson, the second of which yielded recordings, before he replaced Miley in Duke Ellington's band in February 1929.
He stayed with Ellington for the next eleven years, contributing to many signature recordings such as "Echoes of Harlem" and "Concerto for Cootie," leading occasional sessions of his own, and appearing on dates with Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, and Billie Holiday; he also performed as a guest at Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall Concert in 1938.
His departure from Ellington to join Goodman's orchestra in 1940 registered as a major occurrence in the jazz community. During that year with Goodman, Williams received prominent exposure in both the full band and the sextet.
The following year he formed his own orchestra, which at points during the 1940s included pianist Bud Powell, tenorman Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, altoist/singer Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, and Charlie Parker. Although "Gator," propelled by Willis Jackson's honking tenor, became a hit, Williams had scaled the group down to a sextet by 1948.
Performing R&B-oriented material, he maintained steady work at the Savoy, yet slipped toward obscurity during the 1950s. In 1962, after a twenty-two-year absence, Cootie Williams rejoined Duke Ellington and remained as a featured soloist beyond Ellington's death in 1974.
By that time his solos had become considerably simpler and more elemental, the Louis Armstrong-inspired bravado having disappeared, yet he continued to excel with the plunger mute. Semi-retired in his final decade, he recorded one last solo on a 1978 Teresa Brewer album and later provided posthumous inspiration for Wynton Marsalis' plunger work.
