Steve Williamson

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title: "Steve Williamson" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1964-births", "21st-century-english-male-musicians", "21st-century-english-saxophonists", "alumni-of-the-guildhall-school-of-music-and-drama", "black-british-musicians", "british-jazz-saxophonists", "english-jazz-saxophonists", "english-male-jazz-musicians", "english-male-saxophonists", "english-people-of-jamaican-descent", "jazz-warriors-members", "living-people", "post-bop-saxophonists"] description: "English saxophonist and composer (born 1964)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Williamson" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary English saxophonist and composer (born 1964) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist "]

Field	Value
name	Steve Williamson
image	Steve Williamson.jpg
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth_date
birth_place	London, England
instrument	Tenor, soprano and alto saxophones, keyboards
occupation	Saxophonist, composer
years_active	1982–present
label	Verve, Universal Distribution, Polydor
website
::

| name = Steve Williamson | image = Steve Williamson.jpg | caption = | image_size = | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = | death_date = | birth_place = London, England | instrument = Tenor, soprano and alto saxophones, keyboards | occupation = Saxophonist, composer | years_active = 1982–present | label = Verve, Universal Distribution, Polydor | website =

Steve Williamson (born 28 June 1964) is an English saxophonist and composer (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, keyboard and composition). He has been called "one of the most distinctive saxophone voices in contemporary British jazz".

Biography

Born in London, England, to Jamaican parents, Williamson began playing saxophone at the age of 16 and started his career playing in reggae bands, including Misty in Roots.

In 1984 and 1985 he studied at London's Guildhall School of Music, where he was tutored by Lionel Grigson. Williamson was a member of the noted collective of British-born black jazz musicians who came together as the Jazz Warriors in the mid-1980s.

At the Nelson Mandela 70th birthday open-air festival in 1988, Williamson played alongside Courtney Pine in Wembley Stadium, and afterwards was a constant presence at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. He was member of Louis Moholo's Viva La Black (1988) and of Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (1990). During the 1990s he led his own band and appeared in projects of Iain Ballamy, Maceo Parker, Bheki Mseleku, US3, and Graham Haynes.

In 1990, Williamson released his first album A Waltz for Grace with Verve, featuring vocalist Abbey Lincoln. In 1992, he released his second album, Rhyme Time, followed by Journey to Truth in 1994, featuring Cassandra Wilson.

Discography

As leader

• A Waltz for Grace (Verve, 1990) with Abbey Lincoln
• Rhyme Time (Verve, 1992) with Cassandra Wilson
• Journey To Truth (Nippon Phonogram, 1994)
• #One (Babel, 2014) with Black Top (Orphy Robinson, Pat Thomas)

As sideman

• Jazz Warriors, Out of Many, One People (1987)

Sources

• Martin Kunzler, Jazz-Lexikon, vol. 2, 2002.

References

References

1. "Steve Williamson". [[British Film Institute.
2. (8 August 2013). "Steve Williamson".
3. (26 November 2014). "Steve Williamson Pt.1".
4. "JS Finance – Finance news and tips".
5. (22 June 2020). "IDJ Dancers, Courtney Pine, Steve Williamson & Band at The Nelson Mandela Concert 1988".
6. (1992). "[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music". [[Guinness Publishing]].
7. Kohlhaase, Bill. (29 July 1990). "ALBUM REVIEWS : *** STEVE WILLIAMSON 'A Waltz for Grace'". [[Los Angeles Times]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::