Travelling to other parts of the country to go to concerts and festivals is always rewarding.  It gives me the opportunity to see old friends, experience different crowd reactions, and to catch new musicians that might not come around to my area.  On a recent trip to the Berks Jazz Festival, I took notice of a bass player that seemed to be popping up everywhere over one weekend.  Darryl Williams not only played with several headliners, but blew people away at the midnight jam session.  I was so glad to be able to track him down and present to you, bassist, Darryl Williams.

Darryl Williams hails from San Diego and hasn’t strayed too far from his home base throughout his career, but music was not the first career he dreamed of.  “When I was a kid, I was determined to be a lawyer.  That’s what I said I was going to do.  But then I heard people like Marcus Miller and Fattburger, and everything changed.”  At home, Darryl’s brother played guitar and his mother was a singer.  “In her day, she was in a sort of Supremes-type group and she was the Diana Ross!” Darryl began his musical endeavors by picking up the cello at age 13 and eventually moving to bass.  Like most teenagers, he was in the school orchestra, and in several local bands around the San Diego area.  He went on to study jazz at San Diego State, and soon became a sought after session musician.

In 1997, Darryl decided to make a change and moved to Las Vegas. He quickly became the go-to bassist for the Blue Note Jazz Club (yes, there used to be one in Vegas).  His stint in Vegas put his name out there and soon he was playing with Chaka Kahn, Tevin Campbell, Lou Rawls, Celine Dion, Howard Hewett, Ray Fuller, and eventually moved into the smooth jazz arena as the bassist for Marcus Johnson, Guitars & Saxes, Brenda Russell, and Euge Groove. “With all the folks I have toured with, I wish that one day I could play with Herbie Hancock or Bob James.  Those would be very cool.”  After spending a fair amount of time in Vegas, Darryl made his move back to the San Diego vicinity.

In 2008, Darryl released his first solo CD, That Was Then, which got some serious airplay on the smooth jazz internet stations.  He is currently finishing up his second CD, which will have guest appearances by Euge Groove, Marcus Anderson, and U-Nam, and will hopefully be ready later this year.

When not out on the road or working on his solo projects, Darryl can be found spending time with his wife and two children, who are also budding musicians.  “My son plays sax and my daughter is a violinist.  Both are very good, but I try not to do the music stuff with them.  I don’t want to push it.  My favorite thing to do with them is to hang on the beach.” 

With so much demand from this bassist, you can be certain to catch him playing with one of your favorite artists or groups.  And for more information, you can check out his website at www.darrylwilliamsmusic.com or friend him on Facebook.