Name: Williams, Martin (1924-1992)

Historical Note: Martin Williams was born in Richmond Virginia and educated at the University of Virginia (BA 1948), the University of Pennsylvania (MA 1950) and Columbia University. He was a nationally-known critic, specializing in jazz and American popular culture. He wrote for major jazz periodicals, especially Down Beat, co-founded The Jazz Review and was the author of numerous books on jazz. His book The Jazz Tradition won the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music criticism in 1973. From 1971-1981 he directed the Jazz and American Culture Programs at the Smithsonian Institution, where he compiled two widely-respected collections of recordings, The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz, and The Smithsonian Collection of Big Band Jazz. His liner notes for the latter won a Grammy Award.

Records or Manuscript Collections Created by Williams, Martin