JAM DECEMBER 2007/JANUARY 2008 Issue: Feature Story

Extraordinary Passages:

Remembering the Life & Music of
Gregory Hickman-Williams

“A voice [that] will heal people”… “A miracle”… “A new sound [for] familiar songs... a command of languages --very rare!”... “A beautifully crafted and artistically inspired voice” … ” A great vocal instrument, powerful, soulful and always musical … ”

Vocalists dream of glowing tributes like those given to Gregory Hickman-Williams.

The fact that those reviews came from other master jazz musicians is a testament to his rare talent. A tenor prodigy who defied simple categorization, Gregory created rich, resonant vocals – the unique result of the intercourse between classical music, the genre in which he trained, and jazz music – the sounds he fell in love with at an early age.

Gregory's phenomenal voice was tragically stilled much too soon, literally on the eve of a breakthrough debut, but not before the voice was captured in his hypnotic CD - Passages. The week before his CD release party in March, 2006, Gregory went into the hospital where he would remain until he died five months later at the age of 49.

On January 20, 2008 , the jazz pros who loved and worked with Gregory Hickman-Williams will join his friends and fans at Jardine's Jazz Club for an extravaganza to pay him tribute, celebrate his remarkable life, and toast his birthday – January 18th.

Gregory lived a life as exceptional as his voice, forsaking the mundane sensibilities of personal property, pension and social approval to follow an extraordinary dream, a relentless pursuit of vocal excellence. Imagine Don Quixote traveling through the world armed with a magnificent, magical voice with near supernatural tonality. Gregory's quest would take him from coaching studios in Oakland and Fantasy Records, to New York cabaret, musical theatre, and the famed Opera Ebony, to Barcelona , Spain , Israel , and a little villa near Florence , Italy to study with Gino Bechi.

Returning to the states, Gregory established a theatre company, turning nursery stories into musical plays. He used his theater project to teach his affluent students to serve the needs of under-privileged children, organizing gift and food drives, along with performances.

Gregory was an animal lover who had dogs, birds, and fish, and was known to rescue a discarded stuffed animal from a dumpster. He was a gourmet cook, described as “exuberant in the kitchen,” m akin g dishes that were “platonic,” always teaching, always showing how to live with joy and purpose.

In the end, Gregory's heart gave out, but not before he gave every ounce of the great compassion it held to the life he embraced with it. His passages were marked with achievements too few will ever know, and unforgettable traces of grace.

The wonderful stories of this gentle giant will continue on January 20 th when the Sons of Brazil , Loren Pickford , Pamela Baskin-Watson , Bob Bowman , Gerald Spaits , Millie Edwards and the Wild Women of Kansas City , and Nancy Van Fleet join in the tribute. Best of all, you'll get to hear the spellbinding voice of Gregory Hickman-Williams come to life once again.

—Sharon Valleau