George Dale “The Fox” Williams was a prolific arranger who wrote a lot of music for major names in the jazz and popular music field. He is yet another arranger who never attained the legendary status of a Riddle or a May, but as the music posted in these articles will demonstrate, his music is solid and professional, and is still very much in our consciousness, often in surprising ways. To prove it, at least three articles are needed to illustrate only a part of his musical lives, and for many, the very last citation will perhaps prove a surprise to most of you.
He was born in New Orleans in 1917, and no amount of research has uncovered how he got the nickname “The Fox.” The first mention we have of him is as a pianist/arranger for the Sonny Dunham band, another sadly forgotten musician who was a first-class trumpet player very popular in the early ‘40s. That was obviously a big break, but an even bigger one was when he joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1942.
- I Don’t Want to Walk Without You
- It Must Be Jelly (‘Cause Jam Don’t Shake Like That)
- I Hear You Screamin’ (played by the Miller AEF Orchestra)
By 1944, Williams was writing for the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra. Before George Handy’s avant-garde pieces, the Raeburn band was an outfit with scores by Ed Finckel and Johnny Mandel. Clearly Williams was used to write arrangements for dancing and backgrounds for vocals:
- Summertime
- Prisoner of Love (Don Darcy is the vocalist)
- I’ll Remember April
- It Could Happen to You
Raeburn altoist Johnny Bothwell made a record date for Signature with the Raeburn band. This is John’s Other Wife.
Williams’s next big break was with Gene Krupa’s ensemble. Krupa had been leading an orchestra with a small string section; Finckel was one of his arrangers. By August of 1945, Williams began contributing music. In September, he wrote a score for Anita O’Day for a silly novelty song that became a big hit. Chickery Chick is a great example of the power of a fabulous arrangement, which is the reason some may still know this song today.
Part II will continue his excellent work with Krupa and will introduce his music for the legendary Ray Anthony, still alive (age 103) at this writing.
