Williams' early compositions were for orchestra, but he would later achieve his greatest success writing for concert band. One of his earliest works,
Fanfare and Allegro, was completed in 1954 but was considered, at the time, exceptionally difficult by the bands (including some military bands) that attempted to perform it. In particular, a military band struggled mightily with the work at a performance at the 1954
Brownsville, Texas Music Festival. Thus, Williams laid the work aside for some time. The
American Bandmasters Association then announced its first
Ostwald Composition Prize in the winter of 1955. Williams slightly revised
Fanfare and Allegro and entered it into this contest.
Fanfare and Allegro won the inaugural American Bandmasters Association's
Ostwald Award for original band literature in 1956. The first performance of the revised work, at the 1956 ABA convention, won rave reviews and the work moved rapidly to the forefront of serious wind literature. Williams won the award again in 1957 for his
Symphonic Suite. Williams entered the competition for a third time in 1958 with an earlier work, his
Symphonic Essays of 1953, but withdrew from the competition the day before the winner was to be announced, feeling that winning a new competition a third consecutive time would discourage other equally worthy composers. It was not revealed until several years later that
Symphonic Essays was, in fact, set to be the winner of the 1958 ABA prize. The Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation commissioned Williams to compose a work celebrating the 25th anniversary of the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra (circa its 1964–1965 season). He composed a set of five symphonic dances, of which he would later transcribe two for concert band: Nr. 2, "The Maskers", and Nr. 3, "Fiesta". His protégé
W. Francis McBeth, in 2000, recast the first dance ("Comanche Ritual") for band; the parts for it remain in manuscript in the possession of Williams' daughter, Michelle Williams Hanzlik. Dances 4 and 5 ("Square Dance" and "New Generation") also have been adapted for band, so that since 2007 a few performances of the entire set of five dances have been given. The primary publishers of Williams's wind music have included
Southern Music, Summy Birchard, Piedmont,
C. L. Barnhouse, and University of Miami Music Publications. As of 2011, ten more of his band compositions have been published by Maestro & Fox Music by arrangement with the composer's estate. These previously unknown works include
Dramatic Variations,
Sonata Allegro,
Show Tune,
Caprice Americana,
Postwar Prelude, ''Louisiana Tech Band's March
, Roll of Honor March
, "Symphonic Essays", Hall of Fame March
, Ballade
, "Pandean Fable", and The Hero March.'' More first-time publications were slated for the 2010s, some four decades after the composer's death. The
New Jersey City University's Symphony of Winds and Percussion revived Williams's unpublished
Symphonic Essays in the spring of 2013. Clifton Williams considered
The Ramparts his favorite work. Commissioned by the
United States Air Force Academy, the work contains an
a cappella hymn, "What Greater Thing", that has become the unofficial
alma mater song and has been performed at every USAFA commencement ceremony since 1965. Williams's wife, Maxine, wore a charm bracelet adorned with six charms, each one representing a significant band work by her husband; the charm for
The Ramparts made up the central piece. ==Compositions==