Williams's first gigs were with Frank Terry's Chicago Nightingales in the 1930s. In 1940 he moved to
New York City, and in the first half of the decade played in the bands of
Fats Waller,
Claude Hopkins,
Edgar Hayes,
Ella Fitzgerald,
Sabby Lewis, and
Machito. From 1945 to 1949, and again in 1951, he played and recorded extensively as a member of
Duke Ellington's orchestra. Williams worked primarily with
Latin jazz ensembles and New York theater bands in the 1950s and 1960s, and played with
Clyde Bernhardt and the
Harlem Blues and Jazz Band in addition to working with his own quartet. Near the end of his life he worked with
Panama Francis. ==Personal life==