When I was "Little Johnny Hendricks," singing in Toledo, Ohio, in the late 1930s, JOE WILLIAMS was attracting attention in Chicago, where he had come up as a small child from "Go North" Georgia, as Joseph Goreed. Though our paths didn't cross till later, each of us knew what the other was doing. After the war he started sitting in with the Count Basie septet, and Basie hired him as a vocalist. Every Day made Joe an instant star. His voice was a magnificent instrument. It had everything--range, tone, vibrancy, sweetness--it was just mind boggling. He turned up the steam, made...
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