Meet the Musician
Senior Chief Musician Stephen H. Williams,
Lead Alto Saxophone
Senior Chief Musician Steve Williams, a native of Pensacola, Fla. joined Navy Band Commodores in March 1994. The unit’s lead saxophonist since 1997, he was the music director from 2003 until 2009. He has composed/arranged over 40 compositions for the group and produced its recently released CD, “Directions.”
Williams has appeared on several albums including the Grammy winning “Caribbean Jazz Project/ Afro-Bop Alliance Big Band featuring Dave Samuels.” He played lead alto sax with The Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, toured with The Glenn Miller Orchestra and was a semi-finalist in the 1988 Hennessey Cognac Jazz Search. He has performed with Joe Williams, Linda Carter, The Temptations, Rita Moreno, Jim Neighbors, Linda Lavin, Hal Linden, Eddie Fisher, The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, The Ice Capades, The Mills Brothers, Floyd Cramer, Al Hirt, Boots Randolph, Wayne Newton, Maureen McGovern, and many others. Williams has also performed with The Fort Worth, Richmond, and Baltimore Symphonies as well. Prior to the Navy Band, he was a bandmaster and sideman with Crystal, Princess, Norwegian Caribbean, Premier, and American Hawaii Cruise Lines.
Williams attended North Texas State University where he played lead alto saxophone in the famed One O’ Clock Lab Band. While there he studied saxophone with Jim Riggs. He briefly attended Florida State University where he studied saxophone with Patrick Mieghan and improvisation with Bill Kennedy, and he later led an ensemble that won the 1988 National Collegiate Jazz Competition.
