Hoboken Public Library presents Garden State Jazz Greats – Buster Williams Listening Session – June 8th at 6:30pm

Come and join Jazz scholar Ben Young as he explores the majesty, style, and genius of New Jersey’s own jazz greats. Many of these names you may already know and all of them you should know as each of these innovators have left their indelible imprint on world culture through the great African American creation of Jazz.

Ben Young will discuss the lives and contributions of each of these home state heroes along with the musical and historical context to help illustrate what made each of their unique and singular artistic visions have such an impact.

June's featured artist will be the legendary bassist and Camden native Buster Williams. He is perhaps best known for holding down the low end in Herbie Hancock’s early 70’s Mwandishi sextet, but the depth and breadth of his career tells a much fuller story. Mr. Williams' earthy, commanding tone has straddled both sides of the perceived divisions in Jazz throughout his career ('straight ahead' versus free; acoustic versus electric, etc.)  Leader versus sideman is another of those would-be boundaries that we'll explore in light of some records you probably do know - but didn't know Williams was part of them - and some that you might not have heard yet at all.