23rd November 1937-4th September 2017
The Alf Williams Memorial Award has been established by Alf’s loving family to champion future aspiring young jazz artists enrolled on the Tomorrow’s Warriors Emerging Artists Development Programme.
Alf’s commitment to jazz music and to inspiring generations of young musicians makes him a true Warrior, and we are so honoured to create this award to celebrate and continue his legacy.
He had a lifelong love of jazz and successful professional gigging career in London and South Wales, forming his own groups Jafro and DnA, and playing tenor sax with the Welsh Jazz orchestra and piano with Newport City Big Band. He bought his first alto sax from earnings from a paper round and taught himself to read music and play, as he could not afford lessons. He joined the band of the Welsh Guards Regiment, then went on to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Alf started teaching woodwind and became one of the first black peripatetic teachers in South Wales, working in primary and secondary schools in Newport for almost thirty years. During his teaching career, Alf also ran a number of successful youth bands and big bands for Gwent county council.
Alf’s daughter, Dr Susan Davis approached Tomorrow’s Warriors to establish a bursary fund in her beloved father’s memory:
As a family we wanted Alf’s musical legacy to go on. He was passionate about jazz and also music education for all young people and not just those from wealthier homes. We learned about TW on social media and loved the vibe and ethos of the organisation. Alf moved to London as a young man, his dream was to make his living playing music, but unfortunately he ran out of money… which meant he had to return to his home in South Wales. I think it would have been easier for him if he’d had a support network like TW behind him. As a family we see the work that TW are doing to mentor and nurture talented young jazz musicians and we wanted to help. We feel so proud to be watching this new generation of talent emerge – and that the Alf Williams Memorial Award, will help someone who needs support, to get a foot on the ladder. This is the impact that we hope the award will have.
Dr Susan Davis
Recipients of the Alf Williams Memorial Award so far include:
ALLEXA NAVA (saxophones) – supported with a tuition bursary to receive a programme of one-to-one tuition and mentorship from the award-winning Denys Baptiste, one of the finest saxophonists in the UK.
“I’m extremely grateful for you giving me the opportunity to have lessons with one of my favourite saxophone players. I was super nervous when my first session was scheduled as it had been a really long time since I had a teacher and the idea of the lessons being with Denys Baptiste made me even more nervous. We had different sessions through the next months and I learned a lot. He even helped me with my Conservatoire audition and good news, I got in! I cant express how happy I am because I believe that with Denys’ guidance I have reached a new level in my playing and I have more confidence in it.”
DAVID KAYODE (saxophones) – supported with a travel bursary to enable him to travel from Manchester to London on a regular basis in order to receive jazz training and mentorship from Tomorrow’s Warriors, and become part of the ever-expanding Tomorrow’s Warriors community.
“I am honestly beyond words and grateful for this award. Coming to warriors has changed my life for the better. They found me in a very difficult time in my life. I spent my teenage years pretending to be grown up to get through day-to-day life. Here I am finally given the chance to grow. Everyday spent with them I feel closer to achieving my goals. I would not call myself a religious man but, either way, God bless you for your help. I hope to make you all proud someday.”
SHANISE HALL (trumpet) – supported with a tuition bursary to receive regular one-to-one trumpet tuition with tutors of her choice and ongoing mentorship from the Tomorrow’s Warriors senior leadership.
“In terms of how the grant has benefited me, I feel that my trumpet playing has improved greatly because Kurt has helped me with my technique on trumpet which has overall improved all aspects of my playing. Our most recent lessons have been focused on music theory which has improved my understanding and also helped with my composition process. The grant has helped me tremendously and I haven’t even finished all my lessons yet so I am looking forward to seeing what my playing will be like by the end of all these lessons. I honestly am so grateful for this support as I definitely couldn’t have afforded all these lessons otherwise. Thank you for putting me forward for it and please pass on thanks to Dr Davis!”
If you would like to honour someone special in your life and, at the same time, empower a deserving young musician constrained only by the inability to fund the next crucial step in their career, then do get in touch to discuss the many ways we can help you achieve this. In Memoriam gifts help us deliver timely, often life-changing interventions that can change the trajectory of a young person’s musical career, and very often with staggering results!