James Kimo Williams Releases

The LP Quartet For The Sons of Nam represents five String Quartets composed over a 25-year span.

Throughout my life as a composer, I have used music to speak to the experiences, both physical and emotional, 

that have shaped who I am. My first quartet Quartet For The Sons of Nam was composed in 1990, and I have written nine more since. 

This release represents five quartets that are most dear to me. Some use previous thematic material and are incorporated into a new work, i.e., Quartet For Serving While Black. 

Program/Composer notes are included with each work to reflect my purpose for writing each piece. These works were recorded in St Petersburg (Russia) in November 2003 by the Stravinsky String Quartet.

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This is the single from my release Quartet For The Sons of Nam. 

Looking back on my life and family, I  realize that the tragedy of our family tree stems from our paternal grandfather, Walter Williams Sr. (who I am told),  preached from the pulpit with my grandmother in one pew and his mistress in another. This quartet is my musical response and anger, realizing, as with Ralph Waldo's lamented proverb:  "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

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