Mars Williams

Who is Mars Williams?

Mars Williams is an American jazz and rock saxophonist. Exposed to Big Band and Dixieland Jazz by his trumpet playing father, Williams played classical clarinet for ten years, then migrated to the saxophone in his senior year of high school, citing influences from Eric Dolphy, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. He attended De Paul University and later the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians where he studied under the mentorship of founders Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell. In 2004 he was selected by the Moers Festival as their featured artist.

Williams is a musician, orchestrator and arranger who has played with various bands and recording artists including The Waitresses and gold-record sellers The Psychedelic Furs. He was originally only to tour with The Furs in Australia for a month in 1983 as then sax-player Gary Windo was unable to make the trip. After a successful tour and the subsequent Waitresses breakup, Mars was asked to stay on as a permanent member, which he did until 1989 and later rejoined in 2005.