Joe Williams discusses on breaking into jazz.

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Joe Williams discusses Duke Ellington.

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Joe Williams discusses aspiring jazz singers.

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Q: “It was as a band singer that you were starting out, that was pretty much what all the young singers were doing. To get an opportunity to travel with a band like that was the break, wasn’t it?”

A: “Well, because at the time, it was difficult then to break into clubs. There was a group of night club singers in Chicago, Illinois that had almost all the jobs. Unless you were singing with an orchestra, I mean, you don't have a chance to work. Then I happened to work with a big orchestra there, Jimmie Noone in a big band, man. We used to broadcast nightly from a couple of night clubs there, so we did something like 27 weeks at one place and something like 54 weeks at another place broadcasting nightly seven nights a week.”