John Bearcat Williams is chiefly remembered as a woodwind player in various territory jazz bands during the 1920s and '30s who was married to pianist Mary Lou Williams. Closer scrutiny reveals his active participation in developments that contributed directly to the rapid development of hot jazz, swing, and bebop. Born in Memphis, TN, on April 13, 1905, he began performing as a teenager and formed his first working ensemble in 1923 as part of a traveling entertainment troupe billed as Buzzin' Harris His Hits and Bits. While performing with the show in Pittsburgh, Williams hired a gifted 13-year-old pianist named Mary Lou Burley, who was born Mary Lou Scruggs but performed using the name of one of her stepfathers until eventually marrying Johnny Williams.

By 1926, Williams' Syncopators were appearing in theaters accompanying dancing duo Seymour Jeanette James. During January of 1927 in Chicago, the Williams band recorded for Paramount Records as Jeanette's Synco Jazzers. In February and March the group recorded again as John Williams' Synco Jazzers. Neither of these ensembles had anything to do with the Synco Jazz Band led by Joseph Samuels from 1919 to 1926. John Williams visited New York to record with Lloyd Scott's Orchestra on January 10th and with his own band in May of 1927. In November of that year John Williams His Memphis Stompers, also known as the Midnite Strutters, made a handful of recordings in Kansas City.

During this period the Williams organization was based in Memphis. In 1928, leaving his wife in charge of the band, Williams left for Oklahoma City to join Terrence Holder's orchestra, remaining with this group after Andy Kirk assumed leadership. On November 19, 1929, Williams revisited New York to record with Cecil Scott His Bright Boys. Soon thereafter he moved his base of operations to Kansas City. From November 1929 to December 1938 Williams recorded regularly with Andy Kirk His Twelve Clouds of Joy. Williams' baritone sax is featured on Kirk's Blue Clarinet Stomp, a hot side cut for the Brunswick record label in 1929. In March of 1931 John and Mary Lou Williams sat in with Blanche Calloway Her Joy Boys to record three sides for the Victor label.

During her tenure with Andy Kirk, Mary Lou Williams would become famous for her inspired piano playing and excellent arrangements. Having left the Kirk band early in 1939 and after laying low for a couple of years, John Williams' last significant professional involvement was with Cootie Williams His Orchestra. This band's session of April 1, 1942, featured Eddie Cleanhead Vinson singing the blues and ended with an unusual-sounding modernistic experiment called Fly Right, a collaborative opus by Cootie Williams, Kenny Clarke, and Thelonious Monk that soon became famous under the title Epistrophy. This recording serves as a fascinating coda for the career of John Williams, as he seems to have retired altogether from the music business immediately afterwards, and information pertaining to the rest of his life remains elusive or nonexistent. ~ arwulf arwulf, Rovi