Jazzy lineup gathers to salute Joe Williams

Memories of the man shimmer in his music, and they'll be affectionately rekindled Sunday at the 19th annual Joe Williams Scholarship Fundraiser Concert at the South Point showroom.

"Anybody who worked with Joe would gladly come here on his behalf," says Ed Foster, the show's producer and longtime friend of Williams, who created the fund to assist College of Southern Nevada students in 1989, and died in 1999.

Foster's impressive lineup of performers includes singing impressionist Bob Anderson, vocalists Marlena Shaw, Freddie House and the Cunninghams, comedians Pete Barbutti and Cork Proctor, and the 17-piece CSN jazz band and vocal ensemble.

"We're doing the kind of music Joe would do," Foster says. "Marlena Shaw was also a close friend of Joe's, performed with him in concerts and recordings, and they were both singers with the Count Basie Orchestra. And Artie Butler, who is a composer/arranger, wrote one of Joe's big hits, 'Here's to Life,' and he'll perform it in tribute to Joe. Freddie House will sing Joe's 'Every Day I Have the Blues,' and Vinnie Falcone, one of the best musical directors in the country, will conduct the orchestra."

Williams gave the inaugural concert for the scholarship fund, which has raised more than $135,000 since its inception and has assisted more than 400 CSN students by providing tuition waivers for music classes. After skipping the concert last year due to the lack of an available venue, organizers hope to match the $12,000 the event netted in 2006.

Previous concerts were staged at the former Blue Note nightclub and the Orleans Showroom, and performers who've appeared over the years include Jack Jones, Clint Holmes, the Four Freshmen, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Bill Acosta, Buddy Greco and Robert Goulet.

Numerous scholarship recipients also will be on hand for this year's concert. "We'll have a video presentation before the show, a biography of Joe, with musical performances, including a huge one he did for the anniversary of Caesars Palace, where he and B.B. King did a duet on 'Every Day I Have the Blues,' " Foster says. "We are really looking forward to this one."

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0256.