Artist: Cootie Williams

Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter. 

In 1928, he made his first recordings with pianist  James P. Johnson in New York, where he also worked briefly in the bands of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson. Williams rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra when the band was playing at the Cotton Club, with which he first performed from 1929 to 1940. He also recorded his own sessions during this time, both freelance and with other Ellington sidemen.

For him, Duke Ellington wrote 'Concerto for Cootie,' which when lyrics were added became "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me". He was also the soloist in other Ellington compositions, such as "Echoes of Harlem", "Harlem Air Shaft", and the religious piece 'The Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock', which was dedicated to the Rev. John Gensel. 

In 1940, Williams joined Benny Goodman's orchestra, a highly publicized move that caused quite a stir at the time (commemorated by Raymond Scott with the song "When Cootie Left the Duke"),  then in 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which over the years he employed Charlie Parker, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bud Powell, Eddie Vinson, and other young players. 

By the late 1940s, Williams had fallen into obscurity, having had to reduce his band numbers and finally to disband. In the 1950s, he began to play more rhythm and blues, toured with small groups, and played in the Savoy Ballroom.

In the late 1950s, he formed a small jazz group and recorded several albums with Rex Stewart, as well as his own album, Cootie Williams in Hi-Fi (1958). In 1962, he rejoined Ellington and stayed with the orchestra until 1974, after Ellington's death.