William James Edwards Lee III (July 23, 1928 – May 24, 2023) was a jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin, his compositions for jazz percussionist Max Roach, and his session work as a "first-call" musician and band leader to many of the twentieth-century's most significant musical artists, including Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Harry Belafonte, Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, Billy Strayhorn, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger, among many others.
Lee recorded three critically acclaimed albums at the Black independent label Strata-East Records: The Descendants of Mike and Phoebe: A Spirit Speaks, a collaboration with his two musical sisters; The Brass Company: Colors and the third, a collaboration of seven basses, called The New York Bass Violin Choir, which JazzdaGama described as "a true Holy Grail for all musicians" and Lee considered one of his "narrative folk, jazz operas," with "One Mile East," inspired by memories of the former slave quarters near his childhood home. Stagings at New York City's Central Park, Lincoln Center and Newport Jazz Festival followed.
Trumpeter Theo Croker called Lee, "One of the great American composers of our time. His harmonic beauty was unique and his choice of melody always struck a chord inside of the listener. He was a masterful orchestrator of imagery." In 2008, The New York Times noted that "His music has the complex harmonies of bebop and hard bop, but it also has a sincere, down-home, churchy feel. His passages move to interesting and unexpected places, but they resolve before long in a way that is simple and sincere, earthy and somehow very satisfying."
Featured in more than 250 record albums, and on such songs as "Puff the Magic Dragon" and "Mr. Tambourine Man," Lee also appeared in several movies made by his son, acclaimed film-maker Spike Lee, in addition to creating original soundtracks for She's Gotta Have It (1986), School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), and Mo' Better Blues (1990).
Career
Lee's childhood was described by Strata-East co-founder Charles Tolliver as "the personification of the Black musicians' experience after Reconstruction." One of seven musical siblings born in Snow Hill, Alabama, in 1928, Lee was the son of Arnold Wadsworth Lee, a cornet player and band director at Florida A&M University and Alberta Grace (née Edwards), a concert pianist. "My learning in music started with my mother and father," Lee said.
A 1951 graduate of the historically Black Morehouse College in Atlanta, Lee "discovered the bebop recordings of Charlie Parker," which led to him "master[ing] the double bass, the largest and lowest-pitched stringed instrument, and performed with small jazz groups in Atlanta and Chicago before migrating to New York City in 1959".
A sideman for some of the most famous names in music, Lee was also often the only other musician performing, including on the original release of Dylan's 1965 classic "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" and on Gordon Lightfoot's "Oh, Linda" from the prize-winning 1964 eponymous album. Other musical collaborators included:
Chris Anderson
Burt Bacharach
Eric Bibb
The Clancy Brothers
Judy Collins
Stanley Cowell
Carolyn Hester
John Lee Hooker
Clifford Jordan
Cat Stevens
Chad Mitchell Trio
Gordon Lightfoot
Ian & Sylvia
Odetta
Mamas & Papas
Malvina Reynolds
Harold Mabern
Carmen McRae
Tom Rush
Tom Paxton
Charles Tolliver
Harold Vick
Josh White
Olatunji Yearwood
Soundtracks
Music director and performer on the song "Nola", She's Gotta Have It, Island, 1986. Music conductor of Natural Spiritual Orchestra, School Daze, Columbia, 1988. Music conductor of Natural Spiritual Orchestra, Do the Right Thing, Universal, 1989. Music director, Mo' Better Blues, Universal, 1990. Composer of score for the short film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads.
Filmography
Sonny Darling, She's Gotta Have It, Island, 1986. Bassist in the Phyllis Hyman Quartet, School Daze, Columbia, 1988. Father of the Bride, Mo' Better Blues, Universal, 1990.