"Willie was a self-taught trombonist from Philadelphia. He was born in 1926 and made the rounds in the jazz world working in the bands of Claude Thornhill, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Coleman Hawkins, Lennie Tristano, Kai Winding, Charles Mingus and Buddy Rich. He was my buddy on Benny's band and we played with Mulligan's Concert Band and Buddy Rich's quintet and big band. We also did numerous record dates with everybody. He was killed in an auto accident in Central Park on a rainy night, 7/8/65."
