(April 10th 1894 - December 17th 1975)

Born Stanley R. Williams in Danville, Kentucky in 1894 as a child he played several instruments before settling on the clarinet in his teens. Known as Fess (or professor) in 1919 he began leading his own band after attaining a formal music education at Tuskegee University. In 1923 Fess moved to Chicago to join Ollie Powers and soon began backing the variety act "Dave & Tressie" with whom he traveled to New York in 1924. There he formed his "Royal Flush Orchestra" in 1926 a group which served as support for his hot clarinet and saxophone.