LV’s Joe Williams an integral part of Kennedy Center Honors

Trude B. Feldman

Friday, Dec. 26, 1997 | 11:55 a.m.

Tonight, CBS will broadcast the gala 20th anniversary of the Kennedy Center Honors (9 p.m., KLAS Channel 8).

And in the middle of all the hoopla surrounding the event was Las Vegas resident and legendary singer Joe Williams, who was the main attraction for the post-gala event, which took place on Dec. 7.

That is when the Kennedy Center Honors were taped (for tonight's broadcast) at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. to pay tribute to the five 1997 honorees: Actress Lauren Bacall, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, actor Charlton Heston, opera singer Jessye Norman and dancer Edward Villella.

Produced by George Stevens Jr. and Don Mischer and hosted by Walter Cronkite, the gala starred David Ball, Colin L. Powell, Lynn Redgrave, Joanne Woodward, Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Tony Roberts, Bruce Springsteen, Sam Waterston, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gregg Edelman, Shirley Caesar, Audra McDonald, Sylvia McNair and Haken Hagegard.

Viewers will see Gregory Peck and Springsteen give a tribute to Dylan. Tony Roberts and Gregg Edelman sang "Brush Up Your Shakespeare" for Heston. Ann Reinking, among others, will honor Lauren Bacall. Sylvia McNair and the Howard University choir will honor Jessye Norman, and Jerome Robbins and Joanne Woodward will pay tribute to Villella.

The honorees, selected by the center's trustees and submitted by the artists committee, were bestowed awards by the Kennedy Center for lifetime achievements in the performing arts.

Bedecked in rainbow-colored ribbons and studded with golden bars, they sat with President and Mrs. Clinton in the presidential box and heard their individual tributes.

In 1977, the Kennedy Center Honors were created to focus attention on the arts and to financially aid the Kennedy Center. Today, the tributes are hailed as the most prestigious and popular annual event in the nation's capital.

After the gala, the limelight turned to the Great Hall in the Kennedy Center, where the star attraction for the supper dance was Williams, internationally known and loved jazz singer, who performed with the Jazz Members Orchestra. A member of the Artists Advisory Board of the Kennedy Center Honors, Williams has sung for 17 of the supper dances during the 20 years of the honors, entertaining honorees, diplomats, congressmen and officials.

Buffy Cafritz, co-chair (with Ann Jordan, wife of presidential confidante Vernon Jordan) of the gala said: "We love Joe Williams. Traditionally, we sit on the steps of the Great Hall and swing and sway or sing with him until 1:15 a.m., when he closes the event. George Stevens is a creative genius and he and his team helped to make the gala a successful event. ... But Joe Williams topped the sensationally successful evening with his splendid singing."

Buffy's husband Bill, a prominent Maryland developer, added: "I rush through my supper so I can get a good place on the steps just to listen to Joe Williams."

A resident of Las Vegas since 1968, Joe Williams celebrated his 79th birthday on Dec. 12. Born in Georgia, he grew up in Chicago and became a musician in 1937. He has sung with the Woody Herman and Count Basie bands.

Because of the 20th anniversary milestone, President Clinton became the first president to go onstage at the end of the gala and to give thanks to the honorees and their presenters.

In an interview with the SUN, Williams said that "Bill Clinton is the most well-spoken president we've had for some time. He represents America well. His programs lift us up, but each of us must implement them. We have to teach our children to love one another ... to avoid the hatred that is permeating the nation today.

"We have to implement the president's programs," Williams continued. "For instance, like John Kennedy once said, 'God's work is our own and so we must do the work since we are in God's image ... we the people are the instruments and we must do God's work.' "

Asked about the president's Initiative on Race, Williams said that "there is only one race and that is the human race. ... I agree with Clinton's thinking for human rights, but I think what the president wants is really that you and I should like each other and treat each other with love and respect. That alone would go a long way to end the problem. There is nothing better than the Golden Rule and that rule should be implemented by we the people. Sure, it should start with the president and his administration, but we the people must act it out ... We must learn to live with each other."

A guest in the East Room of the White House for the pre-gala reception, Williams recalled that he sang in that room, when Richard Nixon was president, for Duke Ellington's 70th birthday party, during which Ellington was given the Medal of Freedom.

Williams' wife, Jillean, whom he married in 1959, said that "for us, celebrating with the Kennedy Center honorees has been the most exciting weekend of the year."

Roberta Peters, Metropolitan Opera diva, who has known Williams for the past 14 years and sees him yearly at the Kennedy Center Honors, is also on the nominating committee. She was most impressed with Williams' rendition of "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" during the gala.

"Joe is a great jazz singer," Peters said. "His long career has been sustained because he is good, has had good training -- and because he has a great style which is unique to him. He also has a big heart, is a lovely man and is well-respected in the world of music."

Williams' easygoing personality, coupled with his upbeat demeanor, is not only contagious but has stood him in good stead throughout his colorful career. He is grateful to every musician who has encouraged him along the way. "Each one has given me something," he said. "Yes, Duke Ellington encouraged me -- and he also inspired me. We musicians inspire each other."

One aspect of his career that he fondly recalled is when he sang in a ballroom. "I loved to watch people dance and hold each other while I sang," he said. "I miss that now since there are no ballrooms, but I'm still enjoying my career and always thinking of those who inspired me -- all the way since my first band leader, Jimmy Noone, who also was an inspiration for Benny Goodman."

Would Joe Williams like to celebrate his 80th birthday by becoming a '98 Kennedy Center honoree? "I most certainly would love to be a recipient -- who wouldn't want that unique honor?" he responded. "Honors encourage one to do even better. Every honor that comes to one is a beginning rather than an end -- the best is yet to come."