Drew Williams, a composer, saxophonist, and educator, creates music anchored in the jazz tradition that is augmented by influences from film scores, contemporary classical, and indie rock.

Since returning to his hometown of Kansas City, Drew has been immersed in several new projects. He premiered new music for solo saxophone and electronics at the 2023 Kansas City Contemporary Music Festival, leading up to the release of his Wobble EP in 2024. Plastic Sax noted that it was “almost certainly one of the year’s most exciting statements by a locally based musician.” His upcoming album, Music for Big Band features original compositions and arrangements of works by Wayne Shorter, Shane Endsley, and Matt Otto. He received a 2023 Pathways to Jazz Grant to support this project. Additionally, he recently completed a saxophone trio album Demons Hate Fresh Air, both of which are slated for release in 2025.

While living in New York City, Drew founded the eleven-piece ensemble Wing Walker Orchestra, in which he was bandleader, composer, and played bass clarinet. Their debut album Hazel was released in 2019 which was described by the New York Times as “a remarkable debut album” and Downbeat Magazine named it one of the best albums of 2019. Additionally, they performed at the Festival of New Trumpet Music, directed by Dave Douglas, from 2016 to 2019. Drew helped arrange five sets of music composed by guest trumpeters Shane Endsley, Ralph Alessi, Jason Palmer, Jonathan Finlayson, and Jaimie Branch, and performed alongside them with the WWO.

Drew has toured and performed extensively across the country playing at prominent venues such as Jazz Gallery (NYC), Cornelia Street Cafe (NYC), Blue Whale (LA), and the Blue Room (KC). He also composes and arranges for jazz ensembles, symphony orchestra, youth chorus, and film. His big band composition, Warren, premiered at the Jazz Composers Showcase at Jazz Gallery in 2020. For five years, he worked as an arranger for the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, working closely with Director and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Francisco J. Núñez. In addition to composing and arranging hundreds of pieces for the chorus, he arranged one of Francisco’s compositions for symphony orchestra, which premiered at Carnegie Hall. 

Drew Williams has been an educator for over a decade. He currently teaches at the University of Kansas where he directs Jazz Ensemble II, multiple jazz combos, and teaches private lessons on saxophone and composition. He regularly teaches clinics and workshops at universities and high schools around the country, including the University of Nevada-Reno, Truman State University, Idyllwild Arts High School, among others. The clinic blends improvisation and composition and tackles the often frustrating process of coming up with an initial idea. The method involves a fast-paced exchange of improvisations to blast through the insecurities and hangups that often plague new (and sometimes even more experienced) improvisers and composers. By teaching the students to come up with ideas quickly and to develop those ideas based on their own instincts, improvisation and composition become more practical, tangible, and less elusive.

Drew graduated with a M.M. in Jazz Studies from New York University and a B.M. in classical saxophone performance from Truman State University. He is currently pursuing a D.M.A. in composition from the University of Kansas where he is a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Jazz Studies