Kimo Williams - Electric Guitar & Vocals

The son of a career Air Force sergeant, Kimo as a child spent time on several Air Force bases. When his father went offfor foreign duty, Kimo was shuffled between relatives, spending most of his preteen years on his grandparents’ farm in North Carolina. Here, without running water or indoor plumbing, Kimo experienced his American heritage in its most primitive as he picked tobacco, plowed cornfields and tended livestock.
He attended Leilehua High School in Hawaii where he and his father finally settled in 1968. Upon graduation from high school Kimo enlisted in the Army on July 4th 1969.

In 1970 he was sent to Viet Nam and assigned to a combat engineer company building roads and clearing land in the jungle. To deal with the stress of combat Kimo took to the guitar and started practicing, hoping to play like his hero Jimi Hendrix.

An Army entertainment director heard him playing at one of the service clubs and suggested that he form a band to perform for the troops in the field. For the next two months, September 1970 to November 1970, Kimo and his band, "The Soul Coordinators" traveled to remote fighting areas throughout Viet Nam. They often set up their drums and amps in the deep jungle mud with their music at times competing with artillery fire.

When Kimo left Viet Nam in November 1970 he returned to Hawaii where performed with several local rock bands.

In 1972 Kimo left Hawaii and enrolled at Berklee School of Music in Boston Massachusetts. It was during his five years as a student at Berklee that he developed his compositional talents, combining his own harmonic concept; "Diagonal Harmony" with traditional jazz and classical teachings.

Kimo studied counterpoint and cannon with Hugo Norden of Boston University and studied composition with Lithuanian Composer Jeronimus Kacinskas.

In 1976 Kimo formed his ensemble "The Paumalu Symphony" (now called “Kimotion”) as a vehicle to perform his unique style of composing. After graduating in 1976 with a BA in composition, Kimo spent a year on the Berklee faculty before he and his wife joined the Army Band program as musicians. Following a tour with the 9th Infantry Division Band in Tacoma Washington, Kimo attended Officer Candidate School and in January 1980, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army.

The next 7 years were spent at Fort Sheridan Ill, where he also earned his Masters degree in Management and Human Relations from Webster University. In 1987 after reaching the rank of Captain, Kimo resigned his commission to pursue composing full time.

From 1987 to 1990 the "civilian" Kimo was on the faculty of Sherwood Conservatory of Music in Chicago as their program director for commercial studies. He then accepted a position in the Music Department of Columbia College in Chicago where he was Artist In Residence. During this time, Kimo was in the Army Reserves as a Military Bandmaster conducting and commanding the 85th Division Band.

Kimo is currently a full time Faculty member teaching and coordinating the Producing Recorded Music curriculum in the Arts Entertainment and Media Management Department of Columbia College in Chicago.

Kimo released his first album War Stories nationally in 1991 on his own, Little Beck Music. This CD received critical acclaim from national magazines and newspapers mostly emphasizing Kimo's arranging and composing abilities He received 41/2 (out of 5) stars from Downbeat magazine. This album featured his original compositions performed by his thirty-member Kimotion ensemble. War Stories is a Symphonic- jazz-rock big-band album, and along with some of his classical works, is considered a part of his Vietnam catharsis.

He released his second album "Tracking" in Novemebr 2001 again recieving rave reviews. This CD featured Kimo's friends actor/musician Gary Sinise, who also was a co-producer and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta.

In November 1991 Kimo's full orchestra score Symphony For The Sons of Nam was one of three scores selected for a reading session from among thirty-four in a national search for African- American Composers by the Savannah Symphony Orchestra. In January 1993 the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in a similar African -American Composer search again selected his score as a finalist. Since then, this work has been performed extensively by many orchestras and regularly on NPR’s “Performance Today”
Kimo has written five String Quartets, Two Gether, Quartet For The Sons of Nam, New Beginnings, Quiet Shadows and September in Saigon 2001.Quiet Shadows was premiered August 26th at the opening of the Vietnam National Art Gallery in Chicago where Mayor Daley commented “Thank you for this is beautiful music”

In 1997 Kimo wrote the music for the Steppenwolf Theatre production of A Streetcar Named Desire and was musical director for the Goodman Theatre production of Ma Raineys' Black Bottom.

Kimo returned to Vietnam in April 1998 to find the inspiration to complete is “Symphony For The Sons of Nam. This trip is the subject of a documentary that is currently in production.

His new score American Soldier (originally Buffalo Soldiers); a commission by The West Point Academy Band, was premiered February 1999 at West Point. This score, along with a narration written by his wife, also a veteran, honors the American Soldier, past and present . The new rendition of this work has yet to be premiered.

As a composer Kimo uses music to speak from the deepest part of his soul. He has said, “Music is the conduit to the hearts of people”.

Web Links

kimotion.org | omik.com