Advertisement

Jut Allen Williams

Advertisement

Jut Allen Williams

Birth
Blair, Washington County, Nebraska, USA
Death
10 Jun 1979 (aged 70)
Los Angeles County, California, USA
Burial
Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California, USA Add to Map
Plot
Masonic Section Plot H Space 11
Memorial ID
View Source
Jut was the music director at Monrovia High School for many years. He was an accomplished organist having studied with Alexander Schriener of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, UT. Jut had a full pipe organ in his garage on Wild Rose in Monrovia and played it regularily. He never had his music in any order but one day put it all away and suffered a massive stroke the next day and passed away.
Bob Spalding - Cousin of Ruth Smith Williams
Here is an interesting story I found referencing Jut.

Dick Keck Writes:
Hi Richard:

Thanks for your note. I did enjoy the Benny Goodman and the rest of the stuff too. I plan to get into that 'site more when I have time.
You didn't exactly flatter my classmate George Lewis, but I'd like to post it on the '51 page anyway, together with my comments. I'm pretty sure that anybody who has made a living sticking needles into screaming kids is thick-skinned enough to take it with a grain of salt.
I found your experiences very interesting and similar to mine. You obviously enjoy recounting yours, and so do I. I hope you and I are not the only ones who enjoy reading about them.
My experience is nearly the opposite of yours -- I played violin in the First Ave. School orchestra even though I had studied piano for several years with Clara Ingham in Monrovia. I never touched a violin again after graduating from the eighth grade. I admired Chet Ullom and became active in the Boy's Glee Club and mixed chorus, but when my voice changed it was too high for baritone, too low for tenor, and always broke at the worst possible moment. Chet took pity on me and put me on the piano. I didn't know it at the time, but it was the biggest favor he could have done for me. I quickly learned how to really read music. Chet would pick up some choir music (usually, a Fred Waring or Robert Shaw arrangement) and we would be rehearsing it after the third reading, and sometimes performing it the next day. I had to read and play the accompaniment without much practice. I never got very good at it, but I guess my dexterity made up for it; Chet seemed to gain more and more confidence in me as time went by.
You may recall that Chet Ullom produced Christmas programs every year (Yes!! CHRISTMAS PROGRAMS!! The printed programs actually said "Christmas Program"!!), and since Chet had been a member of Fred Waring's "Pennsylvanians" (I didn't know that until I read his obituary), typically included lots of stuff rendered by Fred Waring. Battle Hymn of the Republic was a regular, and was challenging for the piano accompanist. In 1950, Concert Choir II tackled The Song of Christmas, a medley of highly religious songs and carols. The presentation was accompanied by Jut Williams on that magnificent Wurlitzer pipe organ, and he pulled out all of the stops on the powerful finale. As I recall, we even dared to place a NATIVITY SCENE on one side of the stage!!! Chet had also obtained the score for Fred Waring's 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. It was really good. The piano accompaniment was fun to play -- and almost easy. However, there was a segue in it following "up the chimney he rose" that required a two-hand chromatic scale, in thirds. It only went up an octave or so, but I found it too awkward to play without lots of practice, and even then, I couldn't give it the "zip" it deserved.
During our final rehearsal, Jut Williams stood next to me in the pit as I played the accompaniment. When we got to that part of the song, I played it right hand up, left hand down. Since the fingering was the same in both hands, it reduced the difficulty of the scale by about a factor of at least ten or so. Anyway, I played it perfectly, with lots of "zip" at the end.
" Where did that come from?" Jut asked.
" It sounds better, and it's a whole lot easier to play." I replied.
" That's the greatest innovation I've ever seen." He said.
Jut was the music director at Monrovia High School for many years. He was an accomplished organist having studied with Alexander Schriener of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City, UT. Jut had a full pipe organ in his garage on Wild Rose in Monrovia and played it regularily. He never had his music in any order but one day put it all away and suffered a massive stroke the next day and passed away.
Bob Spalding - Cousin of Ruth Smith Williams
Here is an interesting story I found referencing Jut.

Dick Keck Writes:
Hi Richard:

Thanks for your note. I did enjoy the Benny Goodman and the rest of the stuff too. I plan to get into that 'site more when I have time.
You didn't exactly flatter my classmate George Lewis, but I'd like to post it on the '51 page anyway, together with my comments. I'm pretty sure that anybody who has made a living sticking needles into screaming kids is thick-skinned enough to take it with a grain of salt.
I found your experiences very interesting and similar to mine. You obviously enjoy recounting yours, and so do I. I hope you and I are not the only ones who enjoy reading about them.
My experience is nearly the opposite of yours -- I played violin in the First Ave. School orchestra even though I had studied piano for several years with Clara Ingham in Monrovia. I never touched a violin again after graduating from the eighth grade. I admired Chet Ullom and became active in the Boy's Glee Club and mixed chorus, but when my voice changed it was too high for baritone, too low for tenor, and always broke at the worst possible moment. Chet took pity on me and put me on the piano. I didn't know it at the time, but it was the biggest favor he could have done for me. I quickly learned how to really read music. Chet would pick up some choir music (usually, a Fred Waring or Robert Shaw arrangement) and we would be rehearsing it after the third reading, and sometimes performing it the next day. I had to read and play the accompaniment without much practice. I never got very good at it, but I guess my dexterity made up for it; Chet seemed to gain more and more confidence in me as time went by.
You may recall that Chet Ullom produced Christmas programs every year (Yes!! CHRISTMAS PROGRAMS!! The printed programs actually said "Christmas Program"!!), and since Chet had been a member of Fred Waring's "Pennsylvanians" (I didn't know that until I read his obituary), typically included lots of stuff rendered by Fred Waring. Battle Hymn of the Republic was a regular, and was challenging for the piano accompanist. In 1950, Concert Choir II tackled The Song of Christmas, a medley of highly religious songs and carols. The presentation was accompanied by Jut Williams on that magnificent Wurlitzer pipe organ, and he pulled out all of the stops on the powerful finale. As I recall, we even dared to place a NATIVITY SCENE on one side of the stage!!! Chet had also obtained the score for Fred Waring's 'Twas The Night Before Christmas. It was really good. The piano accompaniment was fun to play -- and almost easy. However, there was a segue in it following "up the chimney he rose" that required a two-hand chromatic scale, in thirds. It only went up an octave or so, but I found it too awkward to play without lots of practice, and even then, I couldn't give it the "zip" it deserved.
During our final rehearsal, Jut Williams stood next to me in the pit as I played the accompaniment. When we got to that part of the song, I played it right hand up, left hand down. Since the fingering was the same in both hands, it reduced the difficulty of the scale by about a factor of at least ten or so. Anyway, I played it perfectly, with lots of "zip" at the end.
" Where did that come from?" Jut asked.
" It sounds better, and it's a whole lot easier to play." I replied.
" That's the greatest innovation I've ever seen." He said.

Gravesite Details

Music Teacher at Monrovia High School



Sponsored by Ancestry

Advertisement