Zildjian Tony Williams Artist Series drumstick review: jazz's first signature stick

The Zildjian Tony Williams Artist Series (SKU ASTW) is Zildjian's signature drumstick for Tony Williams, the Miles Davis Second Great Quintet drummer and Lifetime founder. U.S. hickory, 16 inches long, .625 inch diameter, hefty 2B dimensions with a thinner neck and an angular wood tip. It was the first drumstick Zildjian ever sold under a royalty-per-pair "signature" artist deal, introduced at Winter NAMM in January 1991 and modeled directly on Williams's own Gretsch 2B sticks.

Anthony Tillmon "Tony" Williams (December 12, 1945, to February 23, 1997) joined Miles Davis's Second Great Quintet at age 17 in 1963, staying through 1968 across the post-bop canon (E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Nefertiti). After Miles he founded Lifetime in 1969 with John McLaughlin and Larry Young, one of jazz-fusion's foundational bands. Modern Drummer Hall of Fame, 1986. Full profile at /drummers/tony-williams.

Zildjian's drumstick line needed credibility in 1990. That's John DeChristopher's own account: he ran Artist Relations and product marketing for Zildjian Drumsticks at the time, and the sticks read as an afterthought next to Zildjian's cymbals. DeChristopher approached Williams that summer about an endorsement deal. At a meeting in September 1990, Williams handed him a pair of his own Gretsch 2B sticks and told him that if Zildjian could reproduce them, he'd play Zildjian's sticks. Zildjian's factory replicated the pair, Williams approved the design that November at Boston's Regatta Bar, and DeChristopher named the new line "Artist Series." It launched at Winter NAMM in January 1991, with Williams appearing at Zildjian's booth to sign autographs, the brand's first-ever royalty-per-pair signature drumstick artist. The deal's credibility later drew Roy Haynes, Vinnie Colaiuta, Dennis Chambers, and Cindy Blackman to the same Artist Series line. DeChristopher's full account is the source for this origin story.

Both sticks target jazz and jazz-fusion drumming, but they solve it from opposite directions. The Williams stick keeps a thick, heavy-hitting 2B body and thins only the neck; hickory's density adds weight and durability. The Modern Jazz Collection 4 goes the other way: maple is lighter than hickory at similar dimensions, and its long taper is built for rebound over mass. Pick the Williams stick for Lifetime-era fusion power; pick the MJC4 for a lighter, more traditional ride-cymbal touch.

• Jazz and jazz-fusion drummers who hit harder than a typical jazz stick allows. The .625 inch diameter carries real mass for a jazz-context stick, built for Lifetime-era fusion volume, not just brush-adjacent combo playing.
• Ride-cymbal definition at higher volume. The angular tip is a different contact shape than the round or barrel tips common on lighter jazz sticks, aimed at cutting through a denser mix.
• Players who want a 2B's heft with a jazz stick's control. The thinned neck on an otherwise-heavy body is the stick's whole design idea: rock-stick mass, faster handling.
• Not for the lightest-touch brush-and-mallet jazz combo work. Drummers wanting a traditional lighter jazz feel should look at a standard 5A or the Vic Firth Modern Jazz Collection 4 instead.

If the goal is the signature stick a foundational jazz-fusion drummer designed himself, and the first one Zildjian ever put a name and royalty on, this is it. For a lighter, more traditional jazz stick, see the Vic Firth Modern Jazz Collection 4.

Zildjian

Tony Williams Artist Series (ASTW)

Price tier: $

Why this one: The signature stick that launched Zildjian's Artist Series line, personally designed by Tony Williams from his own Gretsch 2B sticks. The pick for jazz and fusion drummers who want 2B mass with jazz-stick control.

JazzJazz fusionPost-bop

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