John David Williams

John David Williams is a musician and teacher based in Ontario. He plays and teaches the clarinet, harmonica, and diatonic accordion. Growing up, John had the great honour of studying with the renowned clarinetist and educator Avrahm Galper, and then he studied classical clarinet at the University Toronto. John’s ears and heart turned towards acoustic traditional musics of various kinds: Blues, Klezmer, Traditional Jazz, Fiddle folk dance music! The love of these traditions brought him to study the harmonica and accordion as well as expand his clarinet playing beyond his classical roots. He has played, recorded, and toured with many acclaimed and award winning bands including Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Jaron Freeman-Fox and the Opposite of Everything, and The Boxcar Boys. Most recently, with Vinta (a quartet that plays music for European folk dancing) John and his bandmates are the recipients of the Canadian Folk Music Award for Instrumental Composers of the Year for their album Beacons.