Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter, whose mastery of mutes and expressive effects made him one of the most distinctive jazz musicians.
Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams was raised by an aunt after his pianist mother died when he was eight. A self-taught trumpet player, he began his professional career at the age of 14 with the Young Family band, which included saxophonist Lester Young. According to Williams he acquired his nickname as a boy when his father took him to a band concert. When it was over his father asked him what he'd heard and he replied, "Cootie, cootie, cootie."
He worked with Alonzo Ross De Luxe Syncopators from 1926 to 1928, then made his first recordings with pianist James P. Johnson in New York, where he also worked briefly in the bands of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson. Williams rose to prominence as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra when the band was playing at the Cotton Club, with which he first performed from 1929 to 1940. He also recorded his own sessions during this time, both freelance and with other Ellington sidemen. Williams was renowned for his "jungle"-style trumpet playing (in the manner of Ellington's earlier trumpeter Bubber Miley and trombonist Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton) and for his use of the plunger mute.
He also sang occasionally, a notable instrumental feature being in the Ellington piece "Echoes of the Jungle". For him, Duke Ellington wrote ''Concerto for Cootie,'' which when lyrics were added became "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me". He was also the soloist in other Ellington compositions, such as "Echoes of Harlem", "Harlem Air Shaft", and the religious piece ''The Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock'', which was dedicated to the Rev. John Gensel.
As well as recording these classics with Ellington, he was lead on some of his own sessions with a small ensemble of fellow Ellington band members, Cootie Williams and His Rug Cutters, with outstanding recordings. He also recorded with Lionel Hampton, Teddy Wilson, and Billie Holiday, in addition to being a guest at Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall Concert in 1938.
In 1940, Williams joined Benny Goodman's orchestra, a highly publicized move that caused quite a stir at the time (commemorated by Raymond Scott with the song "When Cootie Left the Duke"), then in 1941 formed his own orchestra, in which over the years he employed Charlie Parker, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bud Powell, Eddie Vinson, and other young players.
In the late 1950s, he formed a small jazz group and recorded a number of albums with Rex Stewart, as well as his own album, Cootie Williams in Hi-Fi (1958). In 1962, he rejoined Ellington and stayed with the orchestra until 1974, after Ellington's death. He then played in the Mercer Ellington band into the 1970s. In 1975, he performed during the Super Bowl IX halftime show. By then his solos were much simpler and more primitive than earlier (gone was the Louis Armstrong-inspired bravado), but Cootie remained the master with the plunger mute. He was semi-retired during his final decade, taking a final solo in 1978 on a Teresa Brewer record, and posthumously serving as an inspiration for Wynton Marsalis' own plunger playing.
Williams died in New York City on September 15, 1985, at the age of 74 from a kidney ailment. He is interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City. He was a 1991 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.
(Edited from Wikipedia, All Music, IMDb & Britannica)