Anthony Tillmon Williams was born December 12, 1945, in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Boston, where he studied with master drummer Alan Dawson from an early age and began playing professionally at thirteen with saxophonist Sam Rivers. At seventeen he found major fame joining Miles Davis's group, later dubbed the "Second Great Quintet," alongside saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, and bassist Ron Carter; Wayne Shorter's own career is covered in full in his JazzProfiles.com profile. Davis himself called Williams, in his autobiography, "the center that the group's sound revolved around." Williams's inventive playing, built on polyrhythms and metric modulation, redefined the role of the jazz rhythm section, proving a drummer need not be limited to timekeeping and accompaniment.

In 1969 he formed a trio, The Tony Williams Lifetime, with John McLaughlin on guitar and Larry Young on organ, a pioneering group of the jazz-rock fusion movement. Its first album, Emergency!, was largely rejected by the jazz community at the time of its release, but Miles Davis was impressed enough that he asked to take over leadership of the group; Williams declined.

Williams died February 23, 1997, in Daly City, California, at age 51.

Williams's polyrhythmic, harmonically aware drumming fundamentally changed what a jazz drummer could be within an ensemble, and his early embrace of rock-influenced power-trio fusion with Lifetime helped define an entire subgenre years before it became commercially fashionable.