[3] Williams performed with the Cotton Club Tramp Band, Rex Stewart Combo, Herbie Nichols, Art Tatum, his own trio, the Three Chocolates, and his own jazz combo, Chocolate Williams and His Chocolateers.
[a] The other two original members were guitarist Jerome Darr (de), who went on to perform with Jonah Jones, and pianist Bill Spotswood.
[b] Throughout the 1940s and mid-fifties, The Three Chocolates played at clubs along the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest and were favorites in many swank Harlem after-hour spots.
Bassist Earl May (de) (1926–2008), who substituted for Williams at Minton's, succeeded him when he stopped playing there.
Williams lived at 60 West 142nd Street in the Sugar Hill area of Harlem when he died in 1984.