When Alto Was King is the final album recorded by American saxophonist C. I. Williams released in 1997 on the Mapleshade label a quarter century after his previous album.

[1][2] AllMusic awarded the album 4 stars stating "this superb-sounding album is a fitting showcase for Williams' alto talents".

[3] In JazzTimes Willard Jenkins wrote "Mr. Williams has a buttery tone that is delivered with authority and the veteran's sense of relaxed swing.

His tone bending, for example, is done very subtly and with a knowingness that never announces the arrival of the next bended note.

He plays it with a liquidity and fluid sense of phrasing that makes every piece a study in elegance".