When Alto Was King

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]

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".^[4]

All compositions by C. I. Williams except as indicated

1. "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" (Cole Porter) - 5:12
2. "Punkin Juice" - 5:45
3. "'Round Midnight" (Thelonious Monk) - 8:08
4. "Catfish Sammich" - 4:57
5. "Misty" (Erroll Garner) - 5:57
6. "Lover Man" (Jimmy Davis, Ram Ramirez, James Sherman) - 6:32
7. "Because of You" (Arthur Hammerstein, Dudley Wilkinson) - 3:29
8. "Jeep's Blues" (Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges) - 6:55
9. "I'll Close My Eyes" (Buddy Kaye, Billy Reid) - 5:03
10. "Avalon" (Buddy DeSylva, Al Jolson, Vincent Rose) - 2:37
11. "Precious Lord" (Thomas A. Dorsey) - 2:07

• C. I. Williams - alto saxophone
• Larry Willis - piano (tracks 1-7, 10 & 11)
• Don Blackman - piano (tracks 8 & 9)
• Ed Cherry - guitar
• Keter Betts - bass
• Jimmy Cobb - drums