Kimathi Asante, a noted jazz musician, music educator, world traveler, and avid record collector who lived in the Toledo area for the past 25 years, died suddenly of heart failure on Dec. 1 in Toledo. He was 74. Mr. Asante was born in Springfield, Ohio, on Nov. 9, 1951, under the name Thomas Lee Williams. He also went by the name of Jasper Williams while growing up in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where graduated from Yellow Springs High School in 1970. He then enrolled in Antioch College, where he earned a degree in music theory. One of Mr. Asante’s biggest motivations for enrolling in Antioch was to study music under famed jazz pianist-poet Cecil Taylor, who was doing a residency there at the time. “He would have us practice from 10 o’clock at night until 2 in the morning, seven days a week, for months on end,” Mr. Asante recalled in 2022 for a New York Times article. “We had chops that were just off the charts.” Though Mr. Asante played many instruments, he was best known as a bass player. “He was an instrumental genius,” said Trenia Johnson, a half-sister who lives in Toledo. “Every instrument he picked up he could play.” Perhaps the most notable of several groups he formed or played with was the Pyramids, which he and other Antioch musicians formed in 1973. The group released three albums during its three-year existence.
Date of Death: December 1, 2025