Williams’s airport performances are one part of a career that includes jazz recordings and work with Chicago ensembles. At O’Hare, he plays violin in the pedestrian tunnel connecting the CTA and parking garages to the terminals.
Williams began busking at O’Hare in his 20s. CBS News Chicago reports that he is classically trained and has 17 albums; Williams says he contributed to a Grammy Award-winning project. He starts as early as 4 a.m. and sometimes plays until 4 p.m., seven days a week.
A Deliberate Choice, Not an Accident
O’Hare welcomed a monthly record of 8.26 million passengers in July 2025, according to the City of Chicago. That volume gives context to the steady stream of travelers passing through the airport.
In the CBS News Chicago profile, Williams said he hopes the music gives passersby a sense of peace and that busking helps support his wife and children. He performs on his birthday, too, treating the tunnel as a regular workplace.
Classical Roots, Church Pews, and a Cartoon Mouse
Williams' musicianship did not start in an airport tunnel. As noted by Savoir Faire Jazz Violinist, he began violin lessons at age three after his mother placed him on a three-year waiting list, and he later sharpened his improvisational instincts playing in his church band. That combination of rigorous classical training and African American church music became the foundation for the fusion style he brings to his busking today.
His professional résumé runs well beyond the tunnel. Williams was inducted into the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, Chicago's influential jazz collective, and released his debut album, *Running Out of Time*, on Delmark Records in 2004, earning a four-star review in *DownBeat* magazine. In 2005, he served as principal violinist for the Renascent String Quartet, which appeared on screen as extras in the feature film *Proof*, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins. A decade later, in 2015, he formed the Chicago Gypsy Project, a trio. The group released an album titled *We Swing*.
Even his stage name has a story. Williams performs under the stage name “Savoirfaire.” He busks for Chicago commuters.
The AACM and a Separate O’Hare Event
The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians says it was founded in Chicago in 1965 to build a creative community and new platforms for musical experimentation and innovation. Williams’s induction into the organization places his career in the context of that Chicago-based collective. A separate event listing from KAIA String Quartet documents a performance at O’Hare sponsored by the Chicago Department of Aviation on August 23, 2024, from 9 a.m. to noon. The listing identifies a quartet event, but does not describe a visual-art program or identify Williams; it does not establish that his tunnel busking is part of an airport program.
