Sammie "Big Sam" Williams is a trombonist and band leader from New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been a member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and currently leads Big Sam's Funky Nation. In youth he studied with educator and saxophonist Kidd Jordan and at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA). In his teens, Williams was a founding member of the Stooges Brass Band, and later joined the Dirty Dozen, allowing him to meet and play with other touring bands and musicians such as Karl Denson, Dave Matthews, Widespread Panic and James Brown. After one year with the Dirty Dozen Williams began a side project broadening his musical ambitions.