Jazz Articles about Jessica Williams

Jessica Williams: Tatum's Ultimatum

by Dan McClenaghan
May 6, 2008

Rule Number 1 of writing a music review: try to be at least half as creative and spontaneous as the music at hand. Rule Number 2: If it's Jessica Williams' music you're writing about, good luck with Rule Number 1.Pianist Jessica Williams is another one of those jazz artists who hasn't received the acclaim she deserves. With forty years of professional playing and fifty albums to her credit, she doesn't boast a top-of-the-line profile of the Keith Jarrett ...

Jessica Williams: Songs for a New Century

by Dan McClenaghan
April 17, 2008

If you slip into Jessica Williams' web site and ride the currents of her blog, you could get the feeling that the (proudly) sixty year-old jazz pianist is something of an eccentric. Which is a good thing--in this case, an eccentric being one who has walked away from the hype, b.s. and group think with her head held high, coming up with her own take on the world and this thing called life that we're trying to navigate with as ...

Jessica Williams: Billy's Theme

by Jack Bowers
May 16, 2006

One great pianist deserves another. Billy Taylor, who needs no introduction to jazz fans around the world, is the honoree (tributary?) in this solo recital by longtime friend and ardent admirer Jessica Williams, who may need an introduction to some but can easily hold her own against the most accomplished pianists one cares to name.

As she has shown on many occasions (and recordings), Williams is a virtuoso with either hand or both. Her agile right hand always finds exactly ...

Jessica Williams: Live at Yoshi's Volume Two

by John Kelman
September 22, 2005

Like pianist Mulgrew Miller, who recently released a second volume of trio performances from his run at Yoshi's, pianist Jessica Williams is also putting out her own sequel, another 70 minutes of music culled from her July, 2003 stint at the Oakland club, which has become as renowned on the west coast as New York's Village Vanguard is on the east. And it's interesting to hear how different the two pianists are, despite the fact that both fit comfortably within ...

Jessica Williams: Live at Yoshi's Volume Two

by Jim Santella
September 21, 2005

Jessica Williams never lets her audience down. This second volume of live performances at Yoshi's in Oakland, California provides yet another example of her creative muse in action. With her piano trio, the artist sculpts each selection as if it were made out of sand. Gently prodding, she finds a solution that's satisfying as well as intellectually fulfilling. Volume 102 would probably be just as creative, since she seems to never be at a loss for musical words and phrases.

Jessica Williams: Live at Yoshi's Volume Two

by Michael McCaw
August 22, 2005

From sweeping dramatic crescendos to Monkish innuendo and straight-up ballad mastery, pianist Jessica Williams always seems to be on top of her game. And when you hear her play so creatively, you have to wonder why she is not as heralded as many other pianists in the straight-ahead jazz idiom. It's not like she has not recorded extensively for over the last thirty years for labels ranging from Jazz Focus to Landmark, Candid, and Concord. Nevertheless, she has probably never ...

Jessica Williams: The Real Deal

by John Kelman
September 5, 2004

'04 is a banner year for Jessica Williams, with MaxJazz releasing Live at Yoshi's and Hep Jazz issuing The Real Deal , a solo album that Williams recorded live in the comfort of her own home, in the fall of '00. The two records demonstrate just how far Williams has come in the past four years. While there are some stylistic similarities--a clear penchant for Monk's idiosyncrasies and a firm sense of swing, there is also one major difference. In ...