Results for "Jessica Williams"

Jessica Williams

Jessica Williams is a well-known and highly respected pianist and composer who has deep roots in the Jazz Tradition. The two-time Grammy Nominee was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and classically trained at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. In her teens, Jessica moved to Philadelphia and began playing with the great Philly Joe Jones, drummer for the Miles Davis Quintet. Later, she moved to California, where she played in the bands of Eddie Harris, Dexter Gordon, Tony Williams, Stan Getz, Big Nick Nicholaus, Airto and Flora, Charlie Rouse, John Abercrombie, Charlie Haden, Leroy Vinnegar, and others. She has received two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; a Rockerfeller Grant for composing; the Alice B

March Birthdays

By MARC COHN

March birthdays this week on G&M! And some big ones too! Celebrating 90th birthdays: Ornette Coleman, Blue Mitchell and Tommy Flanagan. Celebrating 80th birthdays: Al Jarreau as well as Lew Tabackin, Ralph Towner and Astrud Gilberto} (the latter 3 still with us). Also, among the living, {{m: Wolfgang Muthspiel, Jessica Williams and Ralph Alessi. And, wherever ...

20 Seattle Jazz Musicians You Should Know: Jeff Johnson

By PAUL RAUCH

The city of jny: Seattle has a jazz history that dates back to the very beginnings of the form. It was home to the first integrated club scene in America on Jackson St in the 1920's and '30s. It saw a young Ray Charles arrive as a teenager to escape the nightmare of Jim Crow in ...

Listeners' Favorites

By MARC COHN

Time for tunes that moved you from Shows 361-370. Our concerts in Baton Rouge clearly resonated with you. Many of the most commented upon tracks featured artists that performed in Baton Rouge this Winter and Spring. Works for me. Just because you may be out-of-town shouldn't phase you though. We tally all of our listener comments ...

March Birthdays Including Nat Cole & Lennie Tristano Centennials

By MARC COHN

We've got a nice slug of celebrants to honor in addition to our 'centennialins.' Our best wishes go out to Bill Frisell (playing here with Andrew Cyrille and Wadada Leo Smith), Joe Locke, Charles Lloyd, and Roy Haynes (backing Sarah Vaughan). A very special shout out to Jessica Williams! Enjoy the show! Playlist Joe ...

Jay Thomas: We Always Knew

By PAUL RAUCH

Legacy is a fleeting notion. It is incomprehensible in real time when a career hits high points, when certain doors open to quantitative opportunity. Jay Thomas can tell you a thing or two about that, based on his own personal experience as a jazz artist over half a century. His story includes playing on the Seattle ...

Sco in Baton Rouge, Okazaki vs. Monk, Sax-less Trane covers & more

By MARC COHN

This week we fired up the locals for the super John Scofield Baton Rouge concert on October 4th; did a Miles Okazaki/Thelonious Monk compare & contrasts with two of Monk's most challenging compositions; played sax-less Trane covers from guitarist Simone Manunza & Jessica Williams solo at the 88s; and spun some 21st century jazz that caught ...

Origin Records: Creating Opportunities and Community

By JAKOB BAEKGAARD

Being a jazz musician sometimes seems like a life ruled by jungle law. Everyone fights for gigs and puts out music on “labels" with only one artist. However, it doesn't have to be this way. Origin Records is an example of a modern artist driven label that has grown through collaboration and community. As Matt Jorgensen, ...

Hans Teuber & Jeff Johnson: Deuce

By PAUL RAUCH

Bassist Jeff Johnson and multi-reedist Hans Teuber have a musical and personal friendship that goes back to the late eighties when both first arrived in the northwest outpost that is the city of Seattle. The jazz scene in the Pacific Northwest has always been prolific, though to many, a hidden gem outside of the main pulse ...

Culture Clubs: A History of the U.S. Jazz Clubs, Part III: Kansas City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles & Beyond

By KARL ACKERMANN

Beyond the Hubs While jny: New Orleans, jny: Chicago, jny: Kansas City and jny: New York City were the incubators of modern jazz, they were by no means the only locations with an appetite for live music. Jazz artists whose point of origin could not sustain multiple venues ventured to locations near and far ...