"One of the greatest jazz pianists I have ever heard" - Dave Brubeck ...

Jessica Williams

Reviews

Main Reviews

"One of the greatest jazz pianists I have ever heard." -Dave Brubeck
"Jessica is a beautiful player." -McCoy Tyner
"The most important pianist to arrive since Bill Evans." -Alun Morgan, Gramophone
"I"m running out of superlatives to describe her playing!" -Humphrey Littleton, BBC
"A vibrant force on the contemporary music scene." -Rolling Stone
"She should be heard by everyone who cares about jazz." -William Stephenson, Jazziz Magazine
"Jessica Williams may be the great living lyric poet of the piano. She is utterly magnificent." -Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News ...
"I will say on record that I think she is the finest pianist of our time. And her records are bar none, the most consistently immaculate and for your hard-earned dollars, a Jessica Williams album is a no-brainer" -Fred Jung, All About Jazz ...
"I could review Jessica Williams' newest release in a single phrase - one of the finest solo piano albums I've ever heard ...impeccable taste, remarkable technique, pristine sound and boundless inspiration, but even those descriptions can't adequately delineate the entire package." -Jack Bowers, All About Jazz ...
"This is easy. Jessica Williams doesn't make bad records." -JazzNow, Lawrence Brazier ...
"Certainly she is the most poetic of all living jazz pianists... everyone who has heard her play is a little bit in love with her." -Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News ...
"Jessica Williams is an outstanding jazz talent, and probably the finest improvising pianist in jazz today." -Pat Hawes, Jazz Journal International
"Among the most lyrical and expressive pianists in jazz." -Andrew Gilbert, Contra Costa Times ...
"She is simply a pianistic force of nature that will not be denied. As with her previous, releases, this will have a place on my best-of-the-year list." -C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz ...
"Williams has a beautiful touch, and great fluency of both imagination and execution." -Jazz Review, from a review of the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center, by Peter Westbrook, Jazz Review ...
"There is nothing Jessica Williams can't do on a piano, and she is one of jazz's most unique, talented and important voices." -Terrell Holmes, All About Jazz ...
"The trio CD Live at Yoshi's: Volume One, recorded in 2003, finds the eclectic veteran demonstrating the rich and varied two-handed interplay that sets Williams apart from her peers. Despite the obvious empathy of the Williams Drummond Lewis triumvirate, the leader's dexterous work leaves little doubt that she could handle the whole shebang all by herself, if need be." -JazzTimes Review, January 2005, Steve Futterman ...

From THE ALL MUSIC GUIDE:

"She is one of the top jazz pianists of today, a powerful virtuoso whose complete control of the keyboard, wit, and solid sense of swing have combined to make her a particularly notable player. Although she appeared on Charlie Rouse's final record and gigged steadily, Williams was largely off record, outside of her own private label Red and Blue, until re-emerging in the late '80s as a brilliant solo acoustic player. She is a giant, consistently brilliant." - Scott Yanow, The All Music Guide

Jessica Williams has worked or played with:

Worked with or in the bands of:

Worked with in her own bands:

Shared stage and/or played with:

Philly Joe Jones
Tony Williams
Eddie Harris
Stan Getz
Leroy Vinnegar
Big Nick Nicholaus
Airto
Flora Purim
Charlie Rouse
John Abercrombie
Charlie Haden
Larry Gales
Red Mitchell
Bobby Hutherson
Nancy King
Ethel Ennis
Domita Jo
Herbie Lewis
Dave Young
Reggie Workman
Bobby McFerrin

Victor Lewis
Ray Drummond
Mel Brown
Dave Captein
Jeff Johnson
Red Mitchell
Leroy Vinnegar
Dave Friesen
Jeff Ballard
Eddie Marshall
Jay Clayton
Gary Bartz
Lex Humphries
Eddie Moore
Gaylord Birch
Glenn Moore
Patty Waters
John Bishop
Doug Miller
Aiko Shimada
Ron McClure
Mike Clark

Bill Evans
Dexter Gordon
McCoy Tyner
Randy Weston
George Cables
John Lewis
Ray Bryant
Benny Green
Joanne Brackeen
Oscar Peterson
Kenny Barron
Junior Mance
Bob Cranshaw
Grady Tate
Sarah Vaughn
Marion McPartland
Pharoah Sanders
Art Blakey
Marvin Smitty Smith
Steve Allen
Mary Lou Williams
Billy Higgins

Jessica Williams' Awards and Honors:

John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
Grammy Nominee 1986, Best Instrumental Jazz Album
National Endowment for the Arts ('88, '92)
Alice B Toklas Fellowship Money for Women 1993
Rockerfeller Grant 1990
Record of the Year 1994, 1995, Jazz Journal International
Presented a plaque of civic appreciation from Mayor Anne Rudin (CA)
Meet the Composer Grant 1991
Keys to the City of Sacramento 1989
Sacramento Arts Commission, four grants, 1984-88
Keys to the City of San Mateo 1997
Artist of the Year Award Santa Cruz County 2002
One of the TOP 5 CDs of 2000 (JazzTimes Critics Poll; In the Key of Monk)
One of the TOP 5 CDs of 1999 (JazzTimes Critics Poll; Joyful Sorrow)
15 Special Awards Panel Grants from ASCAP for composition
Grammy Nominee 2004, Best Instrumental Jazz Album
2005 Best Jazz Album of the Year (Live at Yoshi's, Vol 2), All About Jazz
Opened the Mary Lou WIlliams Women In Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center in May, 2006, 2005

About Jessica Williams

Jessica Williams is a pianist and composer who has spent the last four decades creating strikingly original, immediately identifiable, mythically beautiful music, strongly informed by the jazz idiom.

Pianist Dave Brubeck calls her "one of the greatest pianists I've ever heard."

She is a holder of the distinguished Guggenheim Fellowship, has released 45 award-winning cds and records in a career spanning as many years, and is considered by many critics to be one of the most important improvising pianists of this age.

Jessica began playing piano at the age of four, at her grandmother's house. She remembers the powerful experience of playing her first note and seeing a ball of brilliant color float to the ceiling and gradually dissipate. Music has since been a very visual experience for her.

At seven she began formal lessons. At nine, showing a vast gift for music far beyond her peers, she was enrolled in the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied piano with the renowned pianist and teacher, Richard Aitken. She also studied composition, theory, and "ear training" with the great George Bellows.

Her first jazz experience was hearing Dave Brubeck's "Take Five". Her second experience was hearing Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue". She began playing professionally in 1962 at age 14. She soon moved from Baltimore to Philadelphia, and by 28 she was a member of the Philly Joe Jones Quintet.

Now, she travels all over the world, playing in festivals and concert venues, and loves to make people happy with her God-given Gift.

She has performed at:

Halls: The Kennedy Center, Merkin Hall, Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Campbell Recital Hall, Sheshlow Auditorium, many others

Jazz Festivals: Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz at the Kennedy Center, North Sea JF, Telluride JF, Spoleto JF, Ottawa JF, Monterey JF, Seattle JF, West Can JF, Wigan JF, Norway's MoldeJF, Wales JF, Italy's La Spezia JF, Bern JF, Japan and South Korea, Fujitsu's 100 Gold Fingers, San Francisco JF, Anacortes JF, Healdsburg JF, Ireland's Cork JF, Brecon JF, Duke University JF, many others

She has been the featured artist on:

NPR"s Terry Gross' Fresh Air (hear it); Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz; PBS Clubdate; Boston Musica Viva Artist Series, BBC, Desert Island Jazz, Cabrillo Distinguished Artist Series, Stanford Artist series, many many others

Interviews:

More Reviews:

"Some Ballads Some Blues is the most important work of Jessica Williams' substantial career." -Fred Jung of Jazz Weekly ...

"Jessica Williams doesn't make bad records." -JazzNow, Lawrence Brazier ...

"Jessica Williams is one of the great jazz pianists of our time." -Bill Smith, The Oregonian

"She is the complete package." -C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz ...

"Nothing short of brilliant." - Sidney Bechet-Mandela, JazzUSA ...

"Jessica Williams is one of the most remarkable pianists in jazz today. Her apparently limitless technique allows her to express her fresh and colorful ideas spontaneously." -Scott Yanow, JAZZIZ, The All Music Guide

"When she improvises, it"s a bit like listening to Lester Young or Sonny Rollins when it's really happening." -Tom Chandler of Rasputin's ...

"Over the past few years I have written some thousands of words in appreciation of this great artist, but I never cease to be amazed at her phenomenal technique, good taste, imagination, sense of fun, swing, and, above all, her ability to make everything sound bright, new, fresh, and exciting." -Pat Hawes, JAZZ JOURNAL International

"Certainly she is the most poetic of all living jazz pianists... everyone who has heard her play is a little bit in love with her." -Jeff Simon, Buffalo News ...

"Apart from phenomenal technique and a hugely fertile imagination, she has the rare ability to draw listeners into her private musical world and hold them there, enthralled." -Dave Gelly, The London Observer

"This Side Up" among "Best Jazz CDs of 2002" -Gary Giddins, Village Voice

"Jessica Williams ought be routinely mentioned as a living giant of jazz piano." -Bob Powers ...

"One of the genuine highlights of my listening year so far." -Shaun Dale of Jazz Review ...

"Jessica Williams is a brilliant pianist." Fred Jung ...

"It"s no secret that Jessica Williams is one of the more versatile and astonishing pianists out there." George Fendel, Jazzscene Magazine ...

"Jessica Williams proves once again that she is one of her generation's leading jazz pianists." -Don Williamson, 52nd Street Jazz ...

"Greatness is a rare commodity. Only achieved by that rare few with the ability to take their talent and bring it into a realm that others can only dream about. Jessica Williams possesses such greatness." -Rick Overall, The Ottawa Sun ...

"A brilliantly incisive player with a deft sure touch, Williams' command of her instrument is outstanding. But she is far more than a superb technician." -THE VIRGIN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF JAZZ edited by Colin Larkin

"Ms.Williams is the equal of any pianist today. (Which is saying a great deal in a Jazz world full of brilliant pianists.) As good as piano Jazz gets." -Stephen Calhoun

"The best trio outing I have heard this year." -C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz ...

"This Side Up receives an early nomination for best jazz album of 2002." - Jim Santella, All About Jazz ...

Articles by Andy Gilbert, Marianne Messina, in the San Jose Mercury here

Reviews about This Side Up, her trio cd with Victor Lewis and Ray Drummond here

Reviews about This Side Up, All Alone, JazzTimes, August 2002 here