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Jessica Williams |
Eric Jackson suggests we spend time with jazz pianist Jessica Williams. Eric says: ' It is time the profile of pianist Jessica Williams was raised as it seems to be slipping away with puzzled expressions or vague recollections when her name is mentioned. Where people do remember her, the recollection probably comes from a DVD where she appears with Bobby Hutcherson at a Harvest Jazz Festival, or from her work in the '70s and '80s with musicians such as Eddie Henderson and Charlie Rowse'.
Here is a video of Jessica playing My One And Only Love.
Jessica Williams was born in 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland. She began playing piano when she was four and was performing by her teens. Although she studied classical music, by her early thirties she had played with Philly Joe Jones and after moving to San Franciso was playing in house bands for Eddie Harris, Dexter Gordon and Stan Getz.
We can watch another vido of Jessica playing her composition I Remember Dexter.
Eric continues: 'In about 1993, she moved to Portland on the Pacific coast and continued playing both with her trio and as a solo pinaist. There are two superb CDs entitled Encounters 1 and 2 on Jazz Focus recorded at a club session in 1994 with backing from Leroy Vinnegar where the music could scarcely swing any more. Her music is always swinging, fun and accessible with glimpses of Brubeck, Monk, Tatum, Garner and stride, but is always recognisably hers, with a wide palette of tempos, emphasis, allusions and frequent use of the highest notes. But the music is never retro, just marinaded in the work of the masters.'
'It is difficult to put in print a musical experience but in my case it is akin to listening to musicians who can be audacious, wry and even unnerving, but then whose music ultimately resolves itself. From a reading of her sleeve notes it is apparent that her heroes are Monk and Coltrane and about the latter she has written: " ... his words light my path and his playing lifts my spirits and cleanses my soul."
Listen to Jessica playing Thelonious Monk's Three Chimneys from her Trio album Jazz In The Afternoon.
'Jessica's last visit to the UK was an appearance at the Brecon Jazz Festival where she gave a superb ninety minute recital in the knowledge that it was being filmed by BBC Wales. She was bitterly disappointed when only a fifteen minute segment was shown and her attempts to get the material for her own use were unsuccessful'. Click here for a video where Jessica plays and discusses her music with Julian Joseph at Brecon Jazz Festival.
'At the time of this appearance she was already troubled by back problems that resulted from her posture when playing. This had to be tackled and as a result she underwent major surgery in 2012 in an effort to continue playing and earn a living. The medical procedures were long and 
complicated and had to be paid for by the sale of her precious Yamaha piano. Jessica tells how she had to have: 'multi-level back-fusion that required permanent internal rods, pedicle screws, and bone grafts'. This left her with very little money; she is still not playing publicly and is appealing for help to buy another piano'.
In 1997, Jessica began her own record label, Red and Blue Recordings. She also owns a publishing company, JJW Music, and an internet mail order business. Eric wonders whether this has not helped raise her profile due to the commitments of trying to market and produce her own recordings and cut out the middle man'.
Jessica has now also been diagnosed with cancer. In May, on her website, www.jessicawilliams.com, she remains positive, despite being very short of money, talking of the projects she wants to pursue, saying: 'I have projects, enough for a second lifetime! The first one coming is a doozie: It involves a book about MY LIFE so far, a movie, a DVD, merchandising, traveling, performing "live" again, plus much NEW JAZZ MUSIC from me. That's all I can say about my business "deals", besides perhaps my improbable request for Jennifer Lawrence to play me . . . I have decided that the best thing I can do for myself is to do what I do, and be who I am. I love my music, and I will soon release new music and begin performing again. There are many things to do, and I will start slow, but speed alone is not music — soul and passion are. I am not done.'
Jessica Williams has released over 70 albums, has written over 1000 compositions and holds a Fellowship with the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Listen to Miles To Go from Jessica's CD Virtual Miles.
Jessica's CD's are available from Amazon etc. but also directly from her through her website.
© Sandy Brown Jazz 2017
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