Born: March 17, 1948 Primary Instrument: Piano
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. Toklas Grant for Women Composers, and the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. Jessica has been an honored guest on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz.
She has released over 40 albums in a career spanning as many years. Her album Joyful Sorrow was among the Top 5 CDs of JazzTimes' Critics Poll in 1999, and her album In the Key of Monk won that honor again in 2000. In late 2004, her album LIVE at Yoshi's Volume One was nominated for a Grammy. In Europe, she scored Jazz Record of the Year for 2 consecutive years in the Jazz Journal International Reader's Poll. She has scored PBS and HBO specials, and has been presented the Keys to the City of both San Mateo, and Sacramento, California
Awards:
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”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
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