Jessica Williams

The Art of the Piano

Origin 82542

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One of the top pianists of today, she is a giant, consistently brilliant.
Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

One of America's great musical treasures, pianist Jessica Williams returns with her third in a series of superlative solo piano recordings for Origin Records. Here, in performance at the Triple Door in Seattle, according to Williams, "There was so much love in the audience that it actually drew the music out of me. I have the best audiences I know of: never loud, raucous, or challenging. They're wonderful folks, and even the ones I hardly know seem like friends." In this environment, Williams creates a heartfelt and moving program of mostly original compositions that will surely stand as one of the most complete musical statements of her career.


Track Listing:

1 Triple Door Blues 9:14
2 Esperanza 6:57
3 Love and Hate 12:57
4 Elaine 5:18
5 First Gymnopédie 7:42
6 Prophets 7:07
7 Diane 7:17
8 Lonnie's Lament 9:24

Performers:

Jessica Williams - solo piano

Production Info:

Produced by Jessica Williams
Recorded Live at the The Triple Door in Seattle, WA
Recorded April 9, 2009 by Craig Montgomery
Mastered by Mark Guenther, Seattle Disc Mastering
Piano is a Steinway D 9-foot Concert Grand
Photography by Chad McCullough & Elaine Arc
Cover design by John Bishop


Reviews of The Art of the Piano

Muszeroldal (Rudolf Radnai )
Translated from Hungarian Jessica Williams pianist / composer of American jazz is one of the greatest respect surrounded draftsman. More than 40 albums to date, entry 2 Grammy Award and numerous critics indicate their high quality. This album is a live recording is 2009. On 9 April the The Triple Door Club said musical performance materials incl ...

All About jazz (Dan McClenaghan)
Pianist Jessica Williams' third Origin Records CD, The Art of the Piano, brings to mind Brad Mehldau's Art of the Trio series that ran through five discs. In Mehldau's case the recordings were, of course, with his trio, featuring bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jorge Rossy (later, Jeff Ballard). Williams' three sets on Origin are all solo effor ...

The Jazz Police (Andrea Canter)
Although piled high with critical accolades, awards, and grants over her nearly five-decade career, pianist Jessica Williams remains a somewhat obscure if Herculean talent. Seldom performing outside of the west coast, and most often in solo, the Baltimore native is known to discerning audiences primarily through her vast discography and sheaf of or ...

All Music Guide (Ken Dryden)
In spite of an extensive discography, veteran pianist Jessica Williams seems to elude the world-wide attention that she deserves. This live solo recording at the Triple Door in Seattle in the spring of 2009 is one of her most impressive outings, beginning with her humorous, wide-ranging, improvised "Triple Door Blues," in which develops an infectio ...

Rifftides (Doug Ramsey)
Williams' 2800-word liner essay declares renewed and deepened love for the piano and rededicated independence from the strictures and orthodoxies of the music establishment. She cites an internet video clip of Glenn Gould playing Bach as "...a life-altering event" that took her back to "...a music founded on the purity and clarity and infinite tona ...

Audiophile Audition (John Sunier)
A fine environment - psychologically and acoustically - allows Williams to make one of her finest recordings yet. 5***** Such a title might seem excessively self-promotional with most other jazz pianists on the scene today, but not so with Jessica Williams. She's one of the nation's musical treasures and one of the most distinctively original j ...

All About Jazz (C. Michael Bailey)
After recording for several labels, Jessica Williams may have found her most empathetic home at Origin Arts. She has produced several fine recordings with the label that include: Songs (with Carolyn Graye)(0A2, 1997); Billy's Theme: A Tribute to Dr. Billy Taylor (Origin, 2006); Songs for a New Century (2008, Origin); and now, in 2009, The Art of th ...

Earshot Jazz (-Chris Robinson)
College sports reporters, analysts and commentators (especially those on the West Coast) describe what they believe to be an East Coast bias when it comes to team rankings. The same can be said for the lack of national recognition of some of Seattle's ? and arguably the nation's ? best jazz artists. I dare you: just try and find any Seattle artists ...

Cadence (Michael Steinman)
Jessica Williams' Art of the Piano music is different but equally rewarding. Like Rossano, she deeply understands the instrument. In fact, one of the great pleasures of this solo love recital is Williams' liner-note essay on the piano--wide awake and compelling. Here are two passages: "After Gould [a video of Glenn Gould playing the Goldberg Var ...



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