Jessica Williams - All Alone

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s

Time: 61:55

Size: 141.8 MB

Styles: Piano jazz, Mainstream jazz

Year: 2003/2013

Art: Front

[4:53] 1. As Time Goes By

[5:28] 2. In A Sentimental Mood

[6:25] 3. Warm Valley

[6:02] 4. Music Box Revue / All Alone

[5:13] 5. Annie Get Your Gun / They Say It's Wonderful

[5:25] 6. Don't Explain

[3:53] 7. Toshiko

[4:33] 8. The Sheikh

[5:09] 9. Bill's Beauty

[5:37] 10. The Quilt

[5:10] 11. Orange Was The Colour Of Her Dress Then Blue Silk

[4:00] 12. Too Young To Go Steady

Jessica Williams has turned out a phenomenal amount of rewarding recordings since her career began to really take off during the 1990s. This solo piano outing recorded in 2002 is among her finest efforts, especially in her refreshing approaches to standards and some usually overdone (and frequently underplayed) war horses. "As Time Goes By" has almost become a cliché due to its inclusion in the still popular film Casablanca, but Williams' quirky approach to it suggests Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, and Thelonious Monk at different times, yet never loses touch with the melody. Likewise, her playful little embellishment added to Duke Ellington's "In a Sentimental Mood" suggests a wink and a smile accompanying the expected "I Love You" to someone special. Irving Berlin wrote many memorable songs during his long career, but the pianist chooses two that aren't heard all that often in jazz settings, "All Alone" and "They Say It's Wonderful," with their often maudlin settings drastically altered. Her originals are just as remarkable. The captivating melody of her delicate ballad "Toshiko" glistens, while she playfully hand-mutes the piano strings and incorporates a little strumming of them as well in her infectious and bluesy "The Sheikh." The intimate sound of this CD makes it seem as if the listener is enjoying a private solo piano recital, so it is very easy to recommend this disc highly and without the slightest reservation. ~Ken Dryden

All Alone 

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Jessica Williams - Blue Fire

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2000
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:57
Size: 164,8 MB
Art: Front

( 8:48)  1. Blue Fire
( 9:16)  2. The Vision
(11:34)  3. Soul Sister
( 5:56)  4. Somebody's Waltz
(11:42)  5. Blues 2k
( 6:07)  6. Kenny Kirkland
(10:08)  7. Elbow Room
( 8:24)  8. Everything Happens to Me

Jessica Williams is a no-nonsense person. You can hear this in conversation with her, you can feel this from her liner notes and you can sense it from her music. The attitude stems not only from confidence but also with being comfortable with her craft, something that leaps out each time you listen to her music. In writing the notes to this record, Williams makes several pertinent points. One is that the tradition in her music will not go away while it grows and changes all the time. Who could argue when the results are as electrifying as they are here?  Williams builds several sonic layers enveloping each in reverberating passion. She has able mates in Dave Captein and Mel Brown who are pivotal in adding to the dialogue. Together they move like one well-oiled machine. The title tune unfurls slow and sensual with Scott Hall getting his tenor into the thick of the melody before Williams traces the evolution with lines that dance lithely through a becoming tempo shift. Hall is also featured on "Everything Happens To Me" which flows like a gentle stream. It is at once peaceful and meditative. "Blues 2K" comes out swinging. Williams shapes the progression aggressively on a hot bed of melody all the while propelled by Brown and Captein taking this one right into the metier of excitement. The tempo slows down for "Kenny Kirkland". The tribute to the late pianist is a lyrical and heartfelt testimony. At the end of it all, there is one definite manifestation: this album says a lot and says it eloquently. ~ Jerry D'Souza https://www.allaboutjazz.com/blue-fire-jessica-williams-jazz-focus-records-review-by-jerry-dsouza.php

Personnel: Jessica Williams: Piano; Dave Captein: Acoustic bass; Mel Brown: Drums; Scott Hall: Tenor saxophone

Blue Fire

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Jessica Williams Trio - Freedom Trane

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2011
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 57:20
Size: 131,5 MB
Art: Front

(8:50)  1. The Seeker
(6:19)  2. Lonnie's Lament
(6:11)  3. Freedom Trane
(5:20)  4. Paul's Pal
(6:42)  5. Prayer And Meditation
(8:56)  6. Just Words
(8:11)  7. Naima
(6:47)  8. Welcome

It is no coincidence that pianist Jessica Williams draws inspiration and energy from saxophonist John Coltrane, another iconoclast whose dogged pursuit of his individalistic muse stood in defiance of trends, customs, critics, and marketplace concerns. Like Coltrane, Williams prides herself in being relentlessly faithful to her own standards of how to play and how to market her music. While that enables her to be a fiercely independent talent, it has also made her an underrated one. On her solo piano outings, such as The Art of the Piano (Origin Records, 2009), Williams' playing is engaging while remaining serious and cerebral. Augmented on Freedom Trane by bassist Dave Captein and drummer Mel Brown, Williams shows off her ability to swing. Never loosing her impeccable sense of taste, Williams is downright frisky and playful on Coltrane and Sonny Rollins' "Paul's Pal" and, on the title track, she's bopping and grooving hard with Brown's timekeeping, which is right in the pocket. It's the sort of tune that demands another listen just as soon as it's over.

As a soloist in the trio format, Williams is simply incandescent and the musicians synchronize like a well-tuned machine. Freedom Trane is a homage to Coltrane's seminal A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1965), but Williams' goal is not to emulate what Trane, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones did in 1964, but to expand upon it. "Prayer and Meditation," one of four Williams originals, fits comfortably with a lovingly rendered interpretation of Coltrane's "Naima," where the Steinway 'B' gently caresses like a warm touch. The lush and verdant "Welcome" closes out this super session.

Williams reveals in the liner notes how Coltrane speaks to her as she writes:  John speaks through his horn: "no road is an easy one, but they all go back to God." God, for me, is us, all of us and everything; it's the sea and the sky and the stars. We are star-stuff, we are one vibration in a standing wave, and it doesn't matter if it's called God or Allah or Aum or Chi or Orgone. It's gravity and light-years and galaxies colliding and little kittens kittening and bodily love and that chill you get when you listen to great music or see a great painting or hear the sounds of the forest.

Maybe not everything Williams says scans completely, but it's possible to hear her making her way on a spiritual journey, and Freedom Trane provides that special sort of chill that comes from hearing great music—and this is most definitely great music, made by a great (and sadly underrated artist). This is a high quality and highly recommended performance by Williams, a consummate musician of astonishing grace, passion and skill. ~ Jeff Winbush https://www.allaboutjazz.com/freedom-trane-jessica-williams-origin-records-review-by-jeff-winbush.php
 

Personnel: Jessica Williams: piano; Dave Captein: bass; Mel Brown: drums

Freedom Trane

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Jessica Williams - Dedicated To You

Styles: Piano Jazz

Year: 2007

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 60:03

Size: 138,5 MB

Art: Front

(7:04) 1. Dedicated To You

(4:20) 2. That Old Feeling

(4:10) 3. Sue's Blues

(4:53) 4. El Salvador

(6:54) 5. Dirty Dog Blues

(3:53) 6. If And When

(5:28) 7. Getting Sentimental

(7:06) 8. My One And Only Love

(5:00) 9. Newk's Fluke

(5:11) 10. Sometimes, Silence

(5:59) 11. Where Or When

Jessica Williams is a well-known and highly respected American pianist and composer.

She advocates for feedom, justice, and equality among all peoples of the Earth, and has always made it clear that she believes in good over evil, love over hate, and peace over war. She defiantly opposes the present regime in the US and abroad, and is a staunch supporter of GLBT rights, particularly focusing on an end to the hate and violence endured by transgendered, and transsexual people everywhere. She was born with A.I.S., and had gender corrective surgery in 1976. Jessica has fought her entire life against inequality and hate. At 70, she continues to make new music and fight for freedom.

Dedicated To You

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Jessica Williams - Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 2

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 2005
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 69:21
Size: 159,4 MB
Art: Front

(8:52)  1. Flamenco Sketches (Live)
(8:56)  2. Why Do I Love You (Live)
(6:49)  3. Spoken Softly (Live)
(8:06)  4. Elbow Room (Live)
(5:16)  5. Soldaji (Live)
(8:16)  6. Paul's Pal (Live)
(7:46)  7. Dear Gaylord (Live)
(6:46)  8. Lulu's Back in Town (Live)
(8:29)  9. Summertime (Live)

Like pianist Mulgrew Miller, who recently released a second volume of trio performances from his run at Yoshi's, pianist Jessica Williams is also putting out her own sequel, another 70 minutes of music culled from her July, 2003 stint at the Oakland club, which has become as renowned on the west coast as New York's Village Vanguard is on the east. And it's interesting to hear how different the two pianists are, despite the fact that both fit comfortably within the broader mainstream. For one thing, Williams owes a clear debt to Thelonious Monk. She often includes a Monk tune or two in her sets, and this disc is notable for the absence of material by the idiosyncratic pianist/composer. Still, his influence presents itself in Williams' sometimes quirky approach, although she's a far more dextrous player than Monk ever was. But like Monk, Williams sometimes demonstrates an ironic sense of humour, grabbing onto a note, say, and milking it for all it's worth. It's like a good comedian who knows just how long to use repetition: enough to be effective, but not so much as to overstay her welcome. Her own brightly swinging "Elbow Room uses a little clever dissonance in its wry theme, with clever references to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue during Williams' extended solo. Her solo lead-in to the Oscar Hammerstein/Jerome Kern standard "Why Do I Love You, with its oddly disjointed left hand/right hand action, is the perfect introduction to the trio's more straightforward entrance. Williams' solo is filled with curious shifts between hard-swinging lines and injected little turns of phrase that seem at first like non sequiturs, but ultimately make perfect sense.

But that's only one aspect of Williams' playing. The disc opens with a version of "Flamenco Sketches, from Miles Davis' classic Kind of Blue, but rather than maintaining a peaceful ambience throughout, Williams and her trio carefully build the piece from elegant gentility to a greater sense of power over the course of nine minutes, making it dramatic but never melodramatic. Bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Victor Lewis seem empathic in their ability to ebb and flow while Williams layers dense chords that alternate with more playful single-note phrases. In fact, playful may be the best word to describe this pianist. She's capable of a more tender lyricism best demonstrated on her own ballad, "Spoken Softly, and a darkly evocative version of Gershwin's "Summertime that shows there's still plenty to say with even the most familiar of material. But the sparkle of "Lulu's Back in Town, with Williams' debt to Errol Garner in full view, is light and just plain fun. Williams may not be the most adventurous player, but with her combination of whimsy and more deeply-felt romanticism, she succeeds at being both entertaining and emotionally compelling. Live at Yoshi's Volume Two is a strong companion piece to Volume One, and proof that the mainstream is alive and well.~John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/live-at-yoshis-volume-two-jessica-williams-maxjazz-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel:  Jessica Williams: piano; Ray Drummond: bass; Victor Lewis: drums.

Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 2

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Jessica Williams - Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 1

Styles: Piano Jazz 
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:02
Size: 163,2 MB
Art: Front

( 7:21)  1. I'm Confessin' That I Love You (Live)
( 6:20)  2. Say It over and over Again (Live)
( 7:01)  3. You Say You Care (Live)
( 9:30)  4. Tutu's Promise (Live)
( 6:29)  5. Heather (Live)
(11:26)  6. Alone Together (Live)
( 8:33)  7. Poem in G Minor (Live)
( 6:11)  8. I Want to Talk About You (Live)
( 8:05)  9. Mysterioso (Live)

Pianist Jessica Williams may not be as well known, say, as Mulgrew Miller or Kenny Barron, but she's a powerful and talented pianist more than a little influenced by Thelonious Monk. Still, with an immediately recognizable playing style all her own, Williams clearly belongs in the upper ranks of mainstream pianists, and her latest disc, Live at Yoshi's Volume One , recorded in July of 2003, continues to affirm her position. In a programme composed primarily of well-heeled standards, with two originals and an unusual Billy Cobham song thrown in for good measure, Williams and her trio, featuring bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Victor Lewis, play with energy and complete commitment. Williams' style is defined by a percussive approach that seems quick to spit out ideas; she often jots out rapid phrases peppered with brief octaves. If an artist's playing reflects their personality, then Williams must be energetic and quick-witted, as evidenced by her solos in "I'm Confessin' That I Love You" and "You Say You Care." There is clear joy in her playing and more than a little bit of tongue-in-cheek at times.

But that doesn't mean Williams isn't capable of tenderness as well. Her reading of Billy Cobham's simple ballad "Heather," over Lewis' lightly funky backdrop, is graceful and lyrical. Still, while there is poignancy to her playing, there is a certain power, albeit slightly restrained, that defines her attack. On "Alone Together," the most extended piece of the set, she plays the kind of left hand/right hand counterpoint that is so characteristic of Brad Mehldau, creating hypnotic patterns that raise the tension level until she finally releases, to an almost audible sigh of relief from the audience. Williams' own "Tutu's Promise" comes from Keith Jarrett's space, not unlike "The Cure," being nothing more than a simple four-bar pattern that is used as a simple jumping off point for group interplay. Her "Poem in G Minor" is another simple piece, this time a quiet ballad with Williams' staccato runs alternating with more gingerly built chord passages.  Drummond and Lewis are, as always, the definition of sensitive support, gently provoking Williams on "Mysterioso," while elegantly embracing her delicately swinging work on "You Say You Care." Williams may not break new ground, but as a mainstream pianist she demonstrates a solid sense of solo composition, capable of starting with an idea and developing it over the course of seven or eight minutes. Her focus and wry sense of humour are amongst her most distinctive characteristics, and they make Live at Yoshi's Volume One an engaging, albeit safe, listen. ~ John Kelman https://www.allaboutjazz.com/live-at-yoshis-volume-one-jessica-williams-maxjazz-review-by-john-kelman.php

Personnel:  Jessica Williams (piano), Ray Drummond (bass), Victor Lewis (drums)

Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 1

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Jessica Williams - In the Key of Monk

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:05
Size: 144,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:38) 1. Bemsha Swing
(4:31) 2. Just a Gigolo
(6:02) 3. Reflections
(3:01) 4. I Love You Sweetheart of All My Dreams
(5:12) 5. Monk's Mood/Crepuscule With Nellie
(5:09) 6. Monk's Hat
(5:28) 7. San Francisco Holiday
(4:44) 8. I Remember Monk
(5:46) 9. The House That Rouse Built
(5:22) 10. Pannonica
(6:29) 11. Ask Me Now
(6:36) 12. Blues Five Spot

Jessica Williams' career took off during the 1990s with a series of memorable recordings for the Canadian label Jazz Focus, and this solo piano tribute to Thelonious Monk is one of her best live performances. She establishes her own voice right away with a playful approach to "Bemsha Swing," playing part of the introduction while muting the piano's strings with one hand, making use of the full range of the keyboard in the body of the piece. She throws Monk-like twists into her interpretation of one of his favorite standards, "Just a Gigolo."

Not satisfied with just covering Monk's best-known works and songs by others that he enjoyed playing, she delves into the pianist's less-frequently played compositions, such as the discordant "San Francisco Holiday" and his loping "Blues at the Five Spot," while also dedicating pieces of her own to Monk (the reflective ballad "I Remember Monk") and his longest-serving sideman, tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse (the alternately tricky and jaunty "The House That Rouse Built"). Highly recommended. ~ Ken Drydenhttp://www.allmusic.com/album/in-the-key-of-monk-mw0000058695

Personnel: Jessica Williams (piano); Jeanette Williams (piano).

In the Key of Monk

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Jessica Williams - With Love

Size: 131,9 MB
Time: 56:55
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Piano Jazz, Straight-Ahead/Mainstream
Art: Front

01. For All We Know (5:24)
02. My Foolish Heart (9:36)
03. I Fall In Love Too Easily (6:05)
04. Summertime (5:53)
05. But Beautiful (6:32)
06. When I Fall In Love (6:15)
07. Paradise Of Love (9:28)
08. It Might As Well Be Spring (4:06)
09. Somewhere (3:33)

Successful musicians play "the truth." If you want to hear some truth there are certain artists you can seek out. Thelonious Monk couldn't play anything but the truth, right from the beginning. Pianist Jessica Williams came upon the truth—a purer form of it, at least—after experiencing "the fix of Illness" that she has discussed on her website and in interviews. Her first "fix" came about via her struggle with hypothyroidism, and resulted in a string of gorgeous recordings on Origin Records: Songs for a New Century (2008), Art of the Piano (2009), Touch (2010), and Songs of Earth (2011).

Williams' second fix came about with the deterioration of the lumbar region of her spine and the surgery to ameliorate the problem—again, well-documented on her website. The malady and the subsequent surgery sidelined her. With Love is her first post-surgery release. It is all ballads—mostly show tunes, familiar and encoded in the jazz canon: "For All We Know," "My Foolish Heart, " "I Fall In Love too Easily, " Gershwin's "Summertime."

Williams, in the past, has been capable of impressive pyrotechnics, displayed up front on her marvelous Tatum's Ultimatum (Red & Blue Records, 2008) set, a tribute to the exuberant Art Tatum. And she's also capable of deep spiritual and musical depth as she is on her previous Origin Records outings. This time out that flash, and her enormous technique, take a big back seat. The music on With Love is about simplicity, melodic purity and the emotions—mostly love—contained in the lyrics to these enduring movie/show and standards.

This straight ahead approach, this marinating in the melody without artifice, without flash or a hint of pretention, reveals the human side of the lyrical content of these songs—the truth of these songs. And Williams offers up one of her own compositions, "Paradise of Love," that fits in with the familiar, a lovely, human, truthful tune. ~By Dan McClenaghan

With Love

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Jessica Williams - In the Key of Monk

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:05
Size: 144,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:38)  1. Bemsha Swing
(4:31)  2. Just a Gigolo
(6:02)  3. Reflections
(3:01)  4. I Love You Sweetheart of All My Dreams
(5:12)  5. Monk's Mood/Crepuscule With Nellie
(5:09)  6. Monk's Hat
(5:28)  7. San Francisco Holiday
(4:44)  8. I Remember Monk
(5:46)  9. The House That Rouse Built
(5:22) 10. Pannonica
(6:29) 11. Ask Me Now
(6:36) 12. Blues Five Spot

Jessica Williams' career took off during the 1990s with a series of memorable recordings for the Canadian label Jazz Focus, and this solo piano tribute to Thelonious Monk is one of her best live performances. She establishes her own voice right away with a playful approach to "Bemsha Swing," playing part of the introduction while muting the piano's strings with one hand, making use of the full range of the keyboard in the body of the piece. She throws Monk-like twists into her interpretation of one of his favorite standards, "Just a Gigolo." 

Not satisfied with just covering Monk's best-known works and songs by others that he enjoyed playing, she delves into the pianist's less-frequently played compositions, such as the discordant "San Francisco Holiday" and his loping "Blues at the Five Spot," while also dedicating pieces of her own to Monk (the reflective ballad "I Remember Monk") and his longest-serving sideman, tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse (the alternately tricky and jaunty "The House That Rouse Built"). Highly recommended. ~ Ken Dryden   http://www.allmusic.com/album/in-the-key-of-monk-mw0000058695

Personnel: Jessica Williams (piano); Jeanette Williams (piano).

In the Key of Monk

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Jessica Williams - Higher Standards

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1997
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:23
Size: 150,0 MB
Art: Front

(6:47)  1. Get Out of Town
(5:54)  2. When Your Lover Has Gone
(5:05)  3. Mack the Knife
(7:47)  4. A Night in Tunisia
(9:18)  5. Don't Take Your Love from Me
(9:04)  6. East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)
(6:18)  7. Solitude
(8:43)  8. Midnight Sun
(6:26)  9. My Heart Belongs to Daddy

For this typically superb effort, the brilliant pianist Jessica Williams (with the assistance of bassist Dave Captein and drummer Mel Brown) digs into nine standards and come up with fresh variations and consistently inventive ideas. Although a few of the songs (most notably "Mack the Knife," "A Night In Tunisia" and "East of the Sun") have been recorded many times, Williams comes up with original musical thoughts, full of wit and chance-taking, that make each of the selections sound new. Well worth acquiring. ~ Scott Yanow https://www.allmusic.com/album/higher-standards-mw0000038938

Personnel: Jessica Williams (piano); Dave Captein (bass); Mel Brown (drums).

Higher Standards

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Jessica Williams - The Art Of The Piano

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 65:32
Size: 150.0 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[ 9:13] 1. Triple Door Blues
[ 6:54] 2. Esperanza
[12:53] 3. Love And Hate
[ 5:13] 4. Elaine
[ 7:37] 5. First Gymnopédie
[ 7:02] 6. Prophets
[ 7:13] 7. Diane
[ 9:24] 8. Lonnie's Lament

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 FLY and drummer Jorge Rossy (later, Jeff Ballard). Williams' three sets on Origin are all solo efforts, and they are all marvelous explorations of the pianist's singular artistry.

Williams, who sat in with Philly Joe Jones' group back in the 1970s, is no stranger to playing in the trio format. Always a top tier, if somewhat under appreciated, musician, she seemed to rise to the very highest levels in that arena, really coming into her own with the release of Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 1 (MAXJAZZ, 2004) and Live at Yoshi's, Vol. 2 (MAXJAZZ, 2005), both featuring bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Victor Lewis. Seemed is the key word, because Williams' blossoming can truly be traced to her striking out and setting up her own label, Red and Blue Recordings, back in 1997, on which can be found several stellar trio outings including Some Ballads, Some Blues (2001), Now (2004), and For John Coltrane (2005).

Red and Blue Recordings notwithstanding, John Bishop, of Seattle-based Origin Records, has given Williams another outlet with three extraordinary solo piano discs: Billy's Theme (2006), Songs for a New Century (2008), and now, Art of the Piano, recorded live at the Triple Door in Seattle, Washington. Williams' approach is one of supple, refined elegance that moves easily into percussive muscularity and earthiness, as on the set's opener, "Triple Door Blues." Her fluidity and grace—and the profound beauty of her art—are both on display on "Esperanza," while "Love and Hate" has an exploratory, inward feel and "Elaine" brims with reverence and joy. Six of the eight tunes are Williams originals, but she covers "First Gymnopedie," from the pen of Eric Satie with buoyant momentum and deep introspection. Williams is especially adept at getting inside the musical souls of fellow music-makers, artists as disparate as Art Tatum on Tatum's Ultimatum; Thelonious Monk on Deep Monk and Billy Taylor on Billy's Theme. Here, she treats John Coltrane's "Lonnie's Lament" with respect, imbuing it with a mesmerizing spirituality that does the supremely spiritual 'Trane proud.

Art of the Piano is another stunningly beautiful set by Williams; solo piano gets no better than this. ~Dan McClenaghan

The Art Of The Piano

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Jessica Williams - '... And Then, There's This!'

Styles: Piano Jazz

Year: 1990

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 51:04

Size: 119,7 MB

Art: Front

(5:46)  1. Bemsha Swing

(4:47)  2. ... And Then, There's This!

(5:57)  3. All Alone

(6:11)  4. Nichol's Bag

(4:44)  5. The Child Within

(5:58)  6. Elaine

(6:04)  7. The House That Rouse Built

(3:40)  8. Newk's Fluke

(4:27)  9. Swanee

(3:26) 10. I Mean You

This wonderful little gem features pianist Jessica Williams in trio on a set of six originals, a couple of pieces by Thelonious Monk, and one each by George Gershwin and Irving Berlin. What makes the recording so appealing is Williams' exquisite sense of rhythm and stunning technique, and drummer Kenny Wollensen's outstanding drumming. Williams uses both hands across the whole keyboard. Her style is instantly recognizable, as her bold and confident strokes and ability to move rapidly contrast with a sometimes delicate approach. She seems highly attuned to Monk, and her successful takes of "Bemsha Swing" and "I Mean You" shed new light on the songs' quirky melodies and harmonies. Her own compositions are special, too, with attractive and often catchy lines. Her "The House That Rouse Built," a clever double entendre, and "Newk's Fluke" are particularly fascinating. With the dearth of really fine piano albums in the '90s, it is surprising that Ms. Williams did not receive more attention. This album is one of the finest examples of creative piano performance of that decade. ~ Steve Loewy http://www.allmusic.com/album/and-then-theres-this-mw0000950144

Personnel:  Jessica Williams – piano;  John Wiitala – bass;  Kenny Wollesen - drums

'... And Then, There's This!'

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