Update

Jessica Williams UPDATE One of Jessica Williams’ favorite musicians and greatest inspirations, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, once said: “Don’t tell me to ‘get down!’ That’s what you say to a little puppy, Get down, Spot! Don’t mess up my new pants!’ It’s really about GETTING UP! Most often, the best, most natural way to forge ahead is to go back, check out those roots. Never heard of a flower or a tree growing up big and strong without some well-watered roots. So, go back and check out Duke Ellington. Check out Coleman Hawkins and Lady Day. Get UP with some Monk! Get up with Bud! Get up with Bird and Trane! Get up!!” Staying firmly in touch with one’s roots, musically exploring and adventuring within the rich jazz tradition, is very much what pianist, composer, and arranger Jessica Williams is about on this, her most recent recorded effort, aptly entitled UPDATE. On this album, Jessica is joined by the awesome tenor saxophone of one of American music’s most sorely underrated and neglected musical geniuses, Eddie Harris. Besides being one of the most encyclopedic and truly innovative musical forces of our age, Mr. Harris--along with Wayne Shorter, Johnny Griffin, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, and Dexter Gordon—is one of the very few currently active tenor saxophonists projecting a really unique and distinctive sound and style. The idea of asking Eddie Harris to join this recording project was born when Ms. Williams heard Harris play in tandem with the late Sonny Stitt at Keystone Korner in April, 1982. After completing UPDATE, Eddie Harris had this to say about the compositions of Jessica Williams: “Her tunes have real structure. A lot of today’s music has ‘form,’ but very little in the way of provocative or interesting structure.” The album opens with Jessica’s hymn-like tribute to one of the music’s great teachers-Mary Lou Williams. “On Sonny’s Side” is a bow to Sonny Rollins. Ms. Williams’ melody incorporates the changes to “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” with the last eight bars going up a half-step to Db. “Kaf’s Waltz” is a reminiscence of a close childhood friend in Baltimore, a graphic artist named Kathy. The AABA structure is unusual here in that each section has only eight bars. Jessica describes “Sweet Potato Pie” as an “homage to John Coltrane’s appetite.” “Clear Blue Lou” is a reference to a clean-karma character in Philip K. Dick’s science fiction classic “Song of the Star.” As the proprietor of the jazz club Keystone Korner in San Francisco, the place where Jessica Williams has done most of her playing for the past several years, this writer has watched and listened to an incredible musical talent broaden and deepen into a mature creative vision. Like the greatest of artistic talents as they grow and develop, Jessica Williams is learning to say more by playing less. Her fellow pianist and composer Cedar Walton has this evaluation of Ms. Williams’ talents: “As far as technical facility is concerned, Jessica has few peers on the scene today. And she is getting more maturity all the time. Scope-wise, she has the proven capability of utilizing with taste and great effect a full range of styles encompassing the entire history of the jazz piano.” As the very wise and eloquent poet laureate of baseball, Satchel Page once told a group of rookie pitchers: “It’s all really very simple. You just throw the ball straight ahead, ‘cause the plate don’t move.” More and more, Jessica Williams is learning to speak straight ahead to the hearts of her listeners, with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of effect. Todd Barkan Keystone Korner September 1982 "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 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 but incorporating many styles and forms. 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. In her mid-twenties 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.