Jessica Williams (musician)

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{{Infobox musical artist | name = Jessica Williams | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | image = Jessica_williams_piano.jpg | image_size = | landscape = | caption = Williams in 2007 | birth_name = | birth_date = March 17, 1948 | birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | death_date = March 10, 2022(2022-03-10) (aged 73) | death_place = | death_cause = | genre = Jazz, Electronic | occupation = Musician | instrument = Piano, Synthesizers, Trap Drums, B3 Organ, Contrabass | years_active = 1970s–2010s | label = Red and Blue, Candid, Concord, Maxjazz, Timeless, Hep, Jazz Focus Jessica Jennifer Williams (March 17, 1948 – March 10, 2022) was an American jazz pianist and composer.

Contents

Early life

Williams was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 17, 1948. She started playing the piano at age four, began music lessons with a private teacher at five, and at age seven was enrolled into the Peabody Preparatory. She studied classical music and ear training with Richard Aitken and George Bellows at the Peabody Conservatory of Music.

At age twelve, Williams was listening to Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, and Charles Mingus. She began performing jazz in her teens, playing with Richie Cole, Buck Hill, and Mickey Fields. In a radio interview with Marian McPartland on NPR's Piano Jazz from 1992, she stated that her main influences were not pianists, but Miles Davis and John Coltrane. [1]

Musical career

In June 1976, Williams began performing regularly with the "Philly Joe" Jones band in New Jersey, and with Lex Humphries in Philadelphia and New York City, before moving to the West Coast in October 1976. [2]

In 1977, Williams moved to San Francisco, where she played in house bands at the Keystone Korner. She worked with Eddie Harris, Tony Williams, Stan Getz, Bobby Hutcherson, and Charlie Haden, eventually leading her own jazz trio, and recording regularly for several decades.

In 1997, Williams established her own record label, Red and Blue Recordings. She also started her publishing company, JJW Music/ASCAP, and an internet mail order business.

Williams appeared at the 2004 and 2006 "Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival" at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. She also appeared in festivals and venues worldwide, including The Purcell Room in London, The Bern Jazz Festival, The Monterey Jazz Festival, The New Morning in Paris, Spivey Hall in Georgia, and hundreds of other venues. She was a guest on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on NPR, as well as being interviewed by the BBC in Brecon, Wales.

In 2012, Williams had a Spinal fusion with internal instrumentation at Swedish Hospital's Neurosurgery Unit in Seattle, WA, and subsequently lost her ability to perform. [3] She lived with her husband in the Pacific Northwest, and no longer toured. She continued to make new music, including electronic music and neoclassical music, and remained a lifelong advocate of civil rights.

Death

Williams died on March 10, 2022, at age 73. [4]

Awards and honors

Williams from the album cover for The Real Deal (photo by E Arc) Jessica williams.jpg
Williams from the album cover for The Real Deal (photo by E Arc)

Selected discography

With Charlie Rouse

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References

  1. "Jessica Williams on Piano Jazz". NPR.org.
  2. Yanow, Scott. "Jessica Williams | Biography & History | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
  3. Mahesh, B.; Upendra, B.; Vijay, S.; Kumar, G. A.; Reddy, S. (2017). "Complication rate during multilevel lumbar fusion in patients above 60 years". Indian Journal of Orthopaedics. 51 (2): 139–146. doi: 10.4103/0019-5413.201704 . PMC   5361463 . PMID   28400658.
  4. Origin Artist: Jessica Williams . In: originarts.com, access date March 15, 2022.