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| 6.164 Ft
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| 1. | Weirdo
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| 2. | A Gal in Calico
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| 3. | I Really Love You
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| 4. | Driftin'
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| 5. | For You Again
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| 6. | Cheek to Cheek
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| 7. | I Remember Bill
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| 8. | I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You
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| 9. | Pfrancing
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Jazz / Bop
Jessica Williams - Piano, Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part, Producer
Alastair Robertson - Producer
Bob Stark Engineer
Dave Brubeck Liner Notes
Dick Berk Drums
Elaine Arc Photography
Jeff Johnson Bass
John Haxby - Cover Design
Michael Davis Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part
Rainer Gembalczk Digital Editing
The idea for this album came from an appearance by this group at the 1992 Port Townsend Jazz Festival in the state of Washington. The result is a varied musical playbill of bop anthems, standards, a couple of Williams' originals and a contribution by Stevie Wonder. Williams is not wedded to any one particular model of piano playing, which is richly evident in the trio's handling of "A Gal in Calico." This tune, which Arthur Schwartz/Leo Robin wrote for the movie The Time, the Place and the Girl, is the subject of nine minutes of improvisational investigation running the performance gamut from march-like drumming by Dick Berk to pizzicato bass plucking by Jeff Johnson. Innovation and surprise seem to be Williams' theme throughout the album. None of the performances can be pigeonholed into a particular style or tempo, each being a mixture of many musical formats. Stevie Wonder's "I Really Love You" starts off as avant-garde, then segues into a dream-like melody. An 11-minute explication of "Cheek to Cheek" is filled with surprises, with the familiar melody, more often than not, barely recognizable. The playing of Jessica Williams and her cohorts is a classic example of the "stream of consciousness" approach to small group endeavor, where the imagination doesn't completely run wild, but comes close enough to make it interesting and sometimes scary. The disc includes a tribute, penned by Williams, to Bill Evans, which is a musical statement of the conversations she had with one of the pioneers of modern jazz piano. The works by Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock are handled with boppish aplomb. Given the clarity of the performance, and the imagination each brings to the album, it's clear these performers not only have worked together, but have a singleness of purpose toward this music. On this, her second album for Hep, Jessica Williams, long a denizen of the flourishing Pacific Northwest jazz scene, again shows she is a leading practitioner of creative jazz piano. Her ideas are unique, but at the same time can be followed, understood and enjoyed. The listener is not required to spend an inordinate amount of time figuring out what she is trying to do. It also means, however, that those lacking imagination may not take to her playing. An undervalued jazz performer, Williams deserves wider recognition. ~ Dave Nathan, All Music Guide
Jessica Williams
Active Decades: '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Mar 17, 1948 in Baltimore, MD
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Post-Bop
Due to her being based in northern California, Jessica Williams is a bit underrated, but (on evidence of her sets for Jazz Focus and Hep) she is one of the top jazz pianists of today. Williams is a powerful virtuoso whose complete control of the keyboard, wit, solid sense of swing, and the influence of Thelonious Monk have combined to make her a particularly notable player. She started taking piano lessons when she was four and was gigging as a teenager. Williams took extensive classical lessons but also gigged with Philly Joe Jones in Philadelphia before moving to San Francisco in 1977. She was the house pianist at Keystone Korner for a time and made a few interesting recordings (some as Jessica Jennifer Williams) during the period, sometimes utilizing electronics. Although she appeared on Charlie Rouse's final record and gigged steadily, Williams was largely off record (outside of her own private Quanta label) until re-emerging in the late '80s as a brilliant solo acoustic player. She is a giant whose many dates for Jazz Focus (five of its first ten releases feature Williams) and Hep are consistently brilliant.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
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