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Jessica Williams, With Love (Origin)
This masterpiece of quiet reflection is the pianist’s first recording since surgery repaired spinal deterioration that kept her out of action for more than two years. With exquisite slowness, she explores eight standard ballads and her composition “Paradise of Love.†In her notes, Williams writes, “I wanted to make an album that while still rooted in jazz, relied less on technique and improvisation and more on
emotive depth, melodic purity and space.†Her approach to “My Foolish Heart,†“Summertime,†“But Beautiful,†“When I Fall in Love†and “I Fall in Love Too Easily†and the others accomplishes that goal. Largely rubato, she lingers over phrases, nowhere more movingly than in “It Might As Well Be Spring.†For all the melodic purity, Williams’s harmonic originality is on full display.