{"id":3868,"date":"2012-07-24T20:20:37","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T03:20:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=3868"},"modified":"2012-07-24T21:06:36","modified_gmt":"2012-07-25T04:06:36","slug":"recent-listening-jessica-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2012\/07\/recent-listening-jessica-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Listening: Jessica Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessica Williams, Songs Of Earth<\/em><\/a> (Origin)<\/p>\n

Williams, the Triple Door\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Steinway and the Seattle theater restaurant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s audience collaborate on yet another album of solo pieces by the pianist. The audience gets credit because their attentiveness, appreciation and courtesy help establish the atmosphere in which Williams creates seven pieces comprising a collection unlike any other in her vast discography. You can almost hear the audience listening.<\/p>\n

For all of its suggestions of preconceived form, Williams must have\"\"<\/a> spontaneously generated much of this music in performance. Its calm and thoughtfulness are illuminated by moments of surprise in which she seems to be discovering and disclosing facets of herself. That is what the best improvising performers do, and few pianists do it with more magnetism than Williams.<\/p>\n

The keyboard touch that gave her previous Triple Door album<\/a> its title is a marvel throughout this CD. The attribute equally in evidence in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Enchanted Loom,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which has the vigor of a tribal dance, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Montoya,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in which she suggests Spanish romanticism not only of the great Flamenco guitarist but of the era of Falla, Granados and Mompou. In John Coltrane\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153To Be,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Williams captures the mysticism of the version Coltrane recorded a few months before he died but also gives the composition—a sketch, really—more earthly substance, and vastly more whimsy, than did the five instruments on the Coltrane recording. The emotional high point comes in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Joe and Jane,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d described by the pianist in her articulate liner notes as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sorrowful psalm\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to men and women who serve in the armed forces. The performance has elegiac qualities combined with down-home earnestness that reminds me of church music I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard in the rural southern US. <\/p>\n

In my review two years ago of Touch<\/em>, I wrote: <\/p>\n

People in the jazz community, particularly pianists in awe of Williams\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s consistency, creativity and constant growth, often discuss why so many critics and the business side of jazz seem deaf to her brilliance. Whatever the reasons, they must be sociological, political or cultural. They cannot be musical\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Based on her playing here, I renew that expression of puzzlement. <\/p>\n

COINCIDENTALLY, <\/strong> Her new album appears as Jessica Williams faces surgery and major expense for a long and persistent spinal problem. She has launched an appeal for help. You will find details on her website<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jessica Williams, Songs Of Earth (Origin) Williams, the Triple Door\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Steinway and the Seattle theater restaurant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s audience collaborate on yet another album of solo pieces by the pianist. The audience gets credit because their attentiveness, appreciation and courtesy help establish the atmosphere in which Williams creates seven pieces comprising a collection unlike any other in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}