"One of the greatest jazz pianists I have ever heard." - Dave Brubeck
"Jessica is a beautiful player." - McCoy Tyner
"The most important pianist to arrive since Bill Evans." - Alun Morgan, Gramophone
"Jessica is a powerful virtuoso, a brilliant solo player, and a 'giant of music', consistently brilliant." - Scott Yanow, The All Music Guide — more
I really need your help right now. I am asking for donations to help me heal from spine surgery and play my music again. I don't have a piano, but that will change. It will help also if you buy my CDs from me. I receive no money for my music. - Jessica, Sept 16th, 2017
Jessica Williams, born March 17, 1948, Baltimore Maryland.
Headliner at The Kennedy Center, Dutch North Sea Festival, Norway Molde Festival, plus major fesitivals and concert halls in Bern, Tokyo, NYC, South Korea, London — more
She holds a Fellowship with the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation — more
Graduate of The Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory of Music
She has released over 80 CDs and LPs, and written over 1000 compositions — more
She has received four grants from the National Endowment for the Arts; a Rockefeller Grant for composing; the Alice B. Toklas Grant for Women Composers, the 2016 ASCAP Award — more
"One of the greatest pianists I have ever heard." - Dave Brubeck
"Jessica is a beautiful player." - McCoy Tyner
"The most important pianist to arrive since Bill Evans." - Alun Morgan, Gramophone — more
"She has the rare ability to draw listeners into her private musical world and hold them there, enthralled." -Dave Gelly, The London Observer
"Jessica is a powerful virtuoso, a brilliant solo player, and a 'giant of music', consistently brilliant." - Scott Yanow, The All Music Guide
"Nothing short of brilliant." - Sidney Bechet-Mandela, JazzUSA
"A vibrant force on the contemporary music scene." - Rolling Stone
"In a word, she's a monster. Her technical mastery is equaled by her swing; her power matched by her dexterity." - Geraldine Wyckoff, Downbeat
"Her style and technique embrace a very original combination of wit, grace, introspection and white heat." - Harvey Siders, JazzTimes
"She is simply a pianistic force of nature that will not be denied." - C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz
"I will say on record that I think she is the finest pianist of our time. And her records are, bar none, the most consistently immaculate and for your hard-earned dollars, a Jessica Williams album is a no-brainer" - Fred Jung, All About Jazz
"Jessica is utterly magnificent . . . the most poetic of all living jazz pianists." - Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News
"This is easy. Jessica Williams doesn't make bad records." - JazzNow, Lawrence Brazier
Subscribe to Jessica's Channel on YouTube!
Below, she plays Body and Soul at a Jazz Festival
My back was broken in 2012, after a lifetime as a pianist. My multi-level back-fusion required permanent internal rods, pedicle screws, and bone grafts. I lost my piano and all of my savings. It ended my career, but not my Music itself. Despite the doctor's preditctions that I would never play or walk again, here I am, playing, walking, and waiting for work so that I can get off of disability and do my job.
I am deeply grateful to all of my fans all over the world for their support and inspiration. I remain eternally grateful and thankful.— Jessica, Sep 14, 2017
I believe we are of One Race, the Human Race. Our past is frozen, caught like a fly in amber, but our future is mutable and changeable, and we build our futures every second. We can no longer live in a dead past. We choose to go forward, into a positive future of Change, a River of vast possibilities, not just for our own survival, but for the happiness and well-being of the children yet to come. This is not just about us. It is about those who come after us. — Jessica Williams
