Search - Jessica Williams :: Victoria Concert

More excellent Jessica

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 04/29/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've always had a slightly ambivalent feeling about Williams--she's a genuine original, unlike anyone else in the jazz piano canon, yet her mannerisms can get a little irritating: in particular, her inability to get through a chorus without throwing in a quote or three. Still, it'd be curmudgeonly to complain too much about someone who makes such consistantly enjoyable albums (& she does record a lot of them). This one is a solo concert, mostly in her quirky tinkling stride-piano vein; there's a few nice, sparing originals (especially "Dear Gaylord"), some handsome standards, & something of an emphasis on the blues, with a 15-minute version of "Straight No Chaser" being the disc's centrepiece. Her quoting habits get the better of her at a few points (for instance, she ends "Straight No Chaser" with "The Stars and Stripes Forever"), but on the whole this is a very strong disc, recommended to anyone looking for a sampler of Jessica's work."