Jazz Review : Exquisite Piano Set Proves Williams Deserves Recognition

Pianist Jessica Williams is one of the West Coast’s under-recognized jazz treasures. The Northern California-based artist, who rarely appears in Los Angeles, opened a three-night booking at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City on Thursday with a set that underscored both the sensitivity and the adventurousness of her playing.

Although Williams, 47, has worked with, among others, Stan Getz and Eddie Harris and has released several recordings in her own name, she has remained a largely elusive performer.

Given the quality of her music Thursday, the low visibility is difficult to understand. If she has been known for anything, it has been her capacity to create lush textures and exquisite ballads, and there were ample moments of honeyed harmonies and soaring melodies. But Williams also made it clear that she is a cutting-edge player who is carving a unique road through some fascinating jazz territory.

Accompanied by bassist Jeff Johnson and drummer Dick Berk, she supplemented a collection of originals with a few standards in a presentation that was informal and easygoing. Pausing between numbers to chat with the sparse audience, she seemed to select each succeeding piece spontaneously and only after a bit of thought.

Once into the music, however, the intensity level rose considerably. She began the evening with a solo impromptu that initially centered around the standard “Just You, Just Me.” But in what she described later as “checking out the piano,” Williams also roved across Thelonious Monk, be-bop licks, two-handed stride and rhapsodic pianisms--all held together by a firm rhythmic articulation. Even in her most outside passages, which kept surfacing in originals such as “Sputnik,” ballads such as “I’ll Remember April” and “I Fall in Love Too Easily” and a 7/4 Max Roach line, Williams’ playing was persistently driven and energized by an unfailing sense of swing.

Johnson and Berk, who have recorded with Williams, were solid, dependable accompanists--crisp and economical in their soloing, and especially invaluable for their intuitive ability to follow the pianist in her sudden changes of musical direction.

* The Jessica Williams Trio at the Jazz Bakery through Sunday. 3233 Helms Ave. (310) 271-9039. $17 admission. Williams performs one show, at 8:30 tonight.