CD Title: Boss of the Walking Bass - A Tribute to Leroy Vinnegar Blue Fire
Year: 2000
Record Label: Jazz Focus
Style: Straight-Ahead / Classic
Musicians: Williams (piano); Leroy Vinnegar, Dave Captein (bass); Mel Brown (drums)
Review: Jessica Williams is one of the great jazz pianists of our time. Though that might reek of hyperbole, anyone who’s heard her on one of her swings through town can vouch for the diversity and complex swing of her playing. She sheds light on the whole sweep of jazz piano history, combining the frenetic swing of Art Tatum, the jagged bop of Thelonious Monk and the exquisite introspection of Bill Evans.
Two new discs on the Jazz Focus label show off both her playing and composing in different lights. The tribute to walking bass legend Leroy Vinnegar was recorded at Atwater’s Nightclub in Portland, or in December of 1996. With the great bassist and the outstanding drummer Mel Brown (whom Williams has called "the world's greatest") providing a steady flow of muscular rhythm, the pianist is free to stretch out her elastic improvisations in a program of standards as diverse as Gillespie’s “Birks Works” and the cheeky “Canadian Sunset.” (Williams hails from that northern land). The disc offers textbook trio work-outs and features plenty of Vinnegar’s signature sound, heavy on the high calorie tone and light on the showboating.
But it’s Blue Fire – with Dave Captein on bass - that really breaks new ground in showcasing Williams’ remarkable originals. There’s plenty of another jazz iconoclast’s influence here too - both “Blues 2K” and “Elbow Room”, in turning the blues playfully on its head, owe a melodic debt to Monk. “Somebody’s Waltz” sounds like Thelonious meets Chopin while “The Vision” is a ballad Coltrane would have been comfortable in screeching his sonic squall over. Interestingly, “Kenny Kirkland” celebrates its namesake’s buoyant musicianship rather than eulogizing his tragic too-early death from drug abuse. It’s a beautiful, wistful piece that highlights Williams’ unorthodox talent.
Record Label Website: http://www.canuck.com/jazz
Reviewed by: Lee Prosser