A remarkable new album has brought to light the long-hidden experimental work of the late, great American pianist Jessica Williams, revealing a radical side to an artist best known for her sparkling contributions to straight-ahead jazz.
The Accidental Discovery of a Sonic Maverick
Artist and producer Kye Potter made a serendipitous find a few years ago in his local record shop: a battered, home-dubbed tape titled Prepared Piano by Jessica Williams. Released on her own Ear Art label with photocopied notes, it stood in stark contrast to her reputation as a virtuoso in the tradition of Thelonious Monk and Errol Garner. Intrigued, Potter contacted Williams, who by then had retired from public performance. She responded by sending him a trove of material—four prepared piano recordings from the mid-1980s and a wealth of later synth-based work.
This discovery led to Blue Abstraction, an album of prepared piano pieces compiled during the Covid pandemic and released in late 2025 on Pre-Echo Press. Tragically, Williams died in 2022 at the age of 73, partway through the project. She had faced significant physical and financial challenges following spinal surgery in 2012 and a cancer diagnosis in 2017.
Breaking the Mold: From Jazz Prodigy to Instrument Alchemist
Jessica Williams was a child prodigy who studied at the Peabody Conservatory. Dave Brubeck once called her "one of the greatest pianists I have ever heard," and her 2004 Grammy-nominated album Live at Yoshi's, Vol 1 cemented her jazz credentials. Yet, she grew deeply disillusioned with the jazz world's "boys' club" culture, meagre pay, and corporate exploitation.
Her response was a turn towards radical self-sufficiency and experimentation. Blue Abstraction showcases this decades-long impulse. By preparing her piano—inserting objects between the strings, a technique pioneered by John Cage—she transformed it into a kaleidoscopic sound generator. The recordings evoke everything from gamelan and cimbaloms to distant church bells and rattling machinery, all powered by her innate bluesy vocabulary and formidable improvisational control.
"I hit the notes, and I saw colours," Williams told NPR in 1997. Her experimentation began early; as a child, she disassembled her first upright piano, using a removed panel as a makeshift hi-hat for her left foot. This relentless curiosity defined her career.
A Legacy of Defiant Independence
Williams' career arc was one of deliberate retreat from mainstream circuits towards artistic independence. After moving from Philadelphia to San Francisco and later settling in Portland and then Yakima, she leveraged the internet early to connect directly with fans, selling records and even performing in people's homes.
Her later electronic works, like 2008's Blood Music—defiantly tagged "NOT JAZZ" on her website—and the Virtual Miles releases, continued this path of exploration. Even after selling her piano to pay for medical bills, she continued creating music on synthesisers as a fulfilling hobby.
Her passing in 2022 was quietly mourned, but Blue Abstraction promises a long-overdue revival. As Kye Potter notes, "Music just flowed out of Jessica her whole life." This vital release ensures that her revolutionary spirit and extraordinary sounds continue to resonate, introducing a new generation to the fearless creativity of a true musical pioneer.
