Music like Jessica Williams

Jessica Jennifer Williams (March 17, 1948 – March 10, 2022) was an American jazz pianist and composer.

Williams was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 17, 1948. She started playing the piano at age four, began music lessons with a private teacher at five, and at age seven was enrolled into the Peabody Preparatory. She studied classical music and ear training with Richard Aitken and George Bellows at the Peabody Conservatory of Music.

Williams showed an ability to see each note's color as she heard it, consistent with synesthesia. She discussed how this inspired her early interest in the piano in a televised interview with the BBC. Williams also had the ability to play anything she heard. At age twelve, she was listening to Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, and Charles Mingus. She knew she was destined to become a jazz pianist.