Jessica Williams - With Love (2014)

Through decades of performances and recordings, pianist Jessica Williams has displayed a riveting personal voice full of virtuosity and surprise, building a legendary status among jazz piano aficionados. On "With Love," Williams felt the desire to simplify, presenting a series of pieces that were beautiful and without guile, simple and lovely and heartfelt in the extreme. While still rooted in jazz, she relies less on technique and improvisation and more on emotive depth, melodic purity and space, as she delivers time-honored classics, including "My Foolish Heart," "I Fall in Love Too Easily," and "Somewhere."