Jazz singer Pearl Williams is equally at home as a soloist or a collaborator with great musicians, and her interpretations have been praised by the public and press alike. In describing the vocalist, who started as a pianist and childhood friend and bandmate of pianist McCoy Tyner, Philadelphia’s JazzBridge said, “Artists like Pearl Williams, a living legend, are just not made any longer, and her every appearance is a unique and very special event.”
Williams, 83, was born and raised in West Philadelphia, and explained that she’d performed professionally for “many moons.” Hailing from a musicians’ family, she formally studied Classical Piano at the Theodore Presser School of Music. However, she dreamed of becoming a jazz vocalist. While in high school, she was the vocalist for a group formed by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, her neighbor, and friend.
“My talent is God-given,” she answers when asked about her singular and incomparable style. “This is not something that I acquired on my own. I have not been taught vocal, or vocal strategy, composition, or theory. I studied classical music, and I’m a classical pianist. I don’t play jazz, but I sing jazz.”
Despite having no formal vocal training, her five decades career has taken her all over the globe, performing with jazz legends such as Houston Person, Count Basie, Barry Harris, Bobby Durham, Al Grey, Shirley Scott, Trudy Pitts, Milt Buckner, Cat Anderson, Philly Joe Jones, Richard “Groove” Holmes, and so many others.
Her eponymous 2006 “Pearl’s Pearls” CD was recorded with tenor saxophone magnet, Houston Person, arranged by piano and keyboard genius, Aaron Graves and features Gerald “Twig” Smith on guitar, Lee Smith on bass, Harry “Butch” Reed on drums and Darryl Burgee on percussion.
Williams’ style, portrayed as “warm and sensually sophisticated, with an instinctive feeling for rhythm and lyrics, and deep emotional characteristics,” is evident even in a phone conversation. The vocalist has been homebound, recovering from surgery since before the pandemic.
“When my health began to fail me, and I could not ambulate as I wanted to, so I couldn’t do the rehearsals and could make all the concerts.”
Williams remains upbeat and is passionate about what she feels to be most important in life: faith, family, and friends.
She continues with a laugh: “You have to know when to hold and when to fold.”