A celebration of pioneering trans jazz pianist Jessica Williams and the 2025 release of Blue Abstraction the critically acclaimed LP of previously unreleased music by Williams, produced by Kye Potter and released by PRE-ECHO.

Jessica Williams (1948-2022) altered the piano by placing vibrating and/or muting elements on top of and between the strings at varying distances across the harp—some sounding like bells or gongs (screws, bolts), others like percussion instruments (clothespins, hairpins, washers, erasers). The effect radically expanded the instrument’s possibilities, sometimes making it sound metallic or ghostly, other times muted, tactile, almost broken. She forged a personal musical language grounded in improvisation, nuanced timbral control, and compositional precision. The resulting beauty and listenability of these works are a testament to Williams’ vision and mastery.

In recognition of this musical colossus and the release of Blue Abstraction, Prepared Piano Project 1985–87, UPEND convenes a gathering to listen to the album in its entirety, followed by a conversation with Matt Connors of PRE-ECHO and producer Kye Potter.

“At times haunting, joyous, and always soulful, this collection of prepared piano improvisations by the unsung San Francisco piano giant Jessica Williams is gorgeous, diverse, exploratory and nuanced.” - Jeff Parker

Photo: Jessica Williams in Oakland in 1986 by Tom Copi

Blue Abstraction Cover Art by Matt Connors

Dafne Vicente-Sandoval and Charles Curtis perform Human Resources live-in-concert.

For their presentation, Vicente-Sandoval will premiere a new version of Tashi Wada's Witness, in which a series of microtonally inflected scales and tetrachords are explored through repetition, variation and improvisation. Vicente-Sandoval's own Minos Circuit Rewired, for microphone feedback, voice and disassembled bassoon, will close the evening. Curtis will intersperse short performances, possibly including Tashi Wada, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff, Alvin Lucier and/or other works-in-progress.

Dafne Vicente-Sandoval works at the intersection of bassoon acoustics, resonant spaces and amplification; Charles Curtis explores classical cello performance, precise tuning and sustained sound. Together they have marked out a distinctive perspective on contemporary experimental music. Working collectively with composers Alvin Lucier, Tashi Wada and Éliane Radigue, and individually with Jakob Ullmann, Phill Niblock, Peter Ablinger, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, and Christian Wolff, Vicente-Sandoval and Curtis present shared concerts of work made for them along with original sound pieces.