Pearl Williams-Jones

Pearl Williams-Jones (née Williams) (June 28, 1931 – February 4, 1991) was an American gospel musician.

A native of Washington, D.C., Williams was the daughter of Smallwood Edmond Williams, pastor of the Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.[1] She attended public schools in the District, graduating from Charles Young Elementary, Brown Junior High School and Dunbar High School.[2] She studied piano with Hazel Harrison and Natalie Hinderas while attending Howard University, from which she received both a bachelor's degree and a master's of music,[1] and from which she graduated magna cum laude.[3] She served as minister of music at her father's church and performed as a singer and pianist throughout the United States and Europe,[1] appearing in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall in London and the Suphiensalle in Munich.[4] A well-regarded scholar of gospel music, she spent decades as a professor of music at the University of the District of Columbia, where she developed the first degree program in the United States dedicated to the study and performance of gospel.[1] She taught jazz history and music appreciation as well, and directed the university's gospel choir.[3] She served as a technical advisory on the film Say Amen, Somebody.[5] For two decades she consulted with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and worked as an administrative staff member of its African Diaspora Advisory Group.[1] Williams-Jones published a number of works, including a study of the work of Roberta Martin written with Bernice Johnson Reagon.[1] As a composer she was especially known for her performance of "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" to the accompaniment of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring".[6][7][8]

Williams-Jones received an honorary degree from Lynchburg College in 1972.[1] She died in 1991 after an 18-month battle with cancer.[3] She was married to Williams V. Jones, MD, with whom she had two children, Yvonne and Virgil Jr.[2]