Setlist unabashedly plays favorites, and Lori Williams is by any measure near the top of the favorites list. This D.C. vocalist’s instrument contains the kind of nuances that one could get lost in. She has the kind of attenuation and subtlety that we associate with jazz singing instantly—a kind of jazz-vocal ‘discipline,’ for lack of a better term. But Williams slips in hints—and sometimes dead giveaways—that she has packed away the kind of soul power that would make her a tremendous R&B or gospel singer. Perhaps it’s a sort of vocalist’s twist on Ernest Hemingway’s “iceberg theory”: What you hear on the surface is only about 10 percent of what’s really there. As it happens, what is there is crystalline clarity, perhaps the most precise articulation of any singer in town, and a range that will, when she runs it, produce shivers. "She's got a soft-edged, creamy voice that's a natural vehicle for introspection, but also one that you could happily curl up and get lost in. It's stunning, supple subtle, sumptuous, soulful music - let's call that the five Ss of Lori Williams, shall we?"
Michael J. West - The Washington City Paper

“Lori Williams seamlessly moves from Jazz to R&B in ways the listener can feel at home with her in either genre. She has set the bar for vocalists to come.”
- Terri Lyne Carrington (3x Grammy-winning drummer/composer/producer)
Acclaimed jazz vocalist Lori Williams is turning a corner in 2017. In possession of a most impressive resume as a performing artist, educator, songwriter, producer, support vocalist and musical theater actress, her reputation and level of respect are top shelf and unimpeachable. However, Washington, D.C.-native Lori is electing to let her hair down to pursue a more relaxed passion path in the realms of the Quiet Storm and R&B-leaning Soul-Jazz. Kicking off this current (and surely to evolve) direction is a special double-A sided single “I Like the Way You Talk to Me”.
SOULFUL VOICES…Laura Ainsworth: New Vintage, Douye’: Daddy Said So, Lori Williams: Healing Within, Eclipse of the Soul, Behind the Smiles
by George W. Harris • September 25, 2017