Mary Lou Williams
To say that Mary Lou Williams had a long and productive career is an understatement. Although for decades she was often called jazz's greatest female musician (and one has to admire what must have been a nonstop battle against sexism), she would have been considered a major artist no matter what her sex.
Just the fact that Williams and Duke Ellington were virtually the only stride pianists to modernize their style through the years would have been enough to guarantee her a place in jazz history books. Williams managed to always sound modern during a half-century career without forgetting her roots or how to play in the older styles.
Born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs (although she soon took the name of her stepfather and was known as Mary Lou Burley), she taught herself the piano by ear and was playing in public at the age of six. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Williams' life was always filled with music. When she was 13, she started working in vaudeville, and three years later married saxophonist John Williams. They moved to Memphis, and she made her debut on records with Synco Jazzers. John soon joined Andy Kirk's orchestra, which was based in Kansas City, in 1929. Williams wrote arrangements for the band, filled in for an absent pianist on Kirk's first recording session, and eventually became a member of the orchestra herself. Her arrangements were largely responsible for the band's distinctive sound and eventual success. Williams was soon recognized as Kirk's top soloist, a stride pianist who impressed everyone (even Jelly Roll Morton). In addition, she wrote such songs such as "Roll 'Em" (a killer hit for Benny Goodman) and "What's Your Story Morning Glory" and contributed arrangements to other big bands, including those of Goodman, Earl Hines, and Tommy Dorsey.
Mary Lou Williams stayed with Kirk until 1942, by which time she had divorced John Williams and married trumpeter Harold "Shorty" Baker. She co-led a combo with Baker before he joined Duke Ellington. Williams did some writing for Duke (most notably her rearrangement of "Blue Skies" into a horn battle called "Trumpets No End") and played briefly with Benny Goodman's bebop group in 1948. She had gradually modernized her style and by the early to mid-'40s was actively encouraging the young modernists who would lead the bebop revolution, including Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Tadd Dameron, and Dizzy Gillespie. Williams' "Zodiac Suite" showed off some of her modern ideas, and her "In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee" was a bebop fable recorded by Gillespie.
Williams lived in Europe from 1952-1954 and then became very involved in the Catholic religion. She retired from music for a few years before appearing as a guest with Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. Williams returned to jazz and by the early '70s sounded more like a young modal player (clearly she was familiar with McCoy Tyner) than a survivor of the 1920s. Although she did not care for the avant-garde, she occasionally played quite freely, although a 1977 duo concert with Cecil Taylor was a complete fiasco. Williams wrote three masses and a cantana, was a star at Benny Goodman's 40th-anniversary Carnegie Hall concert in 1978, taught at Duke University, and often planned her later concerts as a history of jazz recital. By the time she passed away at the age of 71, she had a list of accomplishments that could have filled three lifetimes.
Mary Lou Williams recorded through the years as a leader for many labels including Brunswick (a pair of piano solos in 1930), Decca (1938), Columbia, Savoy, extensively for Asch and Folkways during 1944-1947, Victor, King (1949), Atlantic, Circle, Vogue, Prestige, Blue Star, Jazztone, her own Mary label (1970-1974), Chiaroscuro, SteepleChase, and finally Pablo (1977-1978).
© Scott Yanow /TiVo
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A Grand Night for Swinging (Recorded Live in 1976)
Bebop - Erschienen bei HighNote Records am 04.03.2008
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Live at the Keystone Korner (Recorded Live, May 8, 1977)
Bebop - Erschienen bei HighNote Records am 07.07.2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Zoning
Jazz - Erschienen bei Smithsonian Folkways Recordings am 17.10.1995
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Mary Lou Williams Trio At Rick's Café Americain, Chicago
Jazz - Erschienen bei Storyville am 20.10.1998
Qobuz’ Schallplattensammlung16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mary Lou Williams Presents Black Christ of the Andes
Jazz - Erschienen bei Smithsonian Folkways Recordings am 01.01.1963
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I Made You Love Paris
Jazz - Erschienen bei Universal Music Division Decca Records France am 01.01.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz Radio Broadcast
Marian McPartland, Mary Lou Williams
Jazz - Erschienen bei Concord Records am 01.01.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Zodiac Suite
Jazz - Erschienen bei Smithsonian Folkways Recordings am 17.10.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mary Lou Williams Plays in London (Jazz Connoisseur)
Jazz - Erschienen bei Legacy Recordings am 30.09.2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
First Lady Of The Piano
Jazz - Erschienen bei Inner City Records am 23.01.1953
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Mama Pinned A Rose On Me
Jazz - Erschienen bei Original Jazz Classics am 27.12.1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Solo Recital: Montreux Jazz Festival 1978 (Live At Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, CH / July 16, 1978)
Jazz - Erschienen bei Pablo am 16.07.1978
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mary Lou Williams
Jazz - Erschienen bei Folkways Records am 01.01.1953
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Early Jazz (Remastered)
Jazz - Erschienen bei Ornithology Rec. am 28.02.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
First Ladies Of Jazz
Mary Lou Williams, Jutta Hipp, Beryl Booker Trio
Jazz - Erschienen bei Savoy am 01.01.1963
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mary Lou's Mass
Jazz - Erschienen bei Smithsonian Folkways Recordings am 22.02.2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mary Lou Williams: The Asch Recordings 1944-47
Jazz - Erschienen bei Folkways Records am 01.01.1977
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
At Rick's Cafe Americain
Jazz - Erschienen bei Storyville am 20.10.1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nice Jazz (Live at Nice "Grande Parade Jazz", 1978)
Mary Lou Williams, Ronnie Boykins, Jo Jones
Jazz - Erschienen bei Disques Black & Blue am 18.11.2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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I Love a Piano
Teddy Wilson, Mel Powell, Mary Lou Williams
Jazz - Erschienen bei Esquire Records am 14.12.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo