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Mary Lou Williams

Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981[1]) was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, and LP versions).[2] Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie.

Mary Lou Williams

Mary Elfrieda Scruggs

(1910-05-08)May 8, 1910
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.

May 28, 1981(1981-05-28) (aged 71)
Durham, North Carolina, U.S.

Musician, composer, arranger, bandleader

Piano

1920–1981

Brunswick, Decca, Columbia, Savoy, Asch, Folkways, Victor, King, Atlantic, Circle, Vogue, Prestige, Chiaroscuro, SteepleChase, Pablo

She has been noted for her 1954 conversion to Catholicism, which led to a musical hiatus and a later transformation in the nature of her music. She continued to perform and work as a philanthropist, educator, and youth mentor until her death from bladder cancer in 1981.

Early years[edit]

The second of eleven children, Williams was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[3] A musical prodigy, at the age of two, she was able to pick out simple tunes and by the age of three, she was taught piano by her mother.[4][5] Mary Lou Williams played piano out of necessity at a very young age; her white neighbors were throwing bricks into her house until Williams began playing the piano in their homes.[6] At the age of six, she supported her ten half-brothers and sisters by playing at parties.[7] She began performing publicly at the age of seven when she became known admiringly in Pittsburgh as "The Little Piano Girl".[8] She became a professional musician at the age of 15, citing Lovie Austin as her greatest influence.[9][6] She married jazz saxophonist John Overton Williams in November 1926.[3]

Later years[edit]

Williams' final recording, Solo Recital (Montreux Jazz Festival, 1978), three years before her death, had a medley encompassing spirituals, ragtime, blues and swing. Other highlights include Williams's reworkings of "Tea for Two", "Honeysuckle Rose", and her two compositions "Little Joe from Chicago", and "What's Your Story Morning Glory". Other tracks include "Medley: The Lord Is Heavy", "Old Fashion Blues", "Over the Rainbow", "Offertory Meditation", "Concerto Alone at Montreux", and "The Man I Love".


In 1980, she founded the Mary Lou Williams Foundation.[32]


In 1981, Mary Lou Williams died of bladder cancer in Durham, North Carolina at the age of 71.[15] Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, and Andy Kirk attended her funeral at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola.[8] She was buried in the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh.[33] Looking back at the end of her life, Mary Lou Williams said: "I did it, didn't I? Through muck and mud."[34] She was known as "the first lady of the jazz keyboard".[35] Williams was one of the first women to be successful in jazz.[36]


Her final work for wind symphony, History..., reconstructed and recomposed by Duke faculty member Anthony Kelley, was premiered in 2024.[37]

Guggenheim Fellowships, 1972 and 1977.

[38]

Nominee 1971 , Best Jazz Performance – Group, for the album Giants, Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Hackett, Mary Lou Williams[39]

Grammy Awards

Honorary degree from in New York in 1973[26]

Fordham University

Honorary degree from in Kansas City in 1980.[40]

Rockhurst College

Received the 1981 Duke University's Trinity Award for service to the university, an award voted on by Duke University students.[8]

[7]

In 1983, Duke University established the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture

[41]

Since 1996, The in Washington, D.C. has an annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival.[42]

Kennedy Center

Since 2000, her archives are preserved at 's Institute of Jazz Studies in Newark.[43]

Rutgers University

A Pennsylvania State Historic Marker is placed at 328 Lincoln Avenue, Lincoln Elementary School, Pittsburgh, PA, noting her accomplishments and the location of the school she attended.

[44]

In 2000, trumpeter released the album Soul on Soul as a tribute to her, featuring original arrangements of her music and new pieces inspired by her work.[45]

Dave Douglas

The 2000 album by pianist John Hicks featured eight of her compositions.[46]

Impressions of Mary Lou

The Dutch Jazz Orchestra researched and played rediscovered works of Williams on their 2005 album Lady Who Swings the Band.

[47]

In 2006, 's Mary Lou Williams Collective released their album Zodiac Suite: Revisited.[48]

Geri Allen

A YA historical novel based on Mary Lou Williams and her early life, entitled Jazz Girl, by Sarah Bruce Kelly, was published in 2010.

[49]

A children's book based on Mary Lou Williams, entitled The Little Piano Girl, by Ann Ingalls and Maryann MacDonald with illustrations by Giselle Potter, was published in 2010.

[47]

A poetry book by entitled Hemming the Water was published in 2013, inspired by Williams and featuring the poem "Communion with Mary Lou Williams".[50]

Yona Harvey

In 2013, the published Mary Lou Williams' Selected Works for Big Band, a compilation of 11 of her big band scores.[47]

American Musicological Society

In 2015, an award-winning documentary film entitled, Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band, produced and directed by Carol Bash, premiered on and was screened at various domestic and international film festivals.[51][52][53]

American Public Television

In 2018 What'sHerName women's history podcast aired the episode "THE MUSICIAN Mary Lou Williams", with guest expert 'Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band,' producer and director Carol Bash.[55]

[54]

In 2021, the Umlaut Big Band released Mary's Ideas (Umlaut Records), a double-cd featuring rare and newly discovered works by Mary Lou Williams, based on research from her manuscripts. It includes arrangements and compositions for Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, excerpts from the Zodiac Suite in its 1945 orchestral arrangement, and excerpts from History of Jazz for Wind Symphony, Mary Lou Williams' ultimate and unfinished composition.

[56]

Mary Lou Williams Lane, a street near 10th and Paseo in , Missouri, was named after the renowned jazz artist.[40][57]

Kansas City

She is one of only three women who appear in the famous photograph of jazz greats, .

A Great Day in Harlem

(Verve, 1957)

Dizzy Gillespie at Newport

(Perception, 1971) with Bobby Hackett

Giants

Buehrer, Theodore E., ed. (2013). Mary's Ideas: Mary Lou Williams's Development as a Big Band Leader. Music of the United States of America (MUSA) vol. 25. Madison, Wisconsin: A-R Editions.

Kernodle, Tammy L. . Grove Art Online.

"Williams, Mary Lou"

(2020) [2004]. Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. OCLC 1142759993.

Kernodle, Tammy L.

'Drag 'Em': How Movement Shaped The Music of Mary Lou Williams

Soul on Soul: Allison Miller and Derrick Hodge on Honoring Mary Lou Williams

How Mary Lou Williams Shaped the Sound of the Big-Band Era

The World of Mary Lou Williams: A Turning the Tables Playlist

Mary Lou Williams on Piano Jazz

Mary Lou Williams: 'Mary Lou Williams: 1927–1940'

Mary Lou Williams, 'Perpetually Contemporary'

Mary Lou Williams Collection, Institute of Jazz Studies, Dana Library, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ

Archived May 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine

Mary Lou Williams concert for children, Vancouver 1977 (includes 60-minute audio recording)

(2015 film).

Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band

(2010 video presentation by Tammy Kernodle, Associate Professor of Musicology, Miami University, Ohio)

The Legacy of Mary Lou Williams

Archived May 20, 2021, at the Wayback Machine

Jazz at Lincoln Center: Family Concert: Who is Mary Lou Williams?

"Nice & Rough": Unapologetically Black, Beautiful, and Bold: A Conversation with Sheila Jackson on Black Women's Participation in Cultural Production in the 1970s" Jstor

at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

Mary Lou Williams recordings

KC Black History Website