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.
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]