Two Documentary Videos About African American Jazz Composer/Pianist Mary Lou Williams

Chase Sanborn, Apr 25, 2022

Duke Ellington said of Mary Lou Williams: “She has always been just a little bit ahead. She is like soul on soul.” That is a concise summation of a woman who is probably the best known and one of the most influential female jazz musician in the first decades of jazz, Mary Lou racked up a consistent track record of ‘firsts’ as pianist, composer and mentor to generations of musicians. She endured and thrived during times when the deck was stacked against her as a black woman (even more than now), and near the end of her long and impactful career, she said simply: “I did it, didn’t I? Through muck and mud.”

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases two documentary videos about African American Jazz composer, pianist, arranger Mary Lou Williams.

This post also presents information about Mary Lou Williams from her Wikipedia page.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.  

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to  Mary Lou Williams for her music and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series that showcases African American performing artists whose last names are included on the United States Census (2010) list of  most common Black American surnames.

For the purpose of this series, I'm usually limiting these posts to African American performing artists with a last name that is one of the top 100 most common Black surnames in the United States.

For example, the United States Census (2010) documents that "Williams" is the #1 surname (last name) among Black people in the United States. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-fifty-most-common-black-last-names.html for the pancocojams post entitled "The Fifty Most Common Black Last Names In The United States And The List Of Fifty Most Common White Last Names In The United States (US Census 2010)".

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INFORMATION ABOUT MARY LOU WILLIAMS 
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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

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]

In 1945, Williams composed the classically-influenced Zodiac Suite, in which each of the twelve parts corresponded to a sign of the zodiac, and were accordingly dedicated to several of her musical colleagues, including Billie Holiday, and Art Tatum.[18] She recorded the suite with Jack Parker and Al Lucas and performed it December 31, 1945, at The Town Hall in New York City with an orchestra and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster.[19]

In 1952, Williams accepted an offer to perform in England and ended up staying in Europe for two years.[12] By this time, her musical career had left Williams mentally and physically drained.

Conversion to Catholicism and hiatus

A three-year hiatus from performing began when she suddenly backed away from the piano during a performance in Paris in 1954.[20] She returned to the United States, converting to Catholicism in 1954 alongside Dizzy Gillespie's wife Lorraine. In addition to spending several hours at Mass, her energies were then devoted mainly to the Bel Canto Foundation, an effort she initiated using her savings as well as help from friends to turn her apartment in Hamilton Heights into a halfway house for the poor as well as musicians who were grappling with addiction; she also made money over a longer period of time for the halfway house by way of a thrift store in Harlem.

Her hiatus may have been triggered by the death of her long-time friend and student Charlie Parker in 1955 who also struggled with addiction for the majority of his life.[21] Father John Crowley and Father Anthony aided in persuading Williams to return to playing music. They told her that she could continue to serve God and the Catholic Church by utilizing her exceptional gift of creating music.[6] Moreover, Dizzy convinced her to return to playing, which she did at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival with Dizzy's band.[1]

Return to music

Following her hiatus, Willams' first piece of music was a Mass she wrote and performed named Black Christ of the Andes, based around a hymn in honor of the Peruvian saint Martin de Porres, and two other short works, Anima Christi and Praise the Lord.[23] It was first performed in November 1962 at St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan. She recorded it in October of the next year.[24]

Throughout the 1960s, Williams' composing concentrated on sacred music, hymns, and Masses. One of the Masses, Music for Peace, was choreographed by Alvin Ailey and performed by the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater as Mary Lou's Mass in 1971.[25] ... Williams performed the revision of Mary Lou's Mass, her most acclaimed work, on The Dick Cavett Show in 1971.[27] She also made a guest appearance on Sesame Street in 1975.

.... She performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1965, with a jazz festival group.[15]

Throughout the 1970s, Williams' career flourished. She released numerous albums, including as solo pianist and commentator on the recorded The History of Jazz. She returned to the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1971

[…]

Williams instructed school children on jazz.[6] She then accepted an appointment at Duke University as artist-in-residence (from 1977 to 1981),[31] teaching the History of Jazz with Father O'Brien and directing the Duke Jazz Ensemble. With a light teaching schedule, she also made many concert and festival appearances, conducted clinics with youth, and in 1978 performed at the White House for President Jimmy Carter and his guests.[15] She participated in Benny Goodman's 40th-anniversary Carnegie Hall concert in 1978.[15]

Later years

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"."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - "MARY LOU WILLIAMS: THE LADY WHO SWINGS THE BAND - TPFF 2016 TRAILER"

THE PEOPLE'S FILM FESTIVAL, May 15, 2016 **** Thanks for visiting pancocojams. Visitor comments are welcome.