Mary Lou Williams
Prolific jazz pianist, composer, and arranger Mary Lou Williams was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1910. She was self-taught as a young child, began to perform by age 6, and joined her first professional big band ensemble by the age of twelve.
Beyond being one of the first women musicians to become successful as a jazz artist, she made fundamental, innovative contributions to the development of the genre itself. She spent the 1940’s in New York City, participating profusely in the dynamic jazz scene of the time, and acting as mentor and colleague to figures such as Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Duke Ellington.
Williams worked on eight tunes with King Records in 1949 and 1950, performing both covers and original compositions. Listen to “Oo-Blah-Dee,” a bop tune she composed and released through King in 1949 with the backing of a six-piece ensemble. King also released “I’m In the Mood for Love,” in 1950, arranged for a quartet. Mary Lou Williams had a close relationship with Marian McPartland, another jazz pianist who recorded with King Records. McPartland fondly called Williams “my role model forever.”
Mary Lou William’s acclaim did not come without a price— in the mid 50’s, she took a three year hiatus from music from the physical and mental exhaustion of performance. During this time, she devoted her life to forming the Bel Canto Foundation, which helped addicted musicians return to performing, and even turned her own home into a halfway house for the poor and musicians struggling with addiction.
Williams soon returned to music and contributed more than she ever had before to the genre of jazz. Having converted to Catholicism in 1956, she began composing masses and hymns integrating stylistic elements from jazz, blues, gospel, soul, and even Latin music. This blending of diverse sounds is evident in the opening song of her mass dedicated to the Peruvian patron saint of racial harmony, "St. Martin de Porres."
Williams continued composing and performing innovative jazz music throughout the rest of her life, continually pushing the envelope of the genre.
Works Cited:
Brody, Richard. “A Hidden Hero of Jazz.” NewYorker.com
Hartley Fox, Jon. King of the Queen City.
“Mary Lou Williams: The Mother of Bebop!” Women in Jazz.
"Mary Lou Williams, Missionary of Jazz." Brewminate.com
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