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Mary Lou Williams: Into the Zone of Music
Courtesy William Gottlieb Archive
In Kansas City I came up with chords that they are only starting to use now.
—Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams
piano1910 - 1981
Mary Lou Williams was born in Atlanta, Georgia on May 8, 1910, as Mary Elfrieda Scruggs. She grew up with an absent mother who drank, and the father was not in the picture, so little Mary grew up much too soon. Williams' turbulent story is told in Linda Dahl's highly recommended biography, Morning Glory (1999), and is the stuff legends are made of. Like
Billie Holiday
vocals1915 - 1959
Bessie Smith
vocals1894 - 1937
Already as a child she experienced visions and in the same way she had a special understanding of music. She has once told how she heard a musician and could predict the next note that would come.
The ability to take in the music was not just passive. When she was about three years old, she sat on her mother's lap and heard her play a tune on a small parlor organ. Subsequently, she impulsively emulated the melody so convincingly that her mother lost her in astonishment. She could listen and, not least, transfer her own listening to playing and creating music. This ability became the most important prerequisite for her early musical education, which took place in Pittsburgh. A Catholic choir in particular made an impression. A seed was sown and later blossomed in the form of her own religious music, in which she also included choirs. However, there was not much piety in the environment where she grew up and she escaped from violence and racism through music.
Music became both her escape and livelihood. Nicknamed The Little Piano Girl of East Liberty, she earned money as a pianist for silent films. In addition, she played at parties, but this kind of work wasn't what she dreamt of, and she longed to get away from Pittsburgh.
At just eleven years old, she had already been on her first tour accompanied by a guardian when she performed with the vaudeville show Hits and Bits. The first real opportunity to get away presented itself when she met her future husband, John Overton Williams, and in 1925 joined his group, The Syncopators. It was the start of a tough but fruitful life of touring and at the center of this early phase of her career was a very special group.
Clouds of Joy in Kansas City
In 1929 John Williams played with a group that orchestra leader
Andy Kirk
drums1898 - 1992
The 108 compositions she recorded with Andy Kirk and his orchestra became part of the jazz canon and can be highlighted as a definitive example of the swinging Kansas City style. In Kirk's band, Williams grew not only as an instrumentalist, but especially as a composer and arranger. She learned to arrange by watching Kirk and her learning curve was frighteningly fast. Soon the orchestra benefited from her skills as an arranger and she also contributed to their repertoire with compositions such as "Mary's Idea," "Walkin' and Swingin,'" "Lotta Sax Appeal" and "Twinklin.'" Already at this time she had an experimental approach to her work. As she is quoted for saying in the liner notes to the record A Keyboard History (1955):
"In Kansas City I came up with chords that they are only starting to use now."
Alongside her work for Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy, Williams also began to be in demand as an arranger for other musicians and her employers included names such as
Louis Armstrong
trumpet and vocals1901 - 1971
Earl Hines
piano1903 - 1983
Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993
Benny Goodman
clarinet1909 - 1986
Her abilities as an arranger, soloist and composer eventually also made it possible to leave Kirk, who did not appreciate her enough. The lack of financial recognition was unfortunately a recurring problem throughout her career.
In 1942, she left both John Williams and Kirk's orchestra in favor of her new husband, trumpeter Harold "Shorty" Baker. Baker later came to play in
Duke Ellington
piano1899 - 1974
"Her writing and performing are and have always been just a little ahead throughout her career. Her music retains and maintains a standard of quality that is timeless. She is like soul on soul."
In the Sign of the Stars
Ellington himself came to play a decisive role for Williams as the inspiration for her first masterpiece: The Zodicac Suite. With his suite Black, Brown and Beige, he had shown that it was possible to unite jazz with the formal ambitions of classical music, and now Williams also pushed herself compositionally.In addition to her regular engagement at The Café Society, she had the radio show Mary Lou Williams's Piano Workshop and for this she composed the first pieces. The rest of the total of twelve pieces that make up the suite were created via improvisation. The inspiration came from astrology with zodiac signs, which also functioned as small musical portraits, for instance is Aries dedicated
Ben Webster
saxophone, tenor1909 - 1973
Billie Holiday
vocals1915 - 1959
With its blend of jazz and a classically structured work, The Zodiac Suite represented something new. The radio audience also welcomed the music and in 1945 it was recorded and released by Asch Records. It highlights Williams solo and in tandem with bassist
Al Lucas
bass, acousticb.1916
However, the work only really unfolded when Milt Orient helped arrange it for chamber and symphony orchestra. The extended work could be heard in Town Hall on December 31, 1945, and June 1946, it could be heard in Carnegie Hall.
Today, the work also lives on. In 2006 it was re-recorded by pianist
Geri Allen
piano1957 - 2017
It is characteristic of Mary Lou Williams that The Zodiac Suite is dedicated to musicians. Throughout her life she was an active supporter of musicians, both known and unknown. In a biography of
Thelonious Monk
piano1917 - 1982
Erroll Garner
piano1921 - 1977
Art Tatum
piano1909 - 1956
Bud Powell
piano1924 - 1966
Elmo Hope
piano1923 - 1967
When Monk was in Paris in 1954 where she herself lived at the time, Williams again came to play an important role. After a concert in the Salle Pleyel, she introduced Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, who became an important acquaintance for Monk. Musically speaking, Bob Blumenthal has noted the influence of Williams' composition "Walkin' and Swingin'" on Monk's "Rhythm-a-ning."
Crisis and Religious Redemption
She also became involved in festival work in her hometown where she played a crucial role in the development of the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival, the first edition of which came in 1964. However, she still focused on helping her fellow human beings. In 1957 she started The Bel Canto Foundation whose purpose was to help musicians in need. The work was financed through her own thrift store and the income from the record label she started, Mary Records.
The religious and musical aspects of her life were united in various ways. From the '60s, the priest Peter O'Brien became her manager and faithful supporter and with weighty works such as Black Christ of the Andes (1964) and Mary Lou's Mass (1975) she became a pioneer within spiritual jazz. She connected dots between gospel music, older and modern jazz and classical music in an idiom that can be described as both traditional and modernist. Her ability to constantly challenge herself and reconcile traditionalism and modernism was also expressed in a duo concerto with the avant-garde pianist,
Cecil Taylor
piano1929 - 2018
The Zone and History of Jazz
Another way Williams challenged herself was by becoming a lecturer at Duke University where she started in 1977. It made perfect sense that Williams, whose awareness of jazz history forms the core of her aesthetic, came to teach and deliver the message of jazz to a new generation.Zoning the History of Jazz became the title of the book she was working on. The concept of zoning covers a philosophy that is about creating space for the music. On the record of the same name, released on Mary Records in 1974, she is completely in the musical zone, conveying a funky modernism that is as tight and resilient in its rhythmic expression as it is open and probing. It is a different realization of the history of jazz than a record like A Keyboard History (Jazztone, 1955) , but then again not. With Williams, who mastered the entire jazz repertoire from its roots in gospel and spirituals to post-bop, understanding the history of jazz is the prerequisite for emotional liberation. The intellectual and the emotional are connected. One must know the body of jazz to express its soul. The history of jazz is present in her choice of repertoire where she often played jazz classics. As she pointed out at a concert that can be heard in excerpts in Joanne Burke's documentary: Mary Lou Williams: Music on My Mind (1990):
"There have been four important periods in this wonderful music: spirituals, ragtime, Kansas City swing, and the bop era. All the music is healing and spiritual."
These four periods form the cornerstones of Williams' style, which can otherwise be difficult to define and distinguish. On a record like Zoning, which is dominated by her own compositions, jazz history is present as archaeological layers, the colors of which subtly help to shape the musical painting. She could unite the styles of jazz in an expression that ranges from the funky blues "Play It Momma" to the modernist dissonance in a composition like "Zoning Fungus II" where she can be heard in a duet with the pianist
Zita Carno
pianoThe duet or dialogue is the key to understanding Williams' music. She is constantly in dialogue with the music, the musicians, and the tradition, which is of course is handed down orally. She did not believe that jazz could be learned by playing from a book, and in Burke's documentary there are some wonderful passages where she sings the music with her students.
Recording for SteepleChase
In 1975, producer Nils Winther had the opportunity to experience Williams live and this resulted in a recording for SteepleChase:"I was in New York and everyone was talking about how great it was that this "old lady" played with
Buster Williams
bass, acousticb.1942
Mickey Roker
drums1932 - 2017
Winther still remembers the meeting with Williams:
"She was an unusually kind and serious person. She was very religious. I naturally knew about her long career, but also had recordings with young musicians who "took lessons" with her, e.g.
Hilton Ruiz
piano1952 - 2006
John Stubblefield
saxophone1945 - 2005
Her dedicated approach to music was clearly expressed when the album had to be recorded:
"She was very serious. She recorded many takes before she was satisfied: "Pale Blue"—9 takes, "Temptation"—7 takes, "Baby Man"—4 takes, "Gloria"—6 takes, "Surrey With The Fringe On Top"—4 takes, "Free Spirits & Ode To Saint Cecilia"—3 takes, "Dat Dere," "All Blues" and "Blues For Timme"—2 takes. The musicians were the ones she worked with and the choice of tunes was largely hers, with a few suggestions from me. Mary Lou was happy with the artistic freedom she got on the recording. I left the choice of repertoire and choice of musicians up to her, as I think it should always be, by the way."
The finished record, Free Spirits, has since been highlighted as one of her best recordings by the Penguin Guide to Jazz. Winther is not much for proclaiming classics, but nevertheless states:
"I think it's a very fine release, and I'm very happy that I had the opportunity to record this huge jazz musician."
The legacy of Mary Lou Williams
Williams continued to teach and record after Free Spirits, including the aforementioned record with Cecil Taylor, but age and illness gradually weakened her and on May 28, 1981, it was over. Mary Lou Williams died aged 71, leaving behind an extensive and varied discography, and not least a rich musical legacy. In Denmark, her music has been taken up by the composer and pianist
Jacob Anderskov
piano"My first encounter with Mary Lou William's music was on the iconic, but also for her atypical, record with her and Cecil Taylor together. I later read that she was frustrated with this collaboration, and the record is perhaps not the best place to start for several reasons. On the other hand, it is a unique documentation of an extremely interesting frontal clash between two great musicians, each from a different aesthetic, and each from a different generation."
"Mary Lou William's close connection to many of bebop's great celebrities is often mentioned, perhaps without it ever becomes clear how much Mary Lou Williams influenced the young beboppers. I'm certainly not an expert in this discussion, but on the other hand, it's hard not to be curious about what she showed to whom, and when, when you hear her music. Lately, I have been particularly interested in the album Zodiac Suite. Compositions such as "Virgo," "Pisces," "Scorpio," "Capricorn" and "Taurus" sound extremely precisely articulated, and if they were subjected to a modern remastering, one could well be mistaken and think that it was much newer music than is the case. Who has the original tapes, I hereby ask. On "Virgo" in particular, it is also as if a very direct dialogue is heard with Thelonious Monk's music, where we will probably never find out which way the influence flowed."
"I myself have played her "In the Land of Oo-bla-dee" with great pleasure, of which it is recommended to hear her own arrangement, recorded by
Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993
Joe Carroll
vocalsb.1919
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Mary Lou Williams
Jakob Baekgaard
Billie Holiday
Bessie Smith
John Overton Williams
Andy Kirk
Marion Jackson
Louis Armstrong, {{Tommy Dorsey
Earl Hines
Dizzy Gillespie
Benny Goodman
duke ellington
ben webster
Al Lucas
Jack Parker
Geri Allen
Thelonious Monk
Erroll Garner
Phineas Newborn and {{Art Tatum
Bud Powell
Elmo Hope
Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter
Bob Blumenthal
Cecil Taylor
Zita Carno
Buster Williams
Mickey Roker
Hilton Ruiz
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