Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Mary Lou Williams


Mary Lou Williams

Mary Lou Williams was born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs in 1910. She taught herself the piano by ear and was playing in public at the age of six. When she was 13, she started working in vaudeville, and three years later married saxophonist John Williams. They moved to Memphis, and she made her debut on records with Synco Jazzers. Soon, Mary Lou was the band’s top soloist and arranged much of the music. She wrote songs and arrangements for other top singers and bands as well, including Benny Goodman, Earl Hines, and Tommy Dorsey. She divorced John Williams in 1942 and married trumpeter Harold “Shorty” Baker. She co-led a combo with Baker before joining Duke Ellington. She played briefly with Benny Goodman in 1948 and actively encouraged young modernists who would lead the bebop revolution.
Williams lived in Europe from 1952-1954 and then became very involved in the Catholic religion. She retired from music for a few years before appearing as a guest with Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra in 1957. Williams wrote three masses and a cantana, was a star at Benny Goodman's 40th-anniversary Carnegie Hall concert in 1978, taught at Duke University, and often planned her later concerts as a history of jazz recital. By the time she passed away at the age of 71, she had a list of accomplishments that could have filled three lifetimes.

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