Mary Lou Williams facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mary Lou Williams
Williams c. 1946
Background information
Birth name	Mary Elfrieda Scruggs
Born	(1910-05-08)May 8, 1910 Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Died	May 28, 1981(1981-05-28) (aged 71) Durham, North Carolina
Genres	Jazz, gospel, swing, third stream, bebop
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, arranger, bandleader
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1920–1981
Labels	Brunswick, Decca, Columbia, Savoy, Asch, Folkways, Victor, King, Atlantic, Circle, Vogue, Prestige, Chiaroscuro, SteepleChase, Pablo

Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an amazing American jazz pianist. She was also a talented composer and arranger. This means she wrote music and helped other musicians play it in new ways.

Mary Lou Williams created hundreds of songs and arrangements. She recorded over one hundred albums. She even wrote music for famous artists like Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. She was also a friend, mentor, and teacher to many jazz legends. These included Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie.

Early Life and Musical Beginnings

Mary Lou Williams was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1910. She was the second of eleven children. She grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mary Lou was a musical genius from a very young age.

At just two years old, she could play simple tunes on the piano. Her mother taught her more about the piano when she was three. By age six, she was already playing at parties. She helped support her large family with her music. People in Pittsburgh knew her as "The Little Piano Girl." She became a professional musician at 15. She said Lovie Austin was her biggest musical inspiration. In 1926, she married jazz saxophonist John Williams.

A Rising Star in Jazz

In 1922, when Mary Lou was 12, she performed on the Orpheum Circuit. This was a famous chain of theaters. The next year, she played with Duke Ellington's early band, the Washingtonians. One night, Louis Armstrong heard her play at a club. He was so impressed that he picked her up and kissed her!

In 1927, Mary Lou married saxophonist John Overton Williams. She joined him in Memphis, Tennessee. There, she played piano in his band, the Syncopators. In 1929, Mary Lou took over leading the band. Her husband joined Andy Kirk's band, the Twelve Clouds of Joy.

Mary Lou later joined her husband in Oklahoma City. She started playing with the Clouds of Joy. She also became their main arranger and composer. She wrote many popular songs for the band. These included "Froggy Bottom," "Walkin' and Swingin'," and "Mary's Idea."

Williams recorded her own piano solos in Chicago and New York City. She used the name "Mary Lou" at the suggestion of Jack Kapp. Her records sold very well. This made her famous across the country. She became a permanent pianist for Andy Kirk's band. She also worked as a freelance arranger. She wrote music for Earl Hines, Benny Goodman, and Tommy Dorsey.

In 1937, she released In the Groove. Benny Goodman asked her to write a blues song for his band. She created "Roll 'Em," a boogie-woogie tune. She also wrote "Camel Hop," named after Goodman's radio show sponsor. Goodman wanted her to work only for him. But Mary Lou preferred to work for many different artists.

In 1942, Mary Lou left the Twelve Clouds of Joy. She returned to Pittsburgh. She formed a new band with Shorty Baker. Later, she joined Duke Ellington's orchestra. She arranged several songs for Ellington. These included "Trumpet No End" and her version of "Blue Skies." She also convinced Ellington to perform "Walkin' and Swingin'."

Williams in her apartment with Jack Teagarden, Tadd Dameron, Hank Jones and Dizzy Gillespie

After leaving Ellington, Mary Lou returned to New York. She worked at the Café Society. She also started her own radio show, Mary Lou Williams's Piano Workshop. She became a mentor to younger bebop musicians. These included Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. In 1945, she wrote the bebop hit "In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee" for Gillespie. She often had jam sessions at her apartment. Young musicians would come to play and share ideas.

In 1945, she composed the Zodiac Suite. This was a classical-style piece. Each of its twelve parts was for a sign of the zodiac. She dedicated parts to her musical friends, like Billie Holiday. She performed the suite with an orchestra in New York City.

In 1952, Williams performed in England. She ended up staying in Europe for two years. She felt very tired from her busy music career.

A Time for Reflection and Faith

In 1954, Mary Lou took a break from performing. She suddenly stopped playing during a show in Paris. She returned to the United States. She became a Catholic in 1954. Dizzy Gillespie's wife, Lorraine, also converted.

Mary Lou spent a lot of time at church. She also started the Bel Canto Foundation. She used her own money and help from friends. She turned her apartment into a safe place for people in need. This included musicians who were struggling. She also ran a thrift store in Harlem to raise money for the foundation.

Her break from music might have been influenced by the death of her friend Charlie Parker. He passed away in 1955. Two priests, Father John Crowley and Father Anthony, encouraged her to play music again. They told her she could serve God through her amazing musical talent. Dizzy Gillespie also convinced her to return. She performed again at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival with Dizzy's band.

Father Peter O'Brien became her close friend and manager in the 1960s. He helped her find new places for jazz performances. She played at colleges and started her own music companies. She also helped create the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival. She made many television appearances.

Return to Music and Sacred Works

After her break, Mary Lou wrote a Mass called Black Christ of the Andes. It was based on a hymn for a saint. It was first performed in 1962 in Manhattan. She recorded it the next year.

Throughout the 1960s, she focused on writing sacred music. This included hymns and Masses. One of her Masses, Music for Peace, was choreographed by Alvin Ailey. His dance company performed it as Mary Lou's Mass in 1971. Alvin Ailey said, "If there can be a Bernstein Mass, a Mozart Mass, a Bach Mass, why can't there be Mary Lou's Mass?" Williams performed a revised version of Mary Lou's Mass on The Dick Cavett Show in 1971.

Mary Lou worked with youth choirs to perform her music. "Mary Lou's Mass" was performed at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City in 1975. Over three thousand people attended. It was the first time a jazz musician played at that church. She also set up a charity. She opened thrift stores in Harlem. The money from these stores helped musicians in need. She also gave ten percent of her own earnings.

A 1964 Time article described her playing. Mary Lou said, "I am praying through my fingers when I play. I get that good 'soul sound,' and I try to touch people's spirits." She performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1965.

Her career continued to grow in the 1970s. She released many albums. She also played nightly at The Cookery in Greenwich Village. This club was run by Barney Josephson, her old boss. Her performances there were also recorded.

On April 17, 1977, she performed with pianist Cecil Taylor at Carnegie Hall. Their performance was released on a live album called Embraced.

Mary Lou Williams also taught jazz to school children. From 1977 to 1981, she taught at Duke University. She was an artist-in-residence. She taught the History of Jazz and led the Duke Jazz Ensemble. She also gave concerts and clinics for young musicians. In 1978, she performed at the White House for President Jimmy Carter. She also joined Benny Goodman's 40th-anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall.

Later Years and Legacy

Mary Lou Williams's last recording was Solo Recital in 1978. It included spirituals, ragtime, blues, and swing. She also reworked songs like "Tea for Two" and "Honeysuckle Rose." The album featured her own songs, "Little Joe from Chicago" and "What's Your Story Morning Glory."

In 1980, she started the Mary Lou Williams Foundation.

Mary Lou Williams passed away in 1981 in Durham, North Carolina. She was 71 years old. Many famous musicians attended her funeral. These included Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, and Andy Kirk. She was buried in Pittsburgh. Mary Lou Williams was known as "the first lady of the jazz keyboard." She was one of the first women to be very successful in jazz music.

Awards and Honors

• Guggenheim Fellowships, 1972 and 1977.
• Nominated for a Grammy Award in 1971. This was for Best Jazz Performance – Group, for the album Giants.
• Received an honorary degree from Fordham University in New York in 1973.
• Received an honorary degree from Rockhurst College in Kansas City in 1980.
• Received Duke University's Trinity Award in 1981. This award is for service to the university.

Lasting Impact

• In 1983, Duke University opened the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture.
• Since 1996, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., has an annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival.
• Her important papers and recordings are kept at Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies in Newark.
• A Pennsylvania State Historic Marker honors her in Pittsburgh.
• In 2000, trumpeter Dave Douglas released Soul on Soul. This album was a tribute to her music.
• Pianist John Hicks's 2000 album Impressions of Mary Lou featured eight of her songs.
• The Dutch Jazz Orchestra played her rediscovered works on their 2005 album Lady Who Swings the Band.
• In 2006, Geri Allen's Mary Lou Williams Collective released Zodiac Suite: Revisited.
• A young adult novel about her early life, Jazz Girl, was published in 2010.
• A children's book, The Little Piano Girl, was published in 2010.
• A poetry book by Yona Harvey, Hemming the Water, was inspired by Williams in 2013.
• In 2013, her Selected Works for Big Band was published. It included 11 of her big band scores.
• An award-winning documentary film, Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band, premiered in 2015.
• In 2018, the What'sHerName women's history podcast featured an episode about her.
• In 2021, the Umlaut Big Band released Mary's Ideas. This album featured rare and newly found works by Mary Lou Williams.
• Mary Lou Williams Lane in Kansas City is named after her.
• She is one of only three women in the famous jazz photograph, A Great Day in Harlem.

Discography

As leader

As featured artist

• Dizzy Gillespie at Newport (Verve, 1957)
• Giants (Perception, 1971) with Bobby Hackett
• Buddy Tate and His Buddies (Chiaroscuro, 1973)

Images for kids

• 

  In Spanish: Mary Lou Williams para niños