Established in 2001, Jazz Appreciation Month celebrates the rich history, present accolades, and future growth of jazz music. Spanning the blues, ragtime, dixieland, bebop, swing, soul, and instrumentals, there's no surprise that jazz music has endured the test of time from its early origins amongst African-American slaves in the late 19th century to its growth today.
The post A Jazz Appreciation Month Playlist appeared first on OUPblog.
Wednesday, 28 May marks the 33rd anniversary of the death of Mary Lou William. Williams was an African-American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and contemporary of both Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horne, is often overlooked as a key contributor to the jazz movement of the 20th century.
Born in Atlanta, Williams had her first taste of arranged music while attending church in her hometown. Moving to Pittsburgh in 1915 only spiked her interest in music, specifically jazz, as the city was a stop on the Theater Owners Booking association route, a vaudeville circuit for African-American performers.
Williams was first able to truly experiment with her musical talents as the pianist and arranger for the band Andy Kirk’s 12 Cloud’s of Joy. She came to this opportunity through her husband, who was the saxophonist for the band. Williams continued to arrange for the group creating household hits like “Walkin’ and Swingin’,” “Little Joe from Chicago,” and “Roll ‘em” until her departure from the band in 1942.
Mary Lou Williams by William Gottlieb, c. 1946. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Williams’s arrangements were not limited to Andy Kirk’s band. Her compositions were featured by jazz greats including, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Earl Hines, and Jimmie Lunceford. The New York Philharmonic performed Williams’s Zodiac Suite at Carnegie Hall in 1946. The Suite was composed of twelve arrangements, each labeled for a sign of the zodiac and all inspired by different jazz musicians.
Facing gender barriers in the states that hindered wide-spread success, Williams traveled to Europe in the 1950s. After performing in both London and Paris, Williams’s returned to the Unites States and simultaneously entertained a brief intermission in her musical career to concentrate her efforts on more religious pursuits.
Returning to music in the late 1950s, Williams reentered the scene with more of a devout lens. Throughout the late 1950s and 60s, Williams composed a number of religious arrangements and musical masses including “Hymn in Honor of St. Martin De Porres,” “Mass for Lenten Season,” and most notably “Mass for Peace and Justice” which was later renamed “Mary Lou’s Mass.” This last mass was the musical backdrop to Alvin Ailey’s series of dances presented under the same name and was also performed at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1975 as the first jazz music performed in this iconic cathedral.
Williams returned to secular composing in the last decade of her life and also worked as an artist-in-residence at Duke University up until her death in 1981.
Grove Music Online has made several articles available freely to the public, including its lengthy entry on the renowned jazz singer Mary Lou Williams. Oxford Music Online is the gateway offering users the ability to access and cross-search multiple music reference resources in one location. With Grove Music Online as its cornerstone, Oxford Music Online also contains The Oxford Companion to Music, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, and The Encyclopedia of Popular Music.
Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Subscribe to only music articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.
The post Mary Lou Williams, jazz legend appeared first on OUPblog.
Ann Ingalls and Maryann Macdonald’s newest book is THE LITTLE PIANO GIRL: THE STORY OF MARY LOU WILLIAMS, JAZZ LEGEND (Houghton Mifflin 2010). This picture book biography leads the reader back to the 1920s when blacks sat in the colored train cars, and jazz spread north from its New Orlean's roots. Young Mary Lou moved north too, from Atlanta to Pittsburgh, and used music to overcome the bullying. “Tapping on the tabletop, she beat back the bad sounds.” But it was the piano that set her free. Mary Lou played her first professional performance at the age of 6 and as a teen began to compose, arrange and play with Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
Mary Lou’s story is inspiring to read, but it is the authors’ choice of words and attention to rhythm that also make it enjoyable to listen to. We feel the rumble of the night train as it rolls along the tracks and we hear Mary Lou play piano: "When she pounded the keys, she made thunder. When she tapped them, it rained. Sounds rose up from her playing, soft like the sun beaming, sharp like frogs calling, lonely like trains whistling in the night…all from a place safe and secret inside her.”
The music is made visual by wonderful illustrations by Giselle Potter who captured the time period and the freedom of jazz.
Read how THE LITTLE PIANO GIRL was created:
PT: What sparked your interest in Mary Lou Williams? And what about her story prompted you to write a picture book?
AI: I am a former teacher. A friend, a music teacher, asked me to substitute for her as her mother was ill. My friend had been teaching a unit on jazz, something about which I have
Reviewed by Dorit Sasson
A Wonderful Jazzy Tale
The Little Piano Girl poignantly describes Mary Lou Williams’ childhood and her love for jazz. She plays her way through the hardships she encounters as a poor African American surviving in Pittsburgh’s East Liberty neighborhood.
Her family can’t take their organ from their Atlantic home, so Mary beats tunes on the tabletop. Over time, she acquires a reputation as the “little piano girl” and plays “sassy sounds” for families, schoolmates and passersby. News of her jazzy music spreads throughout the entire neighborhood. Even without a piano or money, she taps on the table and borrows her mother’s shoes. She saves the money people give her so she can buy a pair a shoes.
This picture book vividly describes the early years of this great jazz legend whose contribution to jazz has been profound. Beautifully illustrated, this lively and fast-paced story will capture the interest and imagination of children around the world.
Title: The Little Piano Girl
Authors: Ann Ingalls, Maryann McDonald
Illustrator: Giselle Potter
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 32 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; 13 edition (January 18, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0618959742
ISBN-13: 978-0618959747
***************
Dorit Sasson is a freelance writer, speaker, and the Teachers’ Diversity Coach. Visit her website at www.doritsasson.
.jpg?picon=694)
Mary Lou lives on through this visually delightful "book with a beat." Thank you Ann and Maryann.
Lyrical and bouncy and lovely interview, just like Ann and Maryann's book. Thank you!