Mary Lou Williams (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs; May 8, 1910 – May 28, 1981) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records (in 78, 45, and LP versions). Williams wrote and arranged for

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...

and

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His conc ...

, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

, Tadd Dameron,

Bud Powell Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Along with Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Dizzy Gillespie, Powell was a leading figure in the development of mode ...

, and

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but a ...

Early years

The second of eleven children, Williams was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, Georgia, and grew up in the East Liberty neighborhood of

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. A musical prodigy, at the age of two, she was able to pick out simple tunes and by the age of three, she was taught piano by her mother. Mary Lou Williams played piano out of necessity at a very young age; her white neighbors were throwing bricks into her house until Williams began playing the piano in their homes. At the age of six, she supported her ten half-brothers and sisters by playing at parties. She began performing publicly at the age of seven when she became known admiringly in Pittsburgh as "The Little Piano Girl". She became a professional musician at the age of 15, citing Lovie Austin as her greatest influence. She married jazz saxophonist John Williams in November 1926.

Career

In 1922, at the age of 12, she went on the Orpheum Circuit of theaters. During the following year she played with

and his early small band, the Washingtonians. One morning at three o'clock, she was playing with McKinney's Cotton Pickers at Harlem's Rhythm Club.

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and Singing, vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and se ...

entered the room and paused to listen to her. Williams shyly told what happened: "Louis picked me up and kissed me." In 1927, Williams married saxophonist

John Overton Williams John Overton "Bearcat" Williams (April 13, 1905 – November 24, 1996) was an American jazz reedist. Williams was born in Memphis, Tennessee, but moved to Kansas City in his youth and learned to play saxophone there as a teenager, playing ...

. She met him at a performance in Cleveland where he was leading his group, the Syncopators, and moved with him to Memphis, Tennessee. He assembled a band in Memphis, which included Williams on piano. In 1929, 19-year-old Williams assumed leadership of the Memphis band when her husband accepted an invitation to join Andy Kirk's band in Oklahoma City. Williams joined her husband in Oklahoma City but did not play with the band. The group, Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy, moved to

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

, Oklahoma, where Williams, when she wasn't working as a musician, was employed transporting bodies for an undertaker. When the Clouds of Joy accepted a longstanding engagement in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

, Williams joined her husband and began sitting in with the band, as well as serving as its arranger and composer. She provided Kirk with such songs as "Froggy Bottom", "Walkin' and Swingin, "Little Joe from Chicago", "Roll 'Em", and "Mary's Idea". Williams was the arranger and pianist for recordings in Kansas City (1929) Chicago (1930), and New York City (1930). During a trip to Chicago, she recorded "Drag 'Em" and "Night Life" as piano solos. She used the name "Mary Lou" at the suggestion of Jack Kapp at Brunswick Records. The records sold briskly, raising Williams to national prominence. Soon after the recording session she became Kirk's permanent second pianist, playing solo gigs and working as a freelance arranger for

Earl Hines Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...

, and

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

. In 1937, she produced ''In the Groove'' (Brunswick), a collaboration with Dick Wilson, and Benny Goodman asked her to write a blues song for his band. The result was "Roll 'Em", a

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pi ...

piece based on the blues, which followed her successful "Camel Hop", named for Goodman's radio show sponsor, Camel cigarettes. Goodman tried to put Williams under contract to write for him exclusively, but she refused, preferring to freelance instead. In 1942, Williams, who had divorced her husband, left the Twelve Clouds of Joy, returning again to Pittsburgh. She was joined there by bandmate Harold "Shorty" Baker, with whom she formed a six-piece ensemble that included

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the ...

on drums. After an engagement in Cleveland, Baker left to join

's orchestra. Williams joined the band in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, then traveled to Baltimore, where she and Baker were married. She traveled with Ellington and arranged several tunes for him, including "Trumpet No End" (1946), her version of " Blue Skies" by

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...

. She also sold Ellington on performing "Walkin' and Swingin'". Within a year she had left Baker and the group and returned to New York. Teagarden, Mary Lou Williams, Tadd Dameron, Hank Jones, Dizzy Gillespie (Gottlieb)

Teagarden, Mary Lou Williams, Tadd Dameron, Hank Jones, Dizzy Gillespie (Gottlieb)

Williams accepted a job at the

Café Society Café society was the description of the "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafés and restaurants in New York, Paris and London beginning in the late 19th century. Maury Henry Biddle Paul is credited with ...

Downtown, started a weekly radio show called ''Mary Lou Williams's Piano Workshop'' on WNEW and began mentoring and collaborating with younger bebop musicians such as

and

. In 1945, she composed the bebop hit "In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee" for Gillespie. "During this period Monk and the kids would come to my apartment every morning around four or pick me up at the Café after I'd finished my last show, and we'd play and swap ideas until noon or later", Williams recalled in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

''. In 1945, she composed the classical-influenced '' Zodiac Suite'', in which each of the twelve parts corresponded to a sign of the zodiac, and were accordingly dedicated to several of her musical colleagues, including Billie Holiday, and Art Tatum. She recorded the suite with Jack Parker and Al Lucas and performed it December 31, 1945, at Town Hall in New York City with an orchestra and tenor saxophonist

Ben Webster Benjamin Francis Webster (March 27, 1909 – September 20, 1973) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Career Early life and career A native of Kansas City, Missouri, he studied violin, learned how to play blues on the piano from ...

. In 1952, Williams accepted an offer to perform in England and ended up staying in Europe for two years. By this time, music had taken over her life, and not in a good way; Williams was mentally and physically drained.

Conversion to Catholicism and hiatus

A three-year hiatus from performing began when she suddenly backed away from the piano during a performance in Paris in 1954. She returned to the United States, converting in 1954 to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

alongside

's wife Lorraine. In addition to spending several hours at Mass, her energies were then devoted mainly to the

Bel Canto Foundation BEL can be an abbreviation for: * The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code for Belgium * ''BEL'' or bell character in the C0 control code set * Belarusian language, in the ISO 639-2 and SIL country code lists * Bharat Electronics Limited, an Indian sta ...

, an effort she initiated using her savings as well as help from friends to turn her apartment in Hamilton Heights into a halfway house for the poor as well as musicians who were grappling with addiction; she also made money over a longer period of time for the halfway house by way of a thrift store in Harlem. Her hiatus may have been triggered by the death of her long-time friend and student

in 1955 who also struggled with addiction for the majority of his life. Father John Crowley and Father Anthony aided in persuading Williams to go back to playing music. They told her that she could continue to serve God and the Catholic Church by utilizing her exceptional gift of creating music. Moreover, Dizzy convinced her to return to playing, which she did at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival with Dizzy's band. Father Peter O'Brien, a Catholic priest, became her close friend and manager in the 1960s. Dizzy also introduced her to Pittsburgh's Bishop John Wright. O'Brien helped her found new venues for jazz performance at a time when no more than two clubs in Manhattan offered jazz full-time. In addition to club work, she played colleges, formed her own record label and publishing companies, founded the

Pittsburgh Jazz Festival The Mellon Jazz Festival was a festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, that was sponsored by Mellon Bank. Acts who performed at the festival included Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, Sonny Rollins, and John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) i ...

(with the bishop's help), and made television appearances.

Bishop Wright let her teach at Seton High School on the city's North Side. It was there that she wrote her first Mass, called ''The Pittsburgh Mass''. Williams eventually became the first jazz composer commissioned by the church to compose liturgical music in the jazz idiom.

Return to music

Following her hiatus, her first piece was a Mass she wrote and performed named '' Black Christ of the Andes'', based around a hymn in honor of the Peruvian saint Martin de Porres, two other short works, ''Anima Christi'' and ''Praise the Lord''. It was first performed in November 1962 at St. Francis Xavier Church in Manhattan. She recorded it in October of the next year. Throughout the 1960s, her composing concentrated on sacred music, hymns, and Masses. One of the Masses, ''Music for Peace''. was choreographed by

Alvin Ailey Alvin Ailey Jr. (January 5, 1931 – December 1, 1989) was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Alvin Ailey American Dance Center ...

and performed by the

Alvin Ailey Dance Theater The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance dance company, company based in New York City. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 32 dancers, led by artistic director Robert Battle a ...

as ''Mary Lou's Mass'' in 1971''.'' About the work, Ailey commented, "If there can be a Bernstein Mass, a Mozart Mass, a Bach Mass, why can't there be ''Mary Lou's Mass''?" Williams performed the revision of ''Mary Lou's Mass,'' her most acclaimed work, on '' The Dick Cavett Show'' in 1971. Williams put much effort into working with youth choirs to perform her works, including "Mary Lou's Mass" at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City in April 1975 before a gathering of over three thousand. It marked the first time a jazz musician had played at the church. She set up a charitable organization and opened thrift stores in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

, directing the proceeds, along with ten percent of her own earnings, to musicians in need. As a 1964 ''Time'' article explained, "Mary Lou thinks of herself as a 'soul' player — a way of saying that she never strays far from melody and the blues, but deals sparingly in gospel harmony and rhythm. 'I am praying through my fingers when I play,' she says. 'I get that good "soul sound", and I try to touch people's spirits.'" She performed at the

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz ...

in 1965, with a jazz festival group. Throughout the 1970s, her career flourished, including numerous albums, including as solo pianist and commentator on the recorded ''The History of Jazz''. She returned to the

in 1971. She could also be seen playing nightly in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

at The Cookery, a new club run by her old boss from her Café Society days, Barney Josephson. That engagement too, was recorded. She had a two-piano performance with avant-garde pianist

Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in complex ...

at Carnegie Hall on April 17, 1977. Despite onstage tensions between Williams and Taylor, their performance was released on an live album titled ''Embraced''. Williams instructed school children on jazz. She then accepted an appointment at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...

as artist-in-residence (from 1977 to 1981), teaching the History of Jazz with Father O'Brien and directing the Duke Jazz Ensemble. With a light teaching schedule, she also did many concert and festival appearances, conducted clinics with youth, and in 1978 performed at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

for President Jimmy Carter and his guests. She participated in Benny Goodman's 40th-anniversary

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built ...

concert in 1978.

Later years

Her final recording, ''Solo Recital'' (Montreux Jazz Festival, 1978), three years before her death, had a medley encompassing spirituals, ragtime, blues and swing. Other highlights include Williams's reworkings of " Tea for Two", " Honeysuckle Rose", and her two compositions "Little Joe from Chicago", and "What's Your Story Morning Glory". Other tracks include "Medley: The Lord Is Heavy", "Old Fashion Blues", " Over the Rainbow", "Offertory Meditation", "Concerto Alone at Montreux", and " The Man I Love". In 1980, she founded the Mary Lou Williams Foundation. In 1981, Mary Lou Williams died of

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is any of several types of cancer arising from the tissues of the urinary bladder. Symptoms include blood in the urine, pain with urination, and low back pain. It is caused when epithelial cells that line the bladder become ma ...

in Durham, North Carolina at the age of 71. Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, and Andy Kirk attended her funeral at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. She was buried in the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Pittsburgh. Looking back at the end of her life, Mary Lou Williams said: "I did it, didn't I? Through muck and mud." She was known as "the first lady of the jazz keyboard". Williams was one of the first women to be successful in jazz.

Awards and honors

* Guggenheim Fellowships, 1972 and 1977. * Nominee 1971

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

, Best Jazz Performance – Group, for the album ''Giants'', Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Hackett, Mary Lou Williams * Honorary degree from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a private Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its original campus is located, Fordham is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit un ...

in New York in 1973 * Honorary degree from

Rockhurst College Rockhurst University is a private Jesuit university in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1910 as Rockhurst College, Rockhurst University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It enrolled 2,980 students in 2019. History In 1909, F ...

in Kansas City in 1980. * Received the 1981 Duke University's Trinity Award for service to the university, an award voted on by Duke University students.

Legacy

*In 1983, Duke University established 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. * Since 2000, her archives are preserved at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

's Institute of Jazz Studies in Newark. * A Pennsylvania State Historic Marker is placed at 328 Lincoln Avenue, Lincoln Elementary School, Pittsburgh, PA, noting her accomplishments and the location of the school she attended. *In 2000, trumpeter Dave Douglas released the album ''

Soul on Soul ''Soul on Soul'' is the 14th album by trumpeter Dave Douglas and his first on a major label. It was released on the RCA label in 2000 and features performances by Douglas, Chris Speed, Joshua Roseman, Greg Tardy, Uri Caine, James Genus and Joey ...

'' as a tribute to her, featuring original arrangements of her music and new pieces inspired by her work. * The 2000 album '' Impressions of Mary Lou'' by pianist

John Hicks Sir John Richards Hicks (8 April 1904 – 20 May 1989) was a British economist. He is considered one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century. The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economic ...

featured eight of her compositions. * The Dutch Jazz Orchestra researched and played rediscovered works of Williams on their 2005 album ''Lady Who Swings the Band''."Mary Lou Williams, 1910-1981"
,

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is the public library system in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its main branch is located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and it has 19 branch locations throughout the city. Like hundreds of other Car ...

. * In 2006, Geri Allen's Mary Lou Williams Collective released their album ''Zodiac Suite: Revisited''. * A YA historical novel based on Mary Lou Williams and her early life, entitled ''Jazz Girl,'' by Sarah Bruce Kelly, was published in 2010. * A children's book based on Mary Lou Williams, entitled ''The Little Piano Girl,'' by Ann Ingalls and Maryann MacDonald with illustrations by Giselle Potter, was published in 2010. * A poetry book by Yona Harvey entitled ''Hemming the Water'' was published in 2013, inspired by Williams and featuring the poem "Communion with Mary Lou Williams". * In 2013, the American Musicological Society published Mary Lou Williams' ''Selected Works for Big Band,'' a compilation of 11 of her big band scores. * In 2015, an award-winning documentary film entitled, ''Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band,'' produced and directed by Carol Bash, premiered on American Public Television and was screened at various domestic and international film festivals.The Mary Lou Williams Project
Paradox Films, 2014.''Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band''
Independent Television Service (ITVS). Retrieved February 2, 2018.''Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band'' Premieres on Public Television in April 2015
Independent Television Service (ITVS). March 17, 2015. * In 2018 What'sHerName women's history podcast aired the episode "THE MUSICIAN Mary Lou Williams", with guest expert 'Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band,' producer and director Carol Bash. *In 2021, the Umlaut Big Band released ''Mary's Ideas'' (Umlaut Records), a double-cd featuring rare and newly discovered works by Mary Lou Williams, based on research from her manuscripts. It includes arrangements and compositions for Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, excerpts from the ''Zodiac Suite'' in its 1945 orchestral arrangement, and excerpts from ''History of Jazz for Wind Symphony'', Mary Lou Williams' ultimate and unfinished composition. * Mary Lou Williams Lane, a street near 10th and Paseo in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

, Missouri, was named after the renowned jazz artist. * She is one of only three women who appear in the famous photograph of jazz greats, '' A Great Day in Harlem''.

Discography

As leader

As featured artist

; With

* ''

Dizzy Gillespie at Newport ''Dizzy Gillespie at Newport'' is a 1957 live album by Dizzy Gillespie, featuring his big band, recorded at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. Reception The AllMusic review states: "This brilliant CD captures one of the high points of Dizzy Gillespi ...

'' (Verve, 1957) * '' Giants'' (Perception, 1971) with Bobby Hackett ; With

Buddy Tate George Holmes "Buddy" Tate (February 22, 1913 – February 10, 2001) was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Tate was born in Sherman, Texas, United States, and first played the alto saxophone. According to the website All A ...

* ''

Buddy Tate and His Buddies ''Buddy Tate and His Buddies'' is an album by saxophonist Buddy Tate which was recorded in New York City in 1973 and released on the Chiaroscuro label.Kernodle, Tammy L. (2020) 004 ''Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams''. Urbana:

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois system. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, plus 33 scholarly journals, and several electronic proje ...

OCLC OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It wa ...

1142759993.
'Drag 'Em': How Movement Shaped The Music of Mary Lou Williams

Soul on Soul: Allison Miller and Derrick Hodge on Honoring Mary Lou Williams

How Mary Lou Williams Shaped the Sound of the Big-Band Era

The World of Mary Lou Williams: A Turning the Tables Playlist

Mary Lou Williams on ''Piano Jazz''

Mary Lou Williams: 'Mary Lou Williams: 1927–1940'

Mary Lou Williams, 'Perpetually Contemporary'

External links

* ttp://vancouverjazz.com/2011/05/mary-lou-williams-childrens-concert-1977.html Mary Lou Williams concert for children, Vancouver 1977 (includes 60-minute audio recording)
''Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band''
(2015 film). *
The Legacy of Mary Lou Williams
' (2010 video presentation by Tammy Kernodle, Associate Professor of Musicology,

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

, Ohio)
Jazz at Lincoln Center: Family Concert: Who is Mary Lou Williams?

"Nice & Rough": Unapologetically Black, Beautiful, and Bold: A Conversation with Sheila Jackson on Black Women's Participation in Cultural Production in the 1970s" Jstor

Mary Lou Williams recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

.
KC Black History Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Mary Lou 1910 births 1981 deaths African-American Catholics African-American jazz pianists African-American pianists African-American women musicians American jazz composers American jazz pianists American women composers Deaths from cancer in North Carolina Deaths from bladder cancer Musicians from Atlanta Mainstream jazz pianists Stride pianists Swing pianists Women jazz composers Women jazz pianists Converts to Roman Catholicism Atlantic Records artists Decca Records artists King Records artists Sue Records artists Musicians from Pittsburgh Jazz musicians from Pennsylvania 20th-century American women pianists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century jazz composers 20th-century women composers HighNote Records artists 20th-century African-American women