Mary Lou Williams

Mary Lou Williams was among the most influential jazz piano stylists of the ’30s and ’40s, renowned for her technical dexterity, refined phrasing, and sophisticated voicings. Born in 1910 in Atlanta but raised in Pittsburgh, she made a name for herself in her early twenties as a prodigious swing pianist, joining the big band Andy Kirk’s Twelve Clouds of Joy. By the early ’30s, she had become one of the band’s primary arrangers, eventually charting out their 1936 breakthrough hit, “Until the Real Thing Comes Along.” The song made her an in-demand arranger with the biggest names in swing, including Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington; during this time, she also began to make boogie-woogie-influenced solo piano recordings. Williams moved to New York City at the advent of the bebop era, befriending Dizzy Gillespie, Theolonious Monk, and Art Blakey. Her compositional projects became more ambitious—notably 1945’s Zodiac Suite, a conceptual 12-part suite that she later mounted at Carnegie Hall with a symphony orchestra. In the later decades of her life, Williams never stopped expanding her artistry. After taking a break from musical life in the ’50s and re-devoting herself to Christianty, Williams composed a series of jazz Masses, including 1962’s fiery Black Christ of the Andes. In the ’70s, her busy performance, teaching, and recording schedule exposed younger generations of jazz fans to her work. Williams passed away from cancer in 1981 at age 71.