Mary Lou Williams - Chronogical Classics 1927-1954 (7 CD)


 Mary Lou Williams, (born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs,  May 8, 1910, Atlanta, Ga., U.S.—died May 28, 1981, Durham, N.C.), jazz pianist who performed with and composed for many of the great jazz artists of the 1940s and ’50s.

Williams received early instruction from her mother, a classically trained pianist. Picking out simple tunes at age two, Mary Lou was a prodigy with perfect pitch and a highly developed musical memory by the time she was four years old. By age 10 she was known as “the Little Piano Girl” and was performing for small audiences throughout Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her professional debut with big bands came in 1922, at age 12, when she substituted for a pianist in the Buzz and Harris Revue, a traveling show. Billed as Mary Lou Burley, she toured occasionally for the next few years and passed through New York City several times, playing for such artists as Jelly Roll Morton, Willie (“the Lion”) Smith, Fats Waller, and Duke Ellington.

In 1927, when her husband, saxophonist and bandleader John Williams, moved to Oklahoma to join the popular Andy Kirk and the Twelve Clouds of Joy, Mary Lou Williams took over the leadership of his band. She began a successful arranging career in 1929, when she moved to Oklahoma to join her husband with Kirk. During her time with Kirk, the band became well known for her stunning solo piano and highly original arrangements, including “Froggy Bottom,” “Walkin’ and Swingin’,” “Little Joe from Chicago,” “Roll ’Em,” and “Mary’s Idea.” She is widely credited as a major influence for the Kansas City–Southwest Big Band sound that Twelve Clouds of Joy helped to popularize.

By the late 1930s Williams was arranging for Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, and many others. She remained with Kirk until 1942, when she moved to New York City. One of her most notable works of this period was the popular “Trumpet No End,” recorded by Ellington in 1946. By 1943 Williams was organizing bands and performing at many clubs in the city. She became involved with a younger group of New York musicians: Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and Dizzy Gillespie. Already an established musician in the swing style, she easily made the transition to bebop. Her apartment became a meeting place, and she wrote several important compositions in the bebop style, including “In the Land of Oo-Blah-Dee,” “Tisherone,” “Knowledge,” “Lonely Moments,” and “Waltz Boogie.” The latter was recorded with Girl-Stars, one of her several women’s bands, in 1946.

In 1945 Williams premiered the first of many large compositions, the 12-movement Zodiac Suite. The movement “Capricorn” was created for dancer Pearl Primus, who, like Williams, performed at Cafe Society. Dancer Katherine Dunham later choreographed a dance piece to the “Scorpio” movement. Williams moved to Europe in 1952 and performed in Paris and London. In 1954 she halted a Paris performance and took a hiatus from the stage for a few years. She began performing again in 1957, first with Dizzy Gillespie at the Newport Jazz Festival and then with her own trio. She founded Mary Records, the first such company established by a woman.

In the 1960s and ’70s she composed a number of liturgical pieces for jazz ensembles, including Black Christ of the Andes (1962), a cantata; Mass for the Lenten Season (1968); and Music for Peace (1970), popularly known as “Mary Lou’s Mass.” In 1970 she also recorded a comprehensive performance-lecture entitled The History of Jazz. Five years later she was appointed to the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and in 1977 to the faculty at Duke University.

 


1927-1940 {Chronological Classics, 630}

  1. Midnight Stomp
  2. The Bumps
  3. Down In Gallion
  4. Goose Grease
  5. Pee Wee Blues
  6. Now Cut Loose
  7. Night Life
  8. Drag 'Em
  9. Corny Rhythm
  10. Overhand (New Froggy Bottom)
  11. Isabelle
  12. Swingin' For Joy
  13. Clean Pickin'
  14. Mary's Special
  15. The Pearls
  16. Mr. Freddie's Blues
  17. Sweet (Patootie) Patunia
  18. The Rocks
  19. Little Joe From Chicago
  20. Mary Lou Williams' Blues
  21. Tea For Two
  22. Scratchin' The Gravel
  23. Zonky
  24. Baby Dear
  25. Harmony Blues

1944 {Chronological Classics, 814}

  1. Blue Skies
  2. Caravan
  3. Yesterdays
  4. Lullaby Of The Leaves
  5. Little Joe From Chicago
  6. Roll 'Em
  7. Satchel Mouth Baby
  8. Yesterday's Kisses
  9. Mary's Boogie
  10. Drag 'Em
  11. St. Louis Blues
  12. Until My Baby Comes Back Home
  13. Man O' Mine
  14. Stardust - Part 2
  15. Gjon Mili Jam Session
  16. Stardust - Part 1
  17. Russian Lullaby
  18. Blue Skies
  19. Persian Rug
  20. Night And Day
  21. You Know Baby
  22. I Found A New Baby
  23. Roll 'Em
  24. Gjon Mili Jam Session

1944-1945 {Chronological Classics, 1021}


  1. The Minute Man
  2. Froggy Bottom
  3. Carcinoma
  4. Song In My Soul
  5. This And That
  6. Lady Be Good
  7. Taurus
  8. Pisces
  9. Gemini
  10. Capricorn
  11. Sagittarius
  12. Aquarius
  13. Libra
  14. Virgo
  15. Aries
  16. Scorpio
  17. Cancer
  18. Leo
  19. Stars
  20. Moon
  21. Timmie Time

1945-1947 {Chronological Classics, 1050}

  1. Rumba Rebop
  2. Blues At Mary Lou's
  3. D.D.T.
  4. (She's) He's Funny That Way
  5. How High The Moon
  6. The Man I Love
  7. Cloudy / What's Your Story Morning Glory
  8. Blue Skies
  9. These Foolish Things Remind Me Of You
  10. Lonely Moments
  11. Fifth Dimension
  12. Harmony Grits
  13. It Must Be True
  14. Boogie Mysterioso
  15. Conversation (Jump Caprice)
  16. Humoresque
  17. Waltz Boogie
  18. All God's Chillun Got Rhythm
  19. Hesitation Boogie
  20. Lonely Moments
  21. Whistle Blues
  22. Mary Lou
  23. Kool
  24. Just An Idea
  25. Just You, Just Me

1949-1951 {Chronological Classics, 1260}

  1. Tisherome
  2. Knowledge
  3. Oo-Bla-Dee
  4. Shorty Boo
  5. Bye Bye Blues
  6. Moonglow
  7. Willow Weep For Me
  8. I'm In The Mood For Love
  9. Opus Z
  10. The Surrey With The Fringe On Top
  11. My First Date With You
  12. Pagliacci
  13. 'S Wonderful
  14. From This Moment On
  15. You're The Cream In My Coffee
  16. Mary's Waltz
  17. Would I Love You
  18. In The Purple Grotto
  19. Walking
  20. The Sheik Of Araby
  21. When Dreams Come True
  22. Bobo
  23. Kool

1951-1953 {Chronological Classics, 1346}

  1. Lover, Come Back To Me
  2. S'Posin'
  3. Handy Eyes
  4. Tisherome
  5. Caravan
  6. Yes, We Have No Bananas
  7. Down Beat
  8. Out Of Nowhere
  9. C Jam Blues
  10. Titoros
  11. Lady Bird
  12. Don't Blame Me
  13. They Can't Take That Away From Me
  14. Koolbongo
  15. Perdido
  16. For You
  17. Round About Midnight
  18. Laughing Rag
  19. Rag Of Rags
  20. Melody Maker
  21. Musical Express

1953-1954 {Chronological Classics, 1417}

  1. Sometimes I'm Happy
  2. Monk's Tune
  3. Why
  4. Lullaby Of The Leaves
  5. Just You, Just Me
  6. Chicka Boom Blues
  7. Mary's Waltz
  8. O.W.
  9. Moonglow
  10. N.M.E. (New Musical Express)
  11. Tire, Tire L'Aiguille
  12. Lover
  13. En Ce Temps La
  14. Autumn In New York
  15. Between The Devil And Deep Blue Sea
  16. Nicole
  17. Carioca
  18. There's A Small Hotel
  19. Leg 'N' Lou
  20. Gravel (Scratchin' In The Gravel)
  21. Nancy Is In Love With The Colonel
  22. Mary Lou Blues

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