A Woman and Her Piano By Amanda on October 3, 2009 8:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
I bought this postcard at a souvenir shop on Beale St, Memphis in late July this year. I have it magnet-ed on my fridge. Mary Lou Williams, legendary jazz musician. I have a lot of her material, she started playing professionally at age 6 : one of those amazing creatures who were absorbing the rhythm from birth and went from there.
I just love this picture. I mean, Beale St is one of the few places on earth you will find a postcard of Mary Lou Williams so I love the fact I could get it anywhere. That discovery was special. But apart from that, it is just such a fun, carefree picture. Fun but with her virtuoso music career right there. The woman and her piano. She played with Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, Thelonious Monk, Art Blakely, Dizzy Gillespie and everyone else. She was a formidable arranger and composer. And her solo work is unique -- not that I'm claiming to be omniscient about jazz but Black Christ of the Andes has got to be a part of its own thing. There are fewer than a dozen solo releases in almost 40 years, I've read a lot of the stuff online but I'd like to read something more substantial about the religious reasons she had for going in and out of the business that way. Duke University has a Centre for Black Culture named after her. She is buried in Pittsburgh.
As quoted on Wikipedia:
""I did it, didn't I? Through muck and mud."
The Buddha did not say it better. What more can you ask of life?
According to the back of the postcard, this picture was taken by Chester Higgins Jr in 1975.
Here is an MP3 of a Mary Lou Williams interview from the "A Grand Night For Swinging." It's only the interview, not the music.
09 Interview With Mary Lou WIlliams.mp3
Mary Lou Williams on YouTube:
By dogpossum
on October 15, 2009 6:34 PM
Hey, I tried to comment ages ago but something busted...
I love this picture too.
And I love Mary Lou Williams. When I listen to Andy Kirk's band, I think of her in there at the piano, kicking the rhythm section into gear. She also wrote/arranged their bigger hits.
Yay MLW. Yay.