[Dixielandjazz] Mary Lou Williams centennial

[Robert Ringwald]

Major Cause for Celebration: 'Mary Lou Williams at 100'
by Howard Reich
Chicago Tribune, August 3, 2010

Jazz has been a male-dominated art since the beginning, roughly a century ago --
and matters haven't improved much since then.
To this day, women who win fame in jazz tend to be singers or singer-pianists. If
you doubt it, just try to name a few women trumpeters, saxophonists or drummers who
have attained wide recognition in jazz.
All of which can only increase one's admiration for Mary Lou Williams, who started
out as a virtuoso stride pianist in 1920s; thrived as chief arranger and soloist
for Andy Kirk's great swing orchestra, the Twelve Clouds of Joy, in the 1930s and
early '40s; mentored a generation of emerging bebop giants, including Thelonious
Monk and Dizzy Gillespie; and created a colossal inventory of songs, recordings and
sacred compositions spanning a broad swath of styles.
Her influence spanned decades -- until her death in 1981 at age 71 -- notwithstanding
the sexism of her era.
No wonder the jazz world has been honoring Williams' centennial, which will be celebrated
in a major way Thursday night at Millennium Park. "A Woman Beyond Time: Mary Lou
Williams at 100" will revive classic Williams works and feature a world-premiere
composition, "Sweet Mary Lou," penned and performed by former Chicago pianist Amina
Claudine Myers and a big band.
The concert should serve to underscore the enormous scope of Williams' contributions.
"There are really only two women in the early history of jazz who have had a major
impact on their fellow musicians and the direction their music takes -- one was Mary
Lou Williams, and one was our own Lil Armstrong," says historian Richard Wang, referring
to the second wife of Louis Armstrong, a pianist who spent much of her adult life
in Chicago.
As for Williams, "The founding fathers of bebop gathered around her," says Wang.
"As pianist, she had a fantastic technique, and a great vocabulary of the history
of the music under her fingers."
Beyond the magnitude of her musical achievements, however, Williams also defied the
conventions of her era to prove that a woman could hold a leadership position in
jazz. She wasn't the only woman to do so: Ella Fitzgerald fronted Chick Webb's popular
orchestra after his death, in 1939; trombonist Melba Liston penned lustrous scores
for major bandleaders such as Randy Weston; Blanche Calloway (Cab Calloway's sister)
led her own orchestra in the 1930s, until it fell into bankruptcy.
But no other woman of Williams' generation proved as successful in as many realms
of music as she, her precedents inspiring generations of women ever after.
"She shed a light on the path," says Chicago pianist Bethany Pickens, who will play
some of Williams' tricky solo pieces to open the centennial concert.
"She may not have had support, but she didn't let that impede her efforts, and that's
what I've learned from her: You've got to keep pressing on....
"The climate hasn't really changed that much.... But if she was able to do what she
did during her time, then I don't really have any excuses."
But Williams' lessons also transcend gender, because she showed how visionary artists
can evolve beyond their first artistic breakthroughs. A self-taught pianist who was
working vaudeville stages in the 1920s, Williams became a top-flight composer-arranger
in the '30s, a bebop progenitor in the '40s, a composer of vast sacred scores in
the 1960s and '70s.
"Mary Lou did everything," says pianist Myers.
"That's the power and significance of her music.... There was nobody like Mary Lou,
and there still isn't, even in this day and age."
-30


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
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