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Mary Lou Williams

American jazz pianist and composer (1910–1981)

Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records.

Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie.

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Mary Lou Williams

what: one person
from: Atlanta
born: 1910
until: 1981
on the air here: 0 songs
still after: 1 song

File card: Mary Lou Williams

real name: Mary Elfreda Winn

labels: Atlantic Records, Decca, Brunswick Records, King, Victor

genres: jazz, classical music, free jazz, hard bop, swing, gospel music, big band music

awards: Guggenheim Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, honorary doctor of Fordham University

plays: piano

Facts from Wikidata and Discogs, free to use.

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Early years

The second of eleven children, Williams was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in the East Liberty neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A child 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...

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Career

In 1922, at the age of 12, Williams went on the Orpheum Circuit of theaters. During the following year she played with Duke Ellington 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 entered the room and paused to listen to her.

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Legacy

In 1983, Duke University established the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture

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American jazz pianist, composer and arranger Born May 8,1910, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, died May 28, 1981, Durham, North Carolina, USA Performed with many jazz artists including . Staff arranger with in the mid-1940s. Known for her approach to the bop style, friend of and . Also known as: (Mary Lou Williams), L. Williams, Lou Williams, M L Williams, M. L. Williams From Discogs (free to use). Their entry