Donald Macleod charts the extraordinary life of composer and jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams. Today, a dramatic break with Andy Kirk and the 12 Clouds of Joy gives Williams the space to work on ambitious projects in her own name.

Mary Lou Williams’s music stands out from the crowd because, as Duke Ellington recognised, “her writing and performing have always been just a little ahead throughout her career.” A prolific composer and arranger, she was also a gifted pianist. A master of blues, boogie woogie, stride, swing and be-bop, Williams was quick to absorb the prevailing musical currents in her own music, naturally able to exploit her ability to play anything she heard around her. It is this restless musical curiosity that defines her own compositions, and led her to become friends with and mentor many younger musicians, among them Thelonius Monk, Bud Powell, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Born around 1910 in Atlanta, Georgia, Williams grew up in Pittsburgh, where she had to overcome racial segregation, gender discrimination and the disadvantages of an impoverished family to realise her musical ambitions. Learning to play entirely by ear, she was performing locally by age six. Barely into her teens, she was touring professionally as a pianist, living proof that - contrary to the prevailing views - women really could play jazz as well as men. But her artistic success came at some personal cost, with instances of domestic abuse, two divorces, a gambling addiction, and the ongoing strain of trying to support her extended family, all taking its toll over the years. After taking a spiritual path, she spent some years trying to rehabilitate addicted musicians, and developed an interest in writing sacred jazz pieces, and after a long career of some 60 years she took on the mantle of educating future generations about the cultural roots of jazz.

Over the course of the week, Donald Macleod follows Mary Lou Williams as her life and musical pathways intertwine, from the early years playing Kansas City swing, to embracing be-bop, religion and modern jazz. .

A move to New York in the 1940s saw Mary Lou Williams putting together her own groups and accepting her own commissions to write and record, courted by some of the greatest band leaders of the day. Pushing boundaries, the Zodiac Suite was conceptually inspired by classical music, and she was also mingling and dabbling with the ideas of the be-bop generation in her own music.

Roll ‘Em
Benny Goodman & his Orchestra

Gjon Mili Jam Session
Mary Lou Williams and her Six
Mary Lou Williams Blues
Six Men and a Girl

Boogie misterioso
Mary Lou Williams’ Girl Stars

Zodiac Suite (excerpt)
Mary Lou Williams, piano

In the land of Oo-bla-dee
Mary Lou Williams Orchestra
In the land of Oo-bla-dee
Marian McPartland, piano
Bill Douglass, bass
Omar Clay, drums

A Fungus A Mungus
Mary Lou Williams, piano
Nicole
Mary Lou Williams, piano
Percy Heath, bass
Tim Kennedy, drums

Irving Berlin, arr. by ML Williams: Blue Skies (Trumpets no end)
Duke Ellington & His Orchestra Show less