Mary Lou Williams

[Brandon Burke]

Actually I think you'll like the cleaner version on the cd, you can really hear the resonating piano at the beginning of the track, and it's adding to the beauty.

Sold.

[Brandon Burke]

Listening to it again, promted by Lon's reply. This might very well be my favorite LP ever...

[B. Goren.]

Another great recording of MLW is Live at the Cookery. Not always I can agree with the AMG. This time the AMG is absolutely right. I'll add 0.5 star of my own to complete the AMG rating to 5 stars. beatiful music played by a great pianist.

[DrJ]

Wow, BLACK CHRIST was pretty much completely unknown to me, and I have to say it's a real unexpected gem. I enjoy the "with voices," more religious tracks more than I expected I might, but it's ultimately the trio material that really keeps bringing me back. And I have to say I agree that this "Ain't Necessarily So" is absolutely amazing. In a TOTALLY different way, it rivals Grant Green's remarkable take on this tune (w/ Sonny Clark and Blakey) for "best ever" interpretation.

And speaking of Green, was so pleasantly surprised to hear his distinctive bluesy licks on a couple of the larger ensemble tracks!

"My Blue Heaven" and "Miss D D" and "Fungus Among Us" (it both skewers and lights a path for the avant garde at the same time!) and Billy Taylor's "Grand Night for Swinging" are also all absolutely desert island piano trio performances. Man, I look forward to many years of delving DEEP into this stuff. This has set me on a mission to hear all the Williams I can (before this, only things by Williams in my collection were I MADE YOU LOVE PARIS from the Jazz in Paris series and the Andy Kirk Clouds of Joy compilation on Decca).

Edited September 7, 2004 by DrJ

[DrJ]

Found used copies of both ZONING and ZODIAC SUITE in the Bay Area last weekend. Have only listened to ZONING so far, and again I am knocked out. The trios are fantastic - I even enjoy Bob Cranshaw's electric bass playing in this context. How have I been so clueless about Williams and especially her reissues on Smithsonian Folkways for so long? Can't wait to delve into ZODIAC SUITE.

[Noj]

Does anyone have a link where Zodiac Suite or Live At The Cookery can be bought on line?

I have Black Christ and agree with all the praise, though I like the instrumental tracks better than the vocal tracks. I'd love to hear more!

[jazzbo]

www.cduniverse.com seems to list both at decent prices. . .

[Noj]

Much obliged, Lon.

[jazzbo]

You're welcome.

There are two Zodiac Suite cds, actually. One is a live event of the original suite on Vintage Jazz Classics, quite interesting. The other is a Smithsonian Folkways cd of the original recordings and alternates and EXTENSIVE notes.

[ejp626]

I see that Ebay has a copy of Black Christ for a very low starting bid (not my auction). It does have surface scratches, but this could be a low-cost way to investigate the music. I ordered a different copy through half.com, since I don't have as much patience for Ebay these days. Anyway, I am looking forward to hearing it.

[John B]

I see that Ebay has a copy of Black Christ for a very low starting bid (not my auction).

Thanks for posting this! I've wanted to hear this album for quite a while. I'll give that auction a shot.

[ghost of miles]

There are two Zodiac Suite cds, actually. One is a live event of the original suite on Vintage Jazz Classics, quite interesting. The other is a Smithsonian Folkways cd of the original recordings and alternates and EXTENSIVE notes.

Yes, that live performance of the Zodiac Suite (Dec. 31, 1945 at Town Hall?) is quite interesting. Strings are added and Ben Webster jumps in for a number... If anybody's going on a Mary Lou kick, I recommend hunting that one down in addition to the Folkways album.

I've loved "Miss D.D." (refers to MLW's friend Doris Duke, btw) ever since my mom gave me the Folkways CDR-on-demand version of BLACK CHRIST, and actually use it as the theme for my radio program Night Lights. The bass line that opens it reminds me of a train coming, and MLW's first piano notes shimmer quietly in the dark... lovely.

[DrJ]

The thing I'm more and more struck by is how much Williams was a truly giant musician. Note that I carefully and consciously avoided using the term "jazz musician."

Not to take anything away from jazz or get overly semantic, but by doing this I mean to place her in the same company as the true greats of the music - Ellington, Armstrong, Monk, Miles, Mingus - all of whom were certainly steeped in jazz but ultimately sound like nobody but themselves. Duke played Ellington music, etc etc.

So Williams played Mary Lou Williams music, period. You put on one of her discs and it takes you deeply into her world. It's hard to put into words precisely, and I'm probably missing the boat in trying to, but you never feel like she's "playing jazz" - again not an insult, since it's a pretty great thing in its own right, but the vast majority of musicians DO sound like they're "playing jazz." You have to be a true giant to transcend that and create your own little personal genre - and this is something way deeper than grafting on little bits and pieces of other types of music self-consciously.

Williams sounds to me to have done that near impossible thing - creating a truly unique sound world and then finding a way to let us all in on it. Why it's not more widely acknowledged is kind of mysterious to me given how accessible her music is - warm, inviting, if sometimes a little on the religious side (nothing wrong with that per se but as a not at all religious person it does make some material a little less immediately inviting to me personally).

[ghost of miles]

DrJ, another "giant" aspect of MLW is simply the astonishing length & duration of her career. How many other jazz artists span late-1920's Kansas City to performing a duet concert with Cecil Taylor in the late 1970s? And throughout that long, long career, she never sounds less than modern. The only person I can think of who equals or surpasses her in this regard is Duke.

[DrJ]

You're right David. Take a tune like "Fungus Amongus" from BLACK CHRIST, here she both skewers the avant garde AND provides a guidepost for where she believes it should be headed (and she makes a hell of a convincing case)!

Not too many artists who could have turned out something that original and challenging at that point in their career (by then about 45 years in the running!).

[Peter Johnson]

Wowww wowww wowww, just spinning this for the first time...listening to "ain't necessarily" right now. This is some damn fine music. I can't believe I've never heard any Mary Lou Williams until now. And I did the vocal tracks in a way I just can't get into them on New Perspective--the writing here seems much more, I don't know, "genuine"--

This is great stuff.

[Brandon Burke]

Wowww wowww wowww, just spinning this for the first time...listening to "ain't necessarily" right now. This is some damn fine music.

When people ask me what my favorite song in the world is, my answer is always the same. (Or, I should say, it's one of two titles.) It simply depends on whether or not I listened to "It Ain't Necessarily So" or Coltrane "Ole" last. Whichever one is still in the back of my head when asked.

Needless to say, today's answer would be the Williams. B-)

[jazzbo]

Mary Lou's Mass is due out in February from Folkways!

[Peter Johnson]

Mary Lou's Mass is due out in February from Folkways!

Great news for my mind, bad news for my wallet!