Mary Lou Williams

Born: May 8, 1910

Died: May 28, 1981

Performances with: Hits and Bits (Vaudeville tour), Keith Orpheum Circuit, Williams Syncopators, The Twelve Clouds of Joy

Collaborations with: John Williams, Andy Kirk, Earl Hines, Tommy Dorsey, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie

Recordings include: Mary Lou Williams Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, Live at the Keystone Korner, Jazz in Paris, I Made You Love Paris, The London Sessions, Ladies of Jazz, At Rick’s Café American, Nite Life/From the Past, First Lady of Piano 1952–1971, Mary Lou Williams & Orchestra and Meade Lux Lewis, My Mamma Pinned a Rose on Me, Embraced, Live at the Cookery, Free Spirits, Zoning, Mary Lou’s Mass, Mary Lou Williams presents Black Christ of the Andes, Zodiac Suite

Memorials: Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture at Duke University

Quote: “I’m the only living musician that has played all the eras.  Other musicians lived through the eras and they never changed their styles.” — Mary Lou Williams