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F u F F E N S p r o u d l y p r e s e n t s a r e l e a s e w h i c h
i n t e n t i o n i s t o p l e a s e a n d t o e n l i g h t e n t h
o s e l e s s a w a r e o f t h e t r u e m e a n i n g a n d q u a l
i t y o f m u s i c d u e t o d a m a g e s r e l a t e d t o m t v b
u t w i t h o u t f u r t h e r a d o f u f f e n s o f f e r y o u t
o i n c r e a s e y o u r k n o w l e d e g e a b o u t m u s i c a n
d i n t h a t w a y c r e a t e a b e t t e r w o r l d f o r o u r c
h i l d r e n t h e f o l l o w i n g m a s t e r p i e c e o f a r t
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a r t i s t mary lou williams
a l b u m free spirits
l a b e l steeple chase
g e n r e jazz
r i p d a t e 14-03-2005
s t r e e t d a t e 00-00-0000
o r i g i n a l r e l 1975
s u p p l i e r A-team
s o u r c e cd
b i t r a t e VBR
e n c o d e r lame 3.90.3
r e l e a s e n o t e s
Mary Lou Williams - piano
Buster Williams - bass
Mickey Roker - drums
recorded july 8, 1975
To say that Mary Lou Williams had a long and productive career is an
understatement. Although for decades she was often called jazz's
greatest female musician (and one has to admire what must have been a
nonstop battle against sexism), she would have been considered a
major artist no matter what her sex.
Just the fact that Williams and Duke Ellington were virtually the
only stride pianists to modernize their style through the years would
have been enough to guarantee her a place in jazz history books.
Williams managed to always sound modern during a half-century career
without forgetting her roots or how to play in the older styles.
Born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs (although she soon took the name of her
stepfather and was known as Mary Lou Burley), she taught herself the
piano by ear and was playing in public at the age of six. Growing up
in Pittsburgh, Williams' life was always filled with music. When she
was 13, she started working in vaudeville, and three years later
married saxophonist John Williams. They moved to Memphis, and she
made her debut on records with Synco Jazzers. John soon joined Andy
Kirk's orchestra, which was based in Kansas City, in 1929. Williams
wrote arrangements for the band, filled in for an absent pianist on
Kirk's first recording session, and eventually became a member of the
orchestra herself. Her arrangements were largely responsible for the
band's distinctive sound and eventual success. Williams was soon
recognized as Kirk's top soloist, a stride pianist who impressed
everyone (even Jelly Roll Morton). In addition, she wrote such songs
such as "Roll 'Em" (a killer hit for Benny Goodman) and "What's Your
Story Morning Glory" and contributed arrangements to other big bands,
including those of Goodman, Earl Hines, and Tommy Dorsey.
Mary Lou Williams stayed with Kirk until 1942, by which time she had
divorced John Williams and married trumpeter Harold "Shorty" Baker.
She co-led a combo with Baker before he joined Duke Ellington.
Williams did some writing for Duke (most notably her rearrangement of
"Blue Skies" into a horn battle called "Trumpets No End") and played
briefly with Benny Goodman's bebop group in 1948. She had gradually
modernized her style and by the early to mid-'40s was actively
encouraging the young modernists who would lead the bebop revolution,
including Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Tadd Dameron, and Dizzy
Gillespie. Williams' "Zodiac Suite" showed off some of her modern
ideas, and her "In the Land of Oo-Bla-Dee" was a bebop fable recorded
by Gillespie.
Williams lived in Europe from 1952-1954 and then became very involved
in the Catholic religion. She retired from music for a few years
before appearing as a guest with Dizzy Gillespie's orchestra at the
1957 Newport Jazz Festival. Williams returned to jazz and by the
early '70s sounded more like a young modal player (clearly she was
familiar with McCoy Tyner) than a survivor of the 1920s. Although she
did not care for the avant-garde, she occasionally played quite
freely, although a 1977 duo concert with Cecil Taylor was a complete
fiasco. Williams wrote three masses and a cantana, was a star at
Benny Goodman's 40th-anniversary Carnegie Hall concert in 1978,
taught at Duke University, and often planned her later concerts as a
history of jazz recital. By the time she passed away at the age of
71, she had a list of accomplishments that could have filled three
lifetimes.
Mary Lou Williams recorded through the years as a leader for many
labels including Brunswick (a pair of piano solos in 1930), Decca
(1938), Columbia, Savoy, extensively for Asch and Folkways during
1944-1947, Victor, King (1949), Atlantic, Circle, Vogue, Prestige,
Blue Star, Jazztone, her own Mary label (1970-1974), Chiaroscuro,
SteepleChase, and finally Pablo (1977-1978).
Scott Yanow
...and remember: s t a y f u f f e n s f o r l i f e
t r a c k l i s t
dat dere 04:48
baby man 2 07:56
baby man 08:31
all blues 07:00
temptation 05:09
pale blue 04:27
free spirits 2 05:04
free spirits 05:25
blues for timme 05:37
ode to saint cecilie 05:55
surrey with the fringe on top 02:59
gloria 05:32
68:23
MB 95,8
g r o u p n e w s
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g r e e t s
CMS CMG diss DPS HiT2000 IGR JUST kw miso NuHS om sb sfE smc soup BCC
s p e c i a l g r e e t s t o : SChiZO and FRAGMENT
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i f y o u l i k e t h i s r e l e a s e t h e n g e t y o u r l e e c
h a s s d o w n t o y o u r l o c a l r e c o r d d e a l e r a n d b
u y t h e s t u f f b e c a u s e t h i s i s m a d e b y r e a l a r
t i s t s a p a r t f r o m t h e m a i n s t r e a m p r o d u c t s
t h a t s i n t h e t o p 2 5 l i s t i n t h a t s t o r e y o u w i
l l v i s i t r i g h t a w a y t o s h o w y o u r s u p p o r t t o
t h e t r u e a r t i s t s o f m u s i c - t h e f u f f e n s a r t
i s t s t h a t s i n i t f o r t h e m u s i c n o t t h e m o n e y
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a l w a y s d o r e m e m b e r : s t a y f u f f e n s f o r l i f e
⌐ FuFFENS 2 0 0 4