I keep forgetting that I'm one of the Poobahs.
Enjoy the music.
Enjoy the music.
Jazz for aficionados
Rok I'm enjoying Mary Louise Williams music more than any other musician I ever encountered, and to think we almost missed her. Although I had heard the name, I thought her music was too old for me, that's because I had set a before "Bird" and after "Bird" time line for the music I liked, and it worked for me, but Mary Lou Williams never got old. No one told me that. When I'm listening to my playlist her music is not easy to identify because it varies so much. I'll hear some really pretty music, and wonder "Who's that"? and I have to go to the playlist to find out. She can come out of so many different bags, that I'm glad I got everything I could find. She was a musician among musicians. Enjoy the music. |
*****
and to think we almost missed her.***** The good thing about 'missing' players, is that you have a nice surprise and place to go in this current era of quasi-Jazz. It's good we didn't hear them all back in the day. If we had, what would we have to look forward to today? Stereo Review turned me on to Williams. I bought lots of stuff while I was in the Army and never found the time to listen to all of it. Now I have that time. It's all 'New' to me. Cheers |
original article, a part of Smithsonian Folkways Magazine The music poured from the piano. On a large platform inside the oval mahogany bar at New York’s Hickory House, the last surviving establishment offering jazz on West 52nd Street, “Swing Street,” an authoritative African American woman in early middle-age sat at the piano, eyes mostly closed, her face registering every nuance in the music she was creating, back straight, her hands lying flat as they moved on the keys. She was wearing a royal blue chiffon gown of cocktail length, softly gathered at the shoulders. Her arms were bare. She had a beautiful throat and neck, good collarbones, and a dark brown face rising up from a strong chin to high cheekbones. Her mouth was well shaped and soft, and at times broke into a brief radiant smile when she achieved a particular musical passage. The smile never interfered with the concentration. There was nothing theatrical about her. You simply knew that you were in the presence of someone of the highest magnitude. Her name was Mary Lou Williams. Rok, the reason we didn't know anything about the lady is because "There was nothing theatrical about her presence". I could go on and on about that, but I'm not. Enjoy the music. |
This is the first Williams CD I purchased. The cover picture was a large reason why. So Classy. Has "1940's" written all over it. I can remember when women dressed like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXveXHcVsrI Cheers |