Bop To The Top: Mary Lou Williams and Bob Jazz

By: Peter Hoye

     Bob, or Bebop Jazz as it was also known, was a form of jazz that emerged in the 1940’s. A major contrast to big band jazz, bop jazz featured smaller groups of musicians, often between 4-6, as opposed to the 10 plus found in big bands. In having less musicians, it allowed for greater solo opportunities within the songs. The music could be identified by it’s by melodies and chord progressions that were different from those of big bands in that they were much more complex. The music also tended to be more irregular, thus making it difficult to dance to, but easy to listen to for enjoyment (Bebop). What made this new form of jazz so radical was that the melody now became secondary and improvisations were based around harmonies and chords. Bop has been referred to as the birth of modern jazz (McPhearson).

     One of the most influential musicians of this new jazz was the piano prodigy, Mary Lou Williams. After leaving Andy Kirk, and having written some major jazz hits such as Walkin’ and Swingin’ and Scatchin’ the Gravel. Following her time with Kirk, Williams was asked to work with Duke Ellington. However, “after some dozen years, Williams was ready for a change of musical scene” (Mary Lou Williams-Soul on Soul), and it was then that she was hired by Barney Josephson, owner of Café Society, a Greenwich Village night club famous for its outstanding jazz and blues. With the help of Josephson Williams acquired her own radio show. “Her program figured into Mary's composing one of the more interesting compositions (and reflecting Duke Ellington's movement toward creating extended works), The Zodiac Suite” (Mary Lou Williams-Soul on Soul). Following a poorly intended performance of the Suite she was coaxed by Dizzy Gillespie to complete the remaining 9 parts of the intended 12 part suite (Dizzy Gillespie (featuring Mary Lou Williams): Selections from Zodiac Suite). It in her collaborating with Dizzy that Mary moved into the modern jazz era. She was quoted as saying “bop came along with a more modern thing, and the blues and that swing part, but it was just more colorful…they were beautiful like riding around and taking in the scenery, rather than just having a steady beat going” (Gillespie 150-151). Mary Lou Williams found her place in the bebop revolution in that “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.” (Mary Lou Williams:Biography).

REFERENCES:
"Bebop." Hyper Music-History of Jazz. 04/17/2004. Web. 4 Mar 2010.   .

"Dizzy Gillespie (featuring Mary Lou Williams): Selections from Zodiac Suite." Jazz.com . Web. 4 Mar2010.
.

Gillespie, John Birks, and Al Fraser. To Be, or not...To Bop-Dizzy Gillespie. Minneapolis, MN.: University of Minnesota Press, 1979. 150-151. Print.

LastMcPherson, Ian Gordon. "Bob Jazz." The Salt of the Earth . 2000. Web. 4 Mar 2010. 
.

"Mary Lou Williams: Biography." MSN Music. 2010. Web. 4 Mar 2010. .

"Mary Lou Williams - Soul on Soul." Modern Jazz & Cafe Society. 2001. Rutgers University Libraries, Web. 4 Mar 2010. .