Mary Lou Williams: A Great Influence

By Stephanie Sousa

Mary Lou Williams is considered the First Lady of Jazz which clearly is not a title so easily acquired. Mary Lou grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania alongside ten half brothers and sisters. Considered a child prodigy, she taught herself to play piano and had extremely developed pitch and musical memory skills by the age of four years old. By age six, Mary Lou was performing in wealthy family's homes around her neighborhood. At the age of twelve, she substituted for a pianist in a vaudeville show and soon after started touring with many major musicians, becoming a professional musician in her teenage years.

As a musician myself, I cannot even imagine the work that must have gone into her career, especially being an African-American woman during her time. When you read about Mary Lou and see all of the musicians that she had worked with, you realize the importance of her talent. She worked with such musicians as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and many many more. In seeing all these muscians she worked with, it really struck me how she was the only woman among all these men and unlike many other musicians who focused on only one type of jazz, Mary Lou changed throughout her life through the many different phases of jazz and blues that had emerged. All of this seems so much for one person to be able to take on throughout their life. As said by Mary Lou much later in her life, "I did it, didn't I? Through muck and mud".

I hold a great amount of respect to this woman. She is an incredibly talented musician whose many compositions of all different styles continue to keep her alive with us today. Performances such as one at Stonehill College played by the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra truly help her influence on jazz reach many people that it may not have reached before. I know this concert greatly affected my outlook on jazz and Mary Lou Williams in a positive way. Once people attend a concert such as this one, I believe they will understand the true importance of this impeccable woman.