Gary Shivers on Jazz; Mary Lou Williams, Part 1 and First Half of Part 2

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ghost of love is to get a solo by mary lou williams recorded around nineteen seventy four for her album on her own label mary records the zoning mary lou williams will be our guests in the next couple of bars of this week's programme and during this hour one of the play some of her music career ranging over a long number of years

variety of influences to just to set you up for an introduce you to one of the truly great artists in jazz mary lou williams this record has made nineteen forty and nineteen forty four rather for moses asch and is currently in print on a folkways collection of all a recording she made fresh air between nineteen forty five forty four nineteen forty seven this is from april of nineteen forty four and it's another unaccompanied piano so she wrote an arrangement for benny goodman called the royal them this is her piano solo drag him set in

in in dragon was a

piano solo by mary lou williams recorded in nineteen forty four i want to hear some of reminiscences about mary lou williams and the period of time the place she essentially came from which was kansas city of nearly thirty years with andy kirk's orchestra some years ago i asked dave dexter to reminisce on tape about kansas city jazz he was producing records for capital at the time and jessie price the drummer was recording for capital at the time with jim and shannon they went to his capitol studio together and played some records of that music mostly record the dave dexter had produced and to talk together about those days of the facts aren't necessarily entirely accurate but the impressions and the feelings are and i want you to hear a bit of that first note about who these people are dave dexter then i was a writer for the kansas city journal post then in the late thirties in his forties he was editor of downbeat produced a very important album of kansas city

jazz music for decca records in nineteen forty which remained in their catalog for more than a quarter of a century and later produce the first history of jazz and capitol records where he was a producer for more than thirty years currently is writing for four billboard magazine on the west coast jessie price was the drummer with harlan leonard's band in kansas city and a lot of other bands during the thirties and forties before he went to the west coast where he was a studio drummer until his death in i think nineteen seventy four this was a more than a dozen years ago though that dave dexter and jessie price remembered kansas city jazz and the music of mary lou williams and after we hear their brief thoughts will listen to a series of recordings by mary lou williams this is a miniature record this is also work in the same age as our show was really angry williams as a little spark you know

let's just take just a little askew it a minute moore was a real swing and check you know all at their use a file about that she's done at the foundation for the other musicians and yet one of things you know that have a place to stay at that took sick and then well you could send him to this foundation has days left on the newly actually is issued didn't have were money to support this has anything like that she's done that those horse battalion

thirties are again to sit in the wrong one was in new york as editor of downbeat more efficiently for someone with this woman very creative professions well aren't you then affect that was actually i was in high school or in their early thirties it was hard to see bands with his living for all kinds of illegal places you know as a bold mission i do remember that very vividly and we would each was on the north side of the city not far from the airport and i remember later on when i was a reporter of the oakland city journal posed one of the saddest things i regret was recently hour early one morning to cover the fire that destroyed one would the hair swept back in the early thirties and he laid out the cost and as a member of mexico should look like she was about thirteen years old this probably wasn't much more than sixty six gray

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thank you years ago

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i'm renee montagne i

do mildred bailey and we heard today arkansas blues and you don't know my mind blues two of the half dozen recordings of mildred bailey made with the oxford graze the way she build her group on the recording session in march of nineteen thirty nine and the session the section of the rhythm section

is mostly drawn from andy kirk's been at dougherty was on drums johnny williams based floyd smith guitar and marry william and mary lou williams was the pianist in march of nineteen thirty nine between those two recordings of mary lou williams in and mildred bailey together we heard a piano solo by mildred bailey and i am by mary lou record the same year in october of nineteen thirty nine for columbia her first piano so those weren't under her own name were recorded for brunswick in nineteen thirty that piano solo was so little joe from chicago i recorded a nineteen thirty nine for columbia until we started with the harmony blues recorded by dave dexter for the kansas city jazz all indicate nineteen fourteen november of that year it was a contingent from the andy kirk band of gold is mary lou williams and her kansas city seven the group that dick wilson and tenor ed in the coronet harold akers shorty baker and trumpet theodor w trombone bug repellent based been thinking and drums and mary lou williams was a pianist composer and

arranger of harmony blues in nineteen forty here is a remarkable recording by mary lou was a remarkable combination musicians dominated by gun buyers and tanner we're going to hear two parts recording of stardust in a quite sophisticated arrangement but by mary lou williams the second part is perhaps even more interesting than the first part because it features more gun buyers the first part to a primarily featured dick van son trumpet the rest of the group then served unbiased manner that dickinson trombone caught green clarinet our lucas isn't based jack parker drums and mary lou williams piano this was recorded in nineteen forty four to parts of stardust featuring don byas with mary lou williams james has again

it's be

at seed says sang

yoon and in the end one in yemen in moving moving hi

and va va va and awe mary

how our

skin today from june of nineteen forty four mary lou williams with gun buyers some tenor of the remarkable performance of stardust in the second part especially was a two part performance and the other soloists besides mary lou williams piano and unbiased manner where dick manson trumpet that dickinson trombone caught green coronet how lucas mason jack parker was on drums from nineteen forty four to parts of stardust arranged

by mary lou williams in nineteen forty three lou williams made of remarkable recording for the varsity label which has been reissued and there were other recordings from the session but this one has been reissued in the new world records anthology of american music which is very large set of records produced beginning with a bicentennial year to and solid jazz american music for libraries radio stations the volume and jasmine revolution the big bands in the nineteen forties selected to this recording is one of the revolutionary ones of that period was selected by gunther schuller david baker and i'm very open and their burial of wrote of it in part that the mary lou williams and dick wilson bring zaki a degree of interest in dimension that would not otherwise have they're the only solace who are at ease with a brisk temple unusually fast for the period and restructure their comments with concise this and the feeling of involvement

within the space of a chorus williams generates a great sense of swing her ideas move one to the other without pause and she seems very much in control where she lands almost tangible excitement this effort stylistically she reminds one of teddy wilson at his most concentrated the recording was made in november rather in in january of nineteen forty eight was billed as six men in a girl and on this new world records anthology of his inaccurately attributed the arrangement to gil evans the arrangement by marie williams of the six men and a girl are all members of the andy kirk and earl thompson trumpet player buddy miller coronet that wilson center mary lou williams' piano floyd smith guitar booker collins base and that they have been thinking and drums the music is by fats waller song he recorded in nineteen forty by mary lou williams' theme

is a good agency business the

creek thank you it's

bleak he's been it's been as business been ms bee

gees there's the pay to pay to play aiden high recorded live on december twenty six nineteen forty

seven that's duke ellington's orchestra featuring the trumpet section and blue skies are trumpets no end to the courts of blue skies the arrangement written for duke ellington's band in nineteen forty seven by mary lou williams we talked in a recent programme with that with that pierce a pianist who's been ill longtime student and and scholar of kansas city piano styles we talk to them about kansas city pianists in kansas city time one pianos from kansas city mary lou williams in the poems that pier so strongly especially in one particular solo that woody herman and his band that pierce was playing at the time introduced him as mary lou williams at which caused no end of confusion the recording was made in nineteen sixty five for columbia the album was woody's winners originally and it was in that pierce arrangement of opus de funk but horace over which featured that pierces piano solo and gary klein on

tenor and the trumpets of the light go chasing this kilgore to pitch we're going to hear that their performance and that pierced play a solo so influenced by mary lou williams that the woody herman introduces him by that name and we're also going to hear just a bit of a brief conversation about that incident and that event and the confusion it was recorded a couple of years later of the conversions are billy taylor another pianist an admirer of mary lou williams woody herman's be williams that's the view that you've caused no end of confusion on my show and that one of your records came out oprah's before he said the big informant williams and so i've had to explain all of this is that

this may make that call up daily routine since i'm pretty deep seeded into collaborating with anti gay and then also when i do any of these satirical but i'm kyle organize and silly believe that men who would be upset that it was a lead of that she was aware that someone had called her they're still bothered me over was that she was playing catch and then says you know there's he was the season they're really though is that funny he's been the

fbi has been the pope it's by

a piece by the key it's

been the point it's b it's b it's been a day it's

been the pay is better it's been the point it's big that's bleak it's being the pope has been kind of things

but it's both it's b and

it's b and when we can the pay

to play as bernie it's

b the pay to pay the piece blue at

ouch ouch ouch a new seeds are actually odor

right

it's been as bell

when mary lou williams best known compositions which are story morning glory and we heard

the classic hit version by jimmy ones for hess and a piano solo that you made in nineteen forty six and then to record was really ever fabulous it went all over the world every place that i know when i was with him to care and it everywhere we travel we could hear that there was a startling <unk> been played her the song come about well the polish it withdrew last bands to write letters and he hadn't heard from in quite a while so he wrote a letter saying i was a star morning glory i haven't heard from you yet something so i wrote a tune from that did you read the words to a well i did but someone no more per professional had to do something about the lyrics that i wrote because i'm not a lear says the tune is reminiscent of at least one of the black coffee but it is other one and heartbreak hotel while his brain to sing to you right well without a lot of fact we were able to

tell some of your melodies that melody so important is this recently to twenty years ago the puppy rose villa the librettist to maryland's manager and longtime friend nice to be here your association with maryland goes to his own nineteen sixty four when i first met her and working since seven day with little odd things before that here in their engagement now men are a male used to do a great she still does matter of fact workshops or appearances in schools even grammar schools high schools and i arranged a couple things like that are mass which she wrote well mary lou's mass comes along about nineteen seventy but she'd written to masses before that and other sacred pieces and i remember one occasion when there was a kind of an arts program at fordham university for high school kids american mug and train them to sing her

mask for a special thing will things like that during the sixties and then we hope that more less about nineteen seventy and now to gather you're teaching jazz history courses in the jazz program is quite a few few things together duke university most are here from that because there's a kiss a beautiful just like a big love you're married you have worked there and peter is written this that you have you are one of the few living jazz musicians who has played and worked actively in every period in jazz history class and what was new ways yeah playing the history of that resists and they lived through the histories never changes to stop but did i was born into accept and this is when i was in atlanta ga and i began to play my mother taught me the spirit was and ragtime and then there

twenty nine here of the yearling syncopate as i was with a small combo when i was in grade school and early the next year the kansas city nineteen thirties the swing era i happen to be in that era played with him are certain and about care of the visitors to write the music of the house smack apartment that come at three or four o'clock and why would step all night writing ted demme and long enormous monk but our miles davis some diseases has been their mel torme sarah vaughan and they we always met early in the morning after my job i work until three o'clock at the cafe society downtown minneapolis and then they'd be waiting for me when i got home you're always been there is a relatively modern era out today is very about that type of play what i used to do that in kansas city where they used to all those literally wow that doesn't sound

like the guys would do jail all night around seven o'clock and wanted to meet greyson's zombie music and i go into a bag that you know like cecil taylor it the new album you have reviewed theater for his figure is about the blues and this was mean and iran saab quite a while and it is so crazy about the blues and asking if he recorded cecil taylor now that i'd do blues lp for him and that made him very happy because he's really end so that goes forward in his music from the album because i want to talk about the first two because it's one you intend cynthia says sometimes the sentences are aware of the guaranteed one know she came to the el to do you know audition farming and i heard her sing a bot as great as he's a great lyricist and so i've been working with a number of psalms

we had a question the other day about the blues a plan something out for the kids and the girl so i don't see the blues then because she had a strict certain idea of the format of what the blues was sent away on a recent might approach a song or bessie smith or something like that and numb this album has a has the blues feeling our way through every once in a while a real blues now standard street blues but the blues feeling runs through all of that so that's the mayor's trivia st mary's tree of dough that the history of jazz the trunk to roots down into the roots of the tree down into the hole black experience in this country than spirituals ragtime kansas city in modern along the side of the trunk you got the blues all the way up and i went out the blows it has no sound of feeling in this first set of blues were going to hear from the album the first one is the blues that you wrote with cynthia tyson and then there's a blues for norman granz and then birch blues

that i love that our card for the president kennedy when he was assassinated i've got a feeling i wrote something about it so they're right way to depart from the normal format of the blues but the feeling it's much more complicated than any blues and in format records and whatnot but the feeling is underneath in their cell and then they get their boogie which when the first little corner is a boogie woogie which is another form of the blues kids that nobody would you know what i did say was the old fashioned those the way they were played as the centuries ago on this lp because that's what's really needed in most of the music and most owners cold and people they've misconstrued the idea about the blues they think the blues is it's a slow drag a thing but the blues has temple stood he can be played fast everything but you a musician or listener someone's listening to music and really know what they can feel that the blues

in anyone's plane even coltrane that ad that really never let him examined guard as he was saying the blues isn't just one feeling you know it's really it's one feeling of love and it makes you feel good when you hear but then as an alternative music second it's about one play out about that it was still be there that feeling an end most people think the slow blues you should get all the losers no no because we have a sixteen twenty two by the old blues were twelve lives they never let that maybe you lose some jazzy did but the helm of blues has twelve but fourteen sixteen twenty two and they get to barstow thing is that all thought was a really hilarious free booze for his acquittal blues and this i have a blues that i play and they're basically goes completely free

like cecil taylor on the end of it that we drop back to the blues again it's from the new album with his mother brenda rhodes only by mary lou williams salmon in a new moon you lay dying many

and when a day we hear man

a nuclear rooted in

wilma as bell

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and man and it's big

lamb

man

man now it's been

mary lou williams plays for dancing baby their ability

and we're hurt blues and norman granz blues angie blues and problems for cynthia thompson how long is that the blues all my life that enables has always been in the music seeks escape from the spiritual it went right into the blues you know it's the slaves you know when they would they have created their spear drills and it began to dance and move into the the fox is on the outside it went into the blues you know someone baby baby is says if someone was but in love i miss my baby that they had to do to win and to that end up playing them all my life it is it's hard to hear any of your music without hearing the influence of the blues and this was the feeling now is not exactly the case notes that you heard this that terrific feeling in over love that is the things

that this next set of tunes from the album starts with turtles be what exactly and grimmelmann title and blues for peter is some of a and artistry goes in and out of rhythms and then into a complete free section or a more or less modern chords and some more complicated and modern courts and has been good to you peter well but he always got his inspiration from the blues so i wrote one farm where court threw out there out of that lyric plan and plan out here and no one wants to read the lyric marry of the i can't see that my glasses maybe you should read in carie read the lyric of the opening the blue song time we paid our dues born from misery and pain the heart and soul of

flame you ain't heard nothing to leave her of the blues technology is where some folks want to be big feelings what it's all about playing in their playing out you include nothing to the point that's blaine is a hospital billion in bills to figure out that they both have the blues feeling of them and then we'll here mama and rosa and omar you went on a little girl my stepfather is to get me off from fifteen to twenty eight hours to play the boat here blooms for him and he taught me this one when i was located and marketing gimmick says to play our sorrows of the classic silent classic promise after their you know the day of the attack a piano played the roles and but i'd make more money off of this or my stepfather taught this to me when i was a stuffed little baby turtles the blues clues for peter mr mark and rose only american leaders fb