"Anything you are shows up in your music ..."

"Anything you are shows up in your music ...": “Her early records are collectors' items. Her writing and playing have become part of the pattern of jazz history. She has transcended the difficulties experienced by women in the music field and through several decades has held a position of eminence as one of jazz's most original and creative pianists. She speaks softly: ‘Anything you are shows up in your music—jazz is whatever you are playing yourself, being yourself, letting your thoughts come through.’” Mary Lou Williams: Into The Sun, a conversational profile by fellow pianist Marian McPartland, 1964.

Some of the then-contemporary choral works mentioned in the article:



"Black Christ of the Andes (St Martin de Porres)"

"The Devil"

"Anima Christi"

"Praise The Lord"



A few representative works from throughout her career:



"Little Joe from Chicago," a Mary Lou composition, with Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy [1930]

"Night Life," a brilliant stride piano solo [1930]

"Until The Real Thing Comes Along," with Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy [1936]

"Roll 'Em," a Mary Lou composition commissioned for the Benny Goodman Orchestra [1937]

A 1944 solo piano session: "Blue Skies," "Caravan," "Yesterdays," "Mary's Boogie," "Drag 'Em," and "St Louis Blues"

From her 1945 "Zodiac" cycle: "Scorpio," Gemini," "Leo," "Cancer," "Libra"

"Cloudy" [1945 or 1946]

"Trumpet No End," an arrangement of "Blue Skies" written by Mary Lou for the Duke Ellington Orchestra [1946]

"In The Land of Oo-Bla-Dee," a Mary Lou composition for Dizzy Gillespie [1949]

"My Blue Heaven" [live, 1960]

"Miss D. D." [1963]

"Autumn Leaves," with Bobby Hackett and Dizzy Gillespie [1971]

From the incredibly diverse album Zoning, which featured everything from Harlem stride to afro-Cuban and jazz funk: "Syl-O-Gism," "Medi I," "Gloria," "Rosa Mae"

"You Know Baby" / "Pittsburgh," a straight-up classic R&B single [1975]

"The Man I Love / Honeysuckle Rose," "Over The Rainbow / Offertory Meditation" [1978]