The Mary Lou Williams Centennial Celebration
The First Lady of Jazz
The First Lady of Jazz
now the coordinator for the Mary Lou Williams Centennial Celebration in Madison and knows a lot about Williams’ contributions to the world
of jazz.
“Mary Lou Williams was a prolific pianist,” Stanley said. “They called her ‘The Little Piano Girl’ in Pittsburgh. She was just a
phenomenal young pianist. She was self-taught and had a mentor, a woman named Lovie Austin. Mary Lou said that she would go and see
Lovie performing. As a matter of fact, Williams went to a rehearsal one time and while Austin was doing the rehearsal, she was playing the
piano with the left hand and smoking a cigarette with the right hand and she was conducting the band with her hand. And Mary Lou Williams
said ‘I’m going to be able to do that one day.’ And lo and behold, she grew into that kind of person. And it was the left hand that got me about
Mary Lou Williams. I listened to some of her music on-line and she has just a phenomenal left hand. I’m a piano player and I am very weak
with my left hand. As I look at Mary Lou Williams, it is just awesome. When she reflected on Lovie Austin, she said ‘Here I am now playing
with my left hand, but yet, I am writing music with my right hand as I am playing with my left hand.’ She got the split in the brain where she
could do both. It’s just amazing. A woman as awesome as she is and prolific as she is, I think everyone needs to know about her. I don’t
know if it was because she was Black or because she was a woman that she was virtually not mentioned in the annals of jazz history, but
she needs to be heard of and brought to the forefront of jazz.”
Since last spring, a group of Madisonians have been quietly planning a year long celebration of Williams’ life in order to highlight her
contributions and expose Madison to her music. The celebration will include the incorporation of her work in area music performances from
the Token Creek Jazz Festival to the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra. The centennial committee is also planning a Mary Lou Williams
Birthday Concert and a four-day celebration in late September that will feature nationally-renown jazz pianist Geri Allen and the Mary Lou
Williams Collective, a symposium on Williams’ contributions to jazz and the performance of a Mary Lou’s Mass, which Williams wrote after
her conversion to Catholicism.
Part of the effort is also designed to expose children to jazz as a music genre. “Knowing that jazz was born from the African American
culture, yes we need to come home to our roots and figure out ‘Hey, this is nice,’” Stanley said. “I think it is very important that we know the
various styles of African American music. No matter what your liking is, it is still good to know all of the different styles. There is blues, jazz,
gospel, rap and spirituals. This is one way that we can really focus on the jazz portion of the genres of African American music.”
The celebration kicks off on February 5 with “A Tribute to Mary Lou Williams” with Jane Reynolds on piano and John Mesoloras on bass at
the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art at 5:30 p.m. It is free for MMoCA members, $5.00 for non-members.
For more information about Mary Lou Williams, visit www.marylouwilliamsfoundation.org. To get involved in Madison’s centennial
celebration, call Lee Stanley at 608-658-8877 or e-mail him at lee@leestanley.com.
of jazz.
“Mary Lou Williams was a prolific pianist,” Stanley said. “They called her ‘The Little Piano Girl’ in Pittsburgh. She was just a
phenomenal young pianist. She was self-taught and had a mentor, a woman named Lovie Austin. Mary Lou said that she would go and see
Lovie performing. As a matter of fact, Williams went to a rehearsal one time and while Austin was doing the rehearsal, she was playing the
piano with the left hand and smoking a cigarette with the right hand and she was conducting the band with her hand. And Mary Lou Williams
said ‘I’m going to be able to do that one day.’ And lo and behold, she grew into that kind of person. And it was the left hand that got me about
Mary Lou Williams. I listened to some of her music on-line and she has just a phenomenal left hand. I’m a piano player and I am very weak
with my left hand. As I look at Mary Lou Williams, it is just awesome. When she reflected on Lovie Austin, she said ‘Here I am now playing
with my left hand, but yet, I am writing music with my right hand as I am playing with my left hand.’ She got the split in the brain where she
could do both. It’s just amazing. A woman as awesome as she is and prolific as she is, I think everyone needs to know about her. I don’t
know if it was because she was Black or because she was a woman that she was virtually not mentioned in the annals of jazz history, but
she needs to be heard of and brought to the forefront of jazz.”
Since last spring, a group of Madisonians have been quietly planning a year long celebration of Williams’ life in order to highlight her
contributions and expose Madison to her music. The celebration will include the incorporation of her work in area music performances from
the Token Creek Jazz Festival to the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra. The centennial committee is also planning a Mary Lou Williams
Birthday Concert and a four-day celebration in late September that will feature nationally-renown jazz pianist Geri Allen and the Mary Lou
Williams Collective, a symposium on Williams’ contributions to jazz and the performance of a Mary Lou’s Mass, which Williams wrote after
her conversion to Catholicism.
Part of the effort is also designed to expose children to jazz as a music genre. “Knowing that jazz was born from the African American
culture, yes we need to come home to our roots and figure out ‘Hey, this is nice,’” Stanley said. “I think it is very important that we know the
various styles of African American music. No matter what your liking is, it is still good to know all of the different styles. There is blues, jazz,
gospel, rap and spirituals. This is one way that we can really focus on the jazz portion of the genres of African American music.”
The celebration kicks off on February 5 with “A Tribute to Mary Lou Williams” with Jane Reynolds on piano and John Mesoloras on bass at
the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art at 5:30 p.m. It is free for MMoCA members, $5.00 for non-members.
For more information about Mary Lou Williams, visit www.marylouwilliamsfoundation.org. To get involved in Madison’s centennial
celebration, call Lee Stanley at 608-658-8877 or e-mail him at lee@leestanley.com.
Lee Stanley (top) is coordinating Madison’s celebration of the centennial of jazz pianist Mary
Lou Williams’ (above) birth.
Lou Williams’ (above) birth.
By Jonathan Gramling
Lee Stanly has been an accomplished
musician in the Madison area for decades
who is versatile at gospel and jazz music.
His groups have performed with the
Madison Symphony Orchestra and he
regularly conducts the gospel choirs at Mt.
Zion Baptist Church. But when he heard
there was going to be a year long
celebration during 2010 of the centennial of
Mary Lou Williams’ birth, he had to do a
double take. Although Williams is
considered to be The First Lady of Jazz and
had an arts residency at the UW-Madison in
1976, Stanley — like many Madisonians —
had never heard of her.
Fast forward six months and Stanley is
Lee Stanly has been an accomplished
musician in the Madison area for decades
who is versatile at gospel and jazz music.
His groups have performed with the
Madison Symphony Orchestra and he
regularly conducts the gospel choirs at Mt.
Zion Baptist Church. But when he heard
there was going to be a year long
celebration during 2010 of the centennial of
Mary Lou Williams’ birth, he had to do a
double take. Although Williams is
considered to be The First Lady of Jazz and
had an arts residency at the UW-Madison in
1976, Stanley — like many Madisonians —
had never heard of her.
Fast forward six months and Stanley is