The Madison Music Collective celebrates Mary Lou Williams
The first woman of jazz
The first woman of jazz
But yet it isn’t that simple. Yes, Mary Lou Williams was a child prodigy, playing the piano by the time she was four years old and soon after making a living
helping to make ends meet for her family. Maybe it was that she was thrust into a nurturing role at such a tender age, a role that she never let go or grew out of.
So instead of being driven to be the most widely known virtuoso of jazz that the world had ever known, she stayed behind the scenes nurturing this art form called
jazz to different heights whether it be slide jazz or be bop and nurturing some of its greatest stars such as Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell so that they would hit
new heights in their worlds as well.
To listen to her piano repartees, coaxing incredible melodies out of those ivories, is to be taken to a different place and time. Her genius is immediately
evident and indelibly etched in one’s musical soul, this woman whom Duke Ellington said was like ‘Soul on Soul.’
And yet, she remains in obscurity until someone happens by her biography, “Morning Glory” by Linda Dahl. Fabu, Madison’s poet laureate happened upon
this gem of a book and was enthralled because Mary Lou’s life spoke to her life as an artist. And Fabu shared the biography with her friend and collaborator Jane
Reynolds who knew of Mary Lou Williams and had listened to her music. But Jane Reynolds, jazz pianist and composer, did not know Mary Lou Williams. She
did not know the genius and the pain that were the essence of Mary Lou.
And so together, Fabu and Jane set out on an artistic journey to discover the genius and essence of Mary Lou Williams. We sit near Jane Reynolds’s piano in
her east side home as Fabu and Jane reminisce about their earlier and contemporary collaboration. “What I did was go through the book and read about her,”
Jane said. “I didn’t know a lot of things about her either. I was looking at music that I wanted to represent the different points of her life. Then I had to go and find
it, the recordings, and then I had to transcribe them and put them on my computer so I could print them out. It was a lot of work doing that. Then I would tell
Fabu ‘This is the music I am looking at. Here’s where it is in the book. This is what it is about.’”
And Fabu composed poetry that got inside of Mary Lou’s life, that got inside her head to express what Fabu thought Mary Lou was feeling when she wrote
the music. The result of this collaboration was a performance at the 2000 Isthmus Jazz Festival.
Fabu and Jane are teaming up again on March 19 in the Capitol Lakes Grand Ballroom, 333 W. Main Street, at 7:30 p.m., for a performance sponsored by
the Madison Music Collective. While they will be performing some of their earlier work, they will be presenting six new pieces at this show.
“I think it makes for an interesting evening because it is a collaboration between Jane and myself with Mary Lou’s words and her music,” Fabu said. “The
names of the poems are the names of the actual musical pieces. Some of them have music played with them, underneath them, around them and after them.” It
will be a night that will allow other to discover the beauty and genius of Mary Lou as well.
Next issue: Reflections on the life and meaning of Mary Lou Williams
helping to make ends meet for her family. Maybe it was that she was thrust into a nurturing role at such a tender age, a role that she never let go or grew out of.
So instead of being driven to be the most widely known virtuoso of jazz that the world had ever known, she stayed behind the scenes nurturing this art form called
jazz to different heights whether it be slide jazz or be bop and nurturing some of its greatest stars such as Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell so that they would hit
new heights in their worlds as well.
To listen to her piano repartees, coaxing incredible melodies out of those ivories, is to be taken to a different place and time. Her genius is immediately
evident and indelibly etched in one’s musical soul, this woman whom Duke Ellington said was like ‘Soul on Soul.’
And yet, she remains in obscurity until someone happens by her biography, “Morning Glory” by Linda Dahl. Fabu, Madison’s poet laureate happened upon
this gem of a book and was enthralled because Mary Lou’s life spoke to her life as an artist. And Fabu shared the biography with her friend and collaborator Jane
Reynolds who knew of Mary Lou Williams and had listened to her music. But Jane Reynolds, jazz pianist and composer, did not know Mary Lou Williams. She
did not know the genius and the pain that were the essence of Mary Lou.
And so together, Fabu and Jane set out on an artistic journey to discover the genius and essence of Mary Lou Williams. We sit near Jane Reynolds’s piano in
her east side home as Fabu and Jane reminisce about their earlier and contemporary collaboration. “What I did was go through the book and read about her,”
Jane said. “I didn’t know a lot of things about her either. I was looking at music that I wanted to represent the different points of her life. Then I had to go and find
it, the recordings, and then I had to transcribe them and put them on my computer so I could print them out. It was a lot of work doing that. Then I would tell
Fabu ‘This is the music I am looking at. Here’s where it is in the book. This is what it is about.’”
And Fabu composed poetry that got inside of Mary Lou’s life, that got inside her head to express what Fabu thought Mary Lou was feeling when she wrote
the music. The result of this collaboration was a performance at the 2000 Isthmus Jazz Festival.
Fabu and Jane are teaming up again on March 19 in the Capitol Lakes Grand Ballroom, 333 W. Main Street, at 7:30 p.m., for a performance sponsored by
the Madison Music Collective. While they will be performing some of their earlier work, they will be presenting six new pieces at this show.
“I think it makes for an interesting evening because it is a collaboration between Jane and myself with Mary Lou’s words and her music,” Fabu said. “The
names of the poems are the names of the actual musical pieces. Some of them have music played with them, underneath them, around them and after them.” It
will be a night that will allow other to discover the beauty and genius of Mary Lou as well.
Next issue: Reflections on the life and meaning of Mary Lou Williams
By Jonathan Gramling
Part 1 of 2
Smooth Medi*
every time
I put my fingers to the keyboard
I meditate on beauty.
every time
creativity flows
I celebrate the music in me.
every time
I play caressing, strident, both
I am forever young.
every time
I feel my sorrows
the joy of jazz refreshes me.
every time I play
I share
I celebrate
I meditate.
*Smooth Medi is a composition by Jazz genius Mary Lou Williams. This is a poem written
by Fabu about the composition using the same title.
Mary Lou Williams was a gem that was hidden in plain sight. She is in those old black and
white photos from way back — she was the First Lady of Jazz for almost 60 years — easily to be
seen by all. But perhaps figuratively — or not — she is crowded out by all of those male egos
that elbowed up to the front, the John Coltranes and Louis Armstrongs and Benny Goodmans of
the world.
Part 1 of 2
Smooth Medi*
every time
I put my fingers to the keyboard
I meditate on beauty.
every time
creativity flows
I celebrate the music in me.
every time
I play caressing, strident, both
I am forever young.
every time
I feel my sorrows
the joy of jazz refreshes me.
every time I play
I share
I celebrate
I meditate.
*Smooth Medi is a composition by Jazz genius Mary Lou Williams. This is a poem written
by Fabu about the composition using the same title.
Mary Lou Williams was a gem that was hidden in plain sight. She is in those old black and
white photos from way back — she was the First Lady of Jazz for almost 60 years — easily to be
seen by all. But perhaps figuratively — or not — she is crowded out by all of those male egos
that elbowed up to the front, the John Coltranes and Louis Armstrongs and Benny Goodmans of
the world.
| Top: Jane Reynolds (l) and Fabu Above: Mary Lou Williams performs |