Pioneer Women of Jazz Instrumentalists- Mary Lou Williams

Mary Lou Williams was a composer and was one of the first great woman arranger and pianists. She was respected by her male peers at a time when that wasn’t common. Mary Lou achieved and maintained that level of respect.

Williams was the architect of the sound of Andy Kirk’s Clouds of Joy during the Kansas City era and went on to write for Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Jimmie Lunceford, to name a few.

In the 1940' she s wrote The Zodiac Suite.

In the 1960' she began a spiritual approach with the recording "Black Christ of the Andes."