Mary Lou Williams

Piano is one the popular outlets for female jazz artists. Learning to play the piano has long been encouraged for young girls although at times the pursuit of a jazz career was frowned upon by their family. There have been many pianists that have impacted the jazz world, some of whom will be discussed here over the next few weeks.

Mary Lou Williams is known as the "First Lady of Jazz Piano" and has been influential not just as a jazz pianist but also as a composer/arranger and mentor. She joined the Andy Kirk band with her first husband John Williams and aided the group in becoming popular with her arrangements, compositions and piano playing. She also wrote music for Benny Goodman, Earl Hines, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellignton and Dizzy Gillepsie. Her long career as an artist and composer gives credit to her ability to follow the current trends in music without losing her distinctive style. She was mentor and inspiration to many young jazz pianists including Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell

Here is Trumpets No End, a piece she wrote for Duke Ellington's Band

A track from her Zodiac Suite album, Scorpio:

Finally Mary's Idea a swing-band score by Williams for the Andy Kirk band

I believe she was still with the band when this was performed so that should be her on the piano.

Mary Lou Williams is truly an inspiration to all jazz pianists and composers. Not only was she an outstanding musician but also a humanitarian. She took several years off from performing to pursue charitable interests. Today the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz festival celebrates women who excel in the world of jazz.

References:

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/jazz/womeninjazz/

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.er.lib.k-state.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/30355?q=mary+lou+williams&hbutton_search.x=0&hbutton_search.y=0&hbutton_search=search&source=omo_epm&source=omo_t237&source=omo_gmo&source=omo_t114&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit

Critical Listening:

Mary Lou Williams: Gloria

Instruments: Piano, Drums, Bass

Form: AABA

Starts with congos and bass then piano enters. Halfway through she begins introducing dissonance and plays chords rather than single notes. She then moves back and forth between the lightness of the single notes and the heavier chords. The rhythm sections keeps a strong and relentless beat in the background. She stops playing toward the end and lets the drums and bass fade out. This piece reflects her desire to incorporate religious music into her composition. 

All-Female Jazz Bands

All women jazz bands have been a part jazz history since very early on in its formation. They allowed female jazz instrumentalists a chance to play among peers who viewed them as equals and focus on simply playing good music rather than fighting against gender issues. In the 1930s, WWII gave women the opportunity to come to the forefront in jazz. Several all female bands were created including the International Sweethearts of Rhythm (the first female band to be integrated) and Sharon Rogers All Girl Orchestra who played on the USO circuit. The end of the war and the end of the big band era produced a decline in the number of female jazz artists. Pianists and vocalists were still popular but the female jazz instrumentalists had a hard time finding jobs. It wasn't until the 1960s that all female jazz bands again opened the door for many aspiring female jazz artists. There were also several women band leaders for example Toshiko Akiyoshi and Carla Bley both led big bands. Marie Schneider has also become a very popular jazz orchestra leader.

Today women find it easier to pursue a successful career as a jazz instrumentalist but there are still a few all female jazz bands. One of these is Sherrie Maricle and The Diva Jazz Orchestra. The group was started by Stanley Kay after hearing Sherrie Maricle play drums in a band he conducted. They havesince become one of the best jazz bands in the world and have played numerous festivals and with other impressive artists at equally impressive venues. Rather than copy and past the list fo them all here, they are mentioned on the bands website which is sited below.

References:
http://www.allmusic.com/explore/essay/women-in-jazz-a-brief-early-history-t1801
http://www.samhillbands.com/bands/diva-jazz-orchestra/index.shtml

Critical Listening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94fcqEkPmSk&feature=related
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm-"Jump Children"
AAAB form
A short introduction followed by vocals ( I believe this is Anna Mae Winburn). She repeats 3 verses in the same style/rhythm before breaking into the B section. She then enters a call and response section where she repeats the question" Do You Want to Jump Children?" several times each time answered by children off camera. This is followed by a saxophone solo and then the whole band ends the piece. This is a full jazz band and every member is female.

Jazz Tuba/Euphonium

The discussion this last week made me want to research tuba and euphonium jazz artists. I tried looking for a female artist within the group but apparently combining two underrepresented populations of the jazz community makes for frustrating research. But this blog is more about recognizing those that haven't gotten the recognition they deserve than simply only talking about female jazz artists so I figure a slight detour isn't so bad!

I find it interesting that despite the tuba being one of the initial standard instruments for the rhythm section it faded out of the jazz scene and is now to the point where an artist pursuing jazz on tuba is somewhat of a novelty. They are still popular for outdoors events and New Orleans brass bands utilize the sousaphone. In these cases though they generally fill in the bass line and only occasionally take solos. The euphonium has never truly been part of jazz. Trombones cover the part that a euphonium might otherwise play and the ability of the trombone to play with a sharper and more focused tone is important for jazz (plus the cool glissandos!). But I find that people who choose to play euphonium are used to over coming difficulties (most the solo music we play is "stolen" from another instrument) and so of course there are those who will play jazz anyway.

There are several Tuba/Euphonium groups that play jazz and push the boundaries of what is expected of this type of group. In 1968 the first all tuba group was founded by Howard Johnson and named Gravity. In the 1970s Rich Matteson (a jazz euphoniumist, discussed in class) and Harvey Phillips created the Tubajazz Consort. Tubajazz Consort was made up of Rich Matteson, Ashley Alexander, John Allred and Buddy Baker on Euphonium; Harvy Phillips, Dan Perantoni, and R. Winston Morris on tuba; Frank Mantooth and Tommy Ferguson on Piano; Jack Persen on Guitar; Lou Fisher and Billy Michaels on Bass; Rick Kirkland and Steve Houghton on Drums. Today one of the forefront jazz tuba ensembles is the Modern Jazz Tuba Project. This is a group based in Nashville, Tennessee and consists of 3 euphoniums (Billy Huber, Barry Green, and Marcus Dickman), 3 tubas (Joe Murphy, Winston Morris, and Richard Perry) and a rhythm section (Steve Willets and Kevin Madill on "keys", Paul Binkley and Mel Dean on guitar, Jim Ferguson on Bass, and Bob Mater on drums).

In the solo world Jim Shearer and Jim Self are both professional jazz tubists. They both have numerous CDs available Ray Draper collaborated with John Coltrane on a CD entitles "A Tuba Jazz". The members of Gravity, TUBAJAZZ, and the Modern Jazz Tuba project are also well respected Jazz soloists.

References:
http://webpages.charter.net/mjtproject/aboutmjt.html
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=30217
http://www.tubagear.com/draperinfo.html
http://www.richmatteson.com/tubajazz.html
http://www.allmusic.com/album/gravity-r237673

Critical Listening plus some other clips


Modern Jazz Tuba Project
My Favorite Things
http://www.mjtproject.com/Sound%20Files/MyFavoriteThingsFULL.mp3
Overall AABA theme
Intro of horns playing off beats then rhythm section comes in and takes over for a few bars. A tuba solo enters with the melody. This is handed off to a second tuba after a short bridge. The piano then comes to the fore front. The horns enter into variations on the melody. A euphonium takes an improvisational solo. followed by A second euphonium taking a solo. The rhythm sections weaves in and out of the solo line. The whole sections enters back in briefly and the guitar is given a solo. The guitar centers around the melody much more so than the horns. The drums and horns enter a sort of back and forth section. The ensemble starts to move back to the original theme. A drum solo and high notes from the euphoniums end the piece without ever actually restating the original melody.
I also really enjoyed "Swing Swing Swing" but I can't find a copy online for you to listen to.

Other tuba/euphonium jazz youtube videos

TubaJazz Consort:

Spoofy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwSGVXWUXuk

Sotto Voce
Manhattan Suite:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L25BF5_nh8w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2n9eNS1O5o&feature=related