Here we go Mary Lou

[Serial_Apologist]

Sat 16 Nov
5pm - J to Z
Julian Joseph presents a session from vocalist Brigitte Beraha and her group Babelfish, who perform new material. And UK vocal great Cleveland Watkiss marks his 60th birthday year by sharing tracks that hive inspired him, from Duke Ellington to a reggae recording that led him to reflect on his West Indian heritage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bffy

Don't forget this Friday's J to Z direct from the London Jazz Festival at 11pm.

12midnight - Freeness
Corey Mwamba with boundary-busting new jazz and improvised music. This week's show features Roscoe Mitchell (of the Art Ensemble of Chicago) choosing tracks that have influenced him. Plus a live recording of Cleveland Watkiss's UK All Stars.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bfg4

Sun 17 Nov
4pm - Jazz Record Requests

http://www.alynshipton.co.uk/blog

And all next week, Monday to Friday:

12pm - Composer of the Week: Mary Lou Williams (1910-1990)

Wow!!!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Well, I thought (pour ça moment)...

http://youtu.be/ZSoKUm8WsKs

"Play it James..."

BN

[Serial_Apologist]

Well, I thought (pour ça moment)...

http://youtu.be/ZSoKUm8WsKs

"Play it James..."

BN

I was thinking more Here We Go Loopy-Loo, given present-day politics. No offense meant, of course.

[Joseph K]

12pm - Composer of the Week: Mary Lou Williams (1910-1890)

Back to the Future?

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I was thinking more Here We Go Loopy-Loo, given present-day politics. No offense meant, of course.

Amen. And glancing back at that video of Rick/Ricky Nelson, I noticed the drummer not entering into the teen spirit of the 'ting, merely half-heartedly tapping a cow bell. Where did he REALLY want to be, playing the Blackhawk with Miles? Just be grateful for the gig.

BN.

[Serial_Apologist]

Back to the Future?

Thanks for drawing that to the mis-attention, Joseph. Will be rectified... and put right.

(This is the problem with "reading into" too much through a postmodern lens - ie through hindquarters!)

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

The Mary Lou Williams Composer of the Week (starting lunchtime today, Monday) was very good. The first program being an outline of her range and career, with more in depth tomorrow. Good to see R3 doing this with respect, more please.

BN.

[Jazzrook]

The Mary Lou Williams Composer of the Week (starting lunchtime today, Monday) was very good. The first program being an outline of her range and career, with more in depth tomorrow. Good to see R3 doing this with respect, more please.

BN.

A fascinating programme which I'm glad I recorded.
Look forward to hearing the remaining four and perhaps we'll hear something from her encounter with Cecil Taylor in 1977.

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

A fascinating programme which I'm glad I recorded.
Look forward to hearing the remaining four and perhaps we'll hear something from her encounter with Cecil Taylor in 1978.

JR

I've tended to buy the line that that meeting was an unmitigated disaster, notwithstanding Ms Williams assiduous effort to stake her place in the music. I have read differently. Time for a re-assessment?

[eighthobstruction]

SO, did anybody flag this up....it was very good..https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...yond-the-notes

[Serial_Apologist]

SO, did anybody flag this up....it was very good..https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...yond-the-notes

Not quite yet, but thanks 8th, will get round to it. Pfffffffffffff!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Jazz Times...

"Listeners—at least those in Mary’s camp—saw little of the “love” she had urged Taylor to play after the difficult first half. Backstage, fur flew. “I slammed the door on him hard,” says Peter O’Brien, “and saxophonist Paul Jeffrey, who was listening backstage, had to be physically restrained from punching him. Mary came off the stage and said to me, ‘Oh man, I played my ass off.’ And she did, but I made her go back out there.” Her adrenaline was up and Mary played brilliant encores: “Night in Tunisia,” “Bags’ Groove,” and “I Can’t Get Started,” the last a frequent source of inspiration for Mary.

Perhaps the best review, though never published, came from Nica de Koenigswarter, in a letter she shot off to Mary after the concert, written in the jazz baroness’s beautiful hand and careful multicolored underlinings:

"Rather than an ’embrace,’ it seemed to one like a confrontation between heaven and hell, with you (heaven) emerging gloriously triumphant!!! I know it wasn’t meant to be that way, but this is the way it seemed. I also know what a sweet cat C.T. is and what beautiful things he writes, in words, that is, but the funny part is that he looks just like the Devil when he plays as well as sounding like it, as far as I am concerned, sheets of nothingness, apparently seductive to some. Anyway I loved Mickey Roker and Bob Cranshaw for seeming like guardian angels, coming to your defense and it was worth it all to hear you bring it back to music."

I have the Max Roach/Cecil Taylor concert on tape somewhere, although in truth I have never played it since. I'm told it's more productive than the above. Weird thing is Taylor was a big Mary Lou fan right up to that brief "encounter".

BN.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Mary Lou Williams & Cecil Taylor..."Ayizan" from "Embraced". Good luck to all who sail on this storm tossed sea...

http://youtu.be/6lcJKmgIAHU

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Mary Lou Williams in London, 1953.
With Kenny Napper, Alan Ganley and....Tony Scott no less Congas.
The track "Koolbongo" which was played on R3 this morning. I really like this, neatly done with odd shades of Ray Charles in that trill she plays. Not saying there's any influence either way, just reminded me of Ray's "Mary Ann" a bit....

http://youtu.be/1V8CPyd5PAQ

[Ian Thumwood]

It is weird that the record with Cecil Taylor gets quoted so often in relation to Mary Lou Williams' career because there was so much more to her work. I think she was a pretty complex personality and not lacking in confidence so you can appreciate why she did not hit if off with Taylor whose ego was pretty large too. She was supposed to have a high opinion of herself which put her at odds with her contemporaries.

She had already recorded before becoming a member of Andy Kirk's band where she effectively created the band's identity. I love these recordings even though at the time the Kirk band was not looked down upon by bands such as Basie's which was far harder driving and more forward looking. With the passage of time it is possible to see just how original Kirk's band was and I think the music it produced in the late to mid thirties was extremely musical. Listing to CofW, the tracks initially chosen all come from later in her career but she was already one of the most forward thinking even in the 1930s. She was perhaps compatible to Earl Hines in many respects and I find her approach to rhythm to be very similar. There are a whole swathe of arrangements written for Kirk by MLW which a less bombastic approach to big band swing than many of her contemporaries and I hope these get picked up in the next episode. I have always loved this record and am always intrigued by the voicings used. I have never quite worked out what the line up is in the opening chorus. I think it is two clarinets and a muted trumpet but have never been quite sure or it could be a saxophone, clarinet and trumpet. It is really interesting to hear an arranger using different combinations of instruments as opposed to simply employing sections at this early point in time.

I really like MLW's piano playing which became more less indebted to stride as she grew older but it is still rooted in the blues. She may have flirted with Bop and been brave enough to confront Cecil Taylor but , for the most part, her piano playing reflected the more modern elements of the swing era. It is a shame that she always seems to get credit for writing "Roll 'em " for Goodman and "Walkin' & Swingin'" for Kirk whereas so much of her writing needs to have wider attention. I think her initial arrangement date from the late twenties when Kirk had just taken over Terrance Holder's band (which are still impressive for the era) but her arranging for the band in the next decade is , in my opinion, a high point in jazz during the 1930s. You can check out any of her work with Kirk from this era and find something to marvel at. I would be staggered if CofW did not make due recognisance of her work with Kirk which represents one of the crowning achievements in jazz writing up until that point and still sounds innovative and impressive in 2019.

I would also have to add that if you wanted to name check an underrated tenor player, I think Dick Wilson's work with Kirk demonstrates one of the key stylists on that instrument of that era and is certainly a musician whose name should be better known.