I just watched her play this song on a rerun ofTo Tell the Truth. I was blown away! I had to look her up since I'd never heard of Mary Lou Williams. What impressed me most about her was that she wrote and arranged music for some of the world's jazz greats: Ellington, Goodman, Gillespie, just to name a few. Thanks for sharing.
I’m a game show nerd and a jazz nerd so this basically scratches both of my itches at once. I had no idea who Mary Lou Williams was before I saw this but good GOD can that lady cook. This is just amazing.
Mary Lou Williams was mentioned in the truly fantastic series "For All Mankind" on Apple TV. As I fell in love with the character "Margo"'s rendition of a jazz piece called "For All Jazz-Kind" in the series (especially outstanding section at 2.41 onwards) I took notice when I heard "Margo" mention Mary Lou and said she was one of the best improvisers ever. Jeff Russo was the brilliant composer for the series. I don't think the music is on a CD but it is available on RU-vid as an Apple TV Original Series Soundtrack. I'd like to find the score of the above track mentioned (For All Jazz-Kind) but it doesn't seem to exist, sadly. Maybe jazz of that 'out of this world' calibre don't have 'scores'!
I don’t know if you’re a jazz musician, if you are please forgive me if it sounds like I’m talking down to you. Part of the culture of jazz is that the musicians really use their ears a lot and will transcribe the music they hear on to paper for themselves. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is somewhere. I’d suggest searching the internet for a transcription of “For All Jazz-Kind”. It might pop up that way.
