For those not involved with the jazz world, hearing that Mary Lou Williams was one of the only musicians to "play through," "transcend," and play fluently in all the eras of jazz leads to questions: what are the "eras of jazz"? And: who should care? But the fact remains that to this day, most jazz musicians know Williams's name and almost none of her music.
Williams believed that jazz music has the power to heal individuals and communities. At age forty-seven, she converted to Catholicism, and chose voluntary poverty in order to rehabilitate the sick in her community. Her gospel message that "jazz is love" lives on through her extraordinary--if little heard--catalog of recordings and compositions.
In Mary Lou Williams: Music for the Soul, musician and Williams scholar, Deanna Witkowski, offers a poignant portrait of this pioneering jazz pianist-composer.
Cart Contents 
