mary lou williams, “rosa mae,”
from: piano jazz sessions w/Marian mcpartland, 1978
Ms. Williams career in jazz was encyclopedic. Long forgotten perhaps as many figures in music have their fates fall. A child prodigy, she was picking up small tunes to play on piano by 3. At 12 she played in public for the first time. Her 61 years performing include a veritable who’s who of century: Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Thelonious Monk, and Billie Holiday. As we remember her, she lives.