Collection 1927-59

I read a review here before I purchased that basically said to forget about disk one (of two) as it detailed her time with Andy Kirk's band during the pre swing and swing eras. I disagree: I preferred disk one as it gave me some samples of an underrated band of that time period with which I should have been more familiar. In summary; I knew they were good, but I didn't have enough exposure to know how good they were.

Who was it that said that the best things in life are fairly inexpensive? This certainly applies to this budget two-disc set of the great Mary Lou Williams in her early prime (she was equally great as an older woman up until near her death in 1981). The first disc is, for me, mostly a snooze. Mary Lou is there, but she mostly plays a supporting role for the Twelve Clouds of Joy, she being one of the twelve, but there are some good bits with the MLW Trio and a nice solo of her own "Night Life." Corny vocals are a major liability for me, though some will appreciate the cultural-historical aspects if not the "art," which is roughly equal to that of a grade C movie from the '30s (Mary's playing excepted).The reason to own this set is the second disc, where she is featured much more prominently, including some solo pieces of originals and standards ("Blue Skies"), some interesting combos (one with Benny Goodman, another with Don Byas, and a handful with Mary and her orchestra), and a few cuts from her Zodiac Suite. The cuts are certainly a grab bag, especially on the second disc, and the continuity doesn't make a lot of sense. Yet for the price, this is pretty good. Completists/purists will want to hunt down sets that make more sense context-wise. As for her playing, well, it's top notch; as perhaps the great female jazz pianist (certainly of the '30s and '40s but probably later as well), she is the epitome of class, good taste, impeccable technique, and endless creativity. She is always accessible and never overplays; like Errol Garner, her playing is always interesting, and the woman could swing!

Goody buy. Was what I expected.

Great music.

Fantastic pianist, great collection.

Excellent background music for any occasion.

Fantastic

Great purchase. My kind of jazz!

diese frau ist ein erlebnis

Williams is typically described as the greatest female arranger and pianist in jazz history, which, while true, rather undersells her talent, because she was one of the greatest arrangers and pianists in jazz, full stop. Unfortunately, she lived and worked in an era which made it tough to achieve true recognition if you were black or female, and if you were both, you were on a real hiding to nothing. Still, it's never too late to put the record straight, and this excellent budget CD overview of her career is an excellent jumping-on point to get to know this remarkable talent.Five stars are not however given here for what nitwits would call PC or SJW reasons. They're given because the music is superb. The double CD covers the period from Williams' first recording, in 1926, to the time when she went into temporary retirement in 1959. This gives ample evidence that she was probably the most forward-thinking jazz musician of her generation, constantly alert to the music's ongoing rhythmic and harmonic changes. Her first fully solo piano recording, 1930's Night Life, is an astonishingly advanced piece of stride piano, but loses none of the sub-genre's physicality even as it explores new territory. The rest of CD one is largely taken up by her work with Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy (twelve appears to be a mean number of personnel, as the headcount on these sides ambles anywhere from 11 to 15). Williams worked for the band as arranger, pianist, frequent composer and de facto musical director throughout the 1930s, to the extent that Kirk's role in the proceedings is almost impossible to detect. A band like this, which relied on sound rather than star soloists, not only needed to swing, it needed to catch the ear with something distinctive, and Williams' work fit the bill perfectly, with arrangements more ahead of their time than any other band of the era apart from Ellington's. Williams' most famous compositions, What's Your Story Morning Glory and Little Joe From Chicago, are present and correct and entirely delightful.The second disc takes us through the forties and fifties when Williams was essentially freelancing. It captures her in a wide variety of settings, from solo recordings through piano-plus-rhythm-section groups to a diverse mix of "larger small" groups, including an all-female band which is by quite some margin the most interesting ensemble herein. These recordings see her involved in increasingly modernist settings. Williams absorbs the new music with flair, as, with the possible exception of Coleman Hawkins, no other musician of her generation was more interested and comfortable working in bebop. On one track here she even helps steer Benny Goodman into modernism (in which, to be fair, he handles himself extremely well). She works with more star names in these years, including Hawkins, various Basie-ites, and modernists such as Kenny Dorham and Wardell Gray. Her finest collaboration with a big name, however, is a quite staggering Lullaby of the Leaves, recorded with Don Byas in Paris in the mid-fifties. There's also a curious attempt, made during a London sojourn, to cash in on the Winifred Atwell market, and, to close, an attempt to cash in on the R&B market. If CD1 looks at her work with Kirk in depth, CD2 is all about breadth. What unites both CDs is the consistency of a musician who never failed to combine relentless swing and imperious precision with an exploratory imagination.The sound quality on some tracks isn't great: this may reflect problems with the source recordings, some of which are from very obscure labels. Overall though this is an exemplary introduction to a fascinating musician and one which will give pleasure as well as mental stimulation.

Absolutely fantastic.

This is the album for anyone wishing to hear the best from this under-rated performer, both as a pianist and a writer.

an intriguing collection by somebody who encompassed a myriad of styles