02.02.10
Express -- make a list of your favorite jazz pianists. Is
Mary Lou Williams ' name there? If not, it should be. Williams is a well-known reckon within the jazz world -- the Kennedy Center's annual carnival celebrating women in jazz is named after her -- but she lacks the eminence of Thelonious Monk, Ramsey Lewis and other pianists. It's a show up, because the woman could swing. She played with Benny Goodman in the '30s -- her employment on the boogie-woogie classic "Roll 'Em" is astounding -- and performed very much with Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy. After the swing era ended, she moved flawlessly into bebop, column songs for and performing with Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington. In honor of her 100th birthday, William's global oeuvre is celebrated tonight by the
Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra at the Not incongruous History Museum 's Baird Auditorium.
Okay, so tonight's all-regional Haiti benefit at the Black Cat isn't exactly Will.I.Am, Justin Bieber, Barbra
Source: Washington Post (blog)