{"id":7240,"date":"2022-12-13T19:39:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T01:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=7240"},"modified":"2022-12-13T19:39:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T01:39:55","slug":"first-lady-of-the-piano-intersectionality-in-early-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2022\/12\/13\/first-lady-of-the-piano-intersectionality-in-early-jazz\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;First Lady of the Piano&#8221;: Intersectionality in Early Jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">My first encounter with the composer Mary Lou Williams was upon stumbling across her choral composition \u201cBlack Christ of the Andes (St. Martin De Porres).\u201d The dynamic range and gratifying dissonance in the harmonic texture of the piece gave me an almost ethereal and cathartic feeling, and I immediately fell in love.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VTGTUza8TWA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1910, Williams almost immediately entered the jazz scene; at age 15, she was already playing alongside Duke Ellington and catching the musical attention of Louis Armstrong<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote1sym\" name=\"sdfootnote1anc\"><sup>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. She promptly started playing the piano for different regional bands in Pittsburgh and embarking on tours with a chaperone, but she soon was navigating the music scene on her own as a young woman. Critics soon began complimenting her talents, giving her honorific nicknames such as \u201cFirst Lady of the Piano\u201d and the \u201clively Queen of the Ivories.\u201d<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote2sym\" name=\"sdfootnote2anc\"><sup>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7243\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7243\" class=\"wp-image-7243 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-e1670429922383-150x118.png\" alt=\"Portrait of Tadd Dameron, Mary Lou Williams, and Dizzy Gillespie at Mary Lou Williams' apartment (New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1947)\" width=\"150\" height=\"118\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-e1670429922383-150x118.png 150w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-e1670429922383-300x235.png 300w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-e1670429922383-768x602.png 768w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-e1670429922383-383x300.png 383w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-e1670429922383.png 861w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7243\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mary Lou Williams with Tadd Dameron and Dizzy Gillespie in 1947<\/p><\/div>\n<p>As a budding musician and composer, her specific positionality as a Black woman played a crucial part in her reception by critics and her audiences. Black composers, artists, writers, and performers of the time were already being pushed to be perceived in the leadership class of the \u201ctalented tenth,\u201d wherein there was unjust pressure to \u201c[elevate] the music of their race\u201d.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote3sym\" name=\"sdfootnote3anc\"><sup>3<\/sup><\/a> In regards to women, work within the entertainment industry was not seen as suitable for them, where \u201cno self-respecting woman would pursue such interests, especially outside the realm of classical music.\u201d<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote4sym\" name=\"sdfootnote4anc\"><sup>4<\/sup><\/a> Williams\u2019 ability to infiltrate the male-dominated, instrumental jazz scene of the time was certainly unique in this respect. She dutifully worked to portray herself as a &#8220;serious&#8221; jazz musician by not interacting with the audience or smiling during performances\u2014likely to set herself apart from the female musicians of her time and avoid demeaning stigmas from being placed on her as well.\u00a0 The self-assuredness and resoluteness Williams demonstrated throughout her early and later career could be an additional factor, as she was often not afraid to protest injustices that she or her band members faced.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7302\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7302\" class=\"wp-image-7302 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-300x109.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"109\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-300x109.jpg 300w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-150x55.jpg 150w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-768x279.jpg 768w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou-500x182.jpg 500w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/mary-lou.jpg 866w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7302\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Newspaper article from the Arkansas State Press (Little Rock, Arkansas), August 1st, 1949<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Williams\u2019 existence as a woman within the jazz community<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> put a further pressure to be perfect, enacting a sort of double-bind. Her demonstrated assertiveness may have helped with her acceptance early on, but unfortunately did not allow her to escape from misogynist rhetoric. In the late 1940s, there was a sudden change in her critical reception, where she was described as having an egregious attitude that hindered her success as a musician and composer.<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote5sym\" name=\"sdfootnote5anc\"><sup>5,<\/sup><\/a><a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote6sym\" name=\"sdfootnote6anc\"><sup>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This seems to stem from the idea that women must always be pleasant, agreeable, and easy to digest\u2014especially when one is a public figure, and even more so as a Black woman. It did not help that Williams had been recently dealt with hardships\u2014she went through a divorce in 1940, and in 1942, she remarried to a man who was later believed to be physically abusive.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7242\" style=\"width: 126px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/just-mary-lou-500x217-1-e1670429734449.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7242\" class=\"wp-image-7242 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/just-mary-lou-500x217-1-e1670429734449-116x150.png\" alt=\"Portrait of Mary Lou Williams at the Piano (New York, N.Y., ca. 1946)\" width=\"116\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/just-mary-lou-500x217-1-e1670429734449-116x150.png 116w, https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/593\/2022\/12\/just-mary-lou-500x217-1-e1670429734449.png 168w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 116px) 100vw, 116px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7242\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mary Lou Williams at the piano in 1946<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Decades later, the public was once again praising her and further illustrating her significance in jazz and American music. Newspapers were dubbing her with even mightier nicknames of \u201cthe First Lady of Jazz\u201d and \u201cThe Queen of Jazz.\u201d<a class=\"sdfootnoteanc\" href=\"#sdfootnote7sym\" name=\"sdfootnote7anc\"><sup>7<\/sup><\/a> Williams passed soon after in 1981, and critics continued to immortalize her prowess and influence on the genre. She was certainly well-recognized for her talents, even alongside the shift towards negative judgements on her character, but does that absolve and erase the obstacles she faced during that time? Throughout the entirety of her lifetime, Williams still managed to overcome countless disadvantages as a Black woman, as a woman in jazz, and as a Black woman in jazz.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote1\">\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote1anc\" name=\"sdfootnote1sym\">1 Time. \u201cMusic: No Kitten on the Keys,\u201d July 26, 1943. https:\/\/content.time.com\/time\/subscriber\/article\/0,33009,802919,00.html.<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote2\">\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote2anc\" name=\"sdfootnote2sym\">2 &#8220;Mary Lou Williams Makes Big Musical Hit.&#8221;\u00a0<em>Plaindealer<\/em>\u00a0(Kansas City, Kansas) 46, no. 23, June 16, 1944: PAGE FIVE.\u00a0<em>Readex: African American Newspapers<\/em>. https:\/\/infoweb.newsbank.com\/apps\/readex\/doc?p=EANAAA&amp;docref=image\/v2%3A12ACD7C7734164EC%40EANAAA-12CFEF1503248508%402431258-12CFEF15258587A0%404-12CFEF15D906C8B8%40Mary%2BLou%2BWilliams%2BMakes%2BBig%2BMusical%2BHit.<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote3\">\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote3anc\" name=\"sdfootnote3sym\">3 Floyd, Samuel A., ed.\u00a0<i>Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance: A Collection of Essays<\/i>. Contributions in Afro-American and African Studies, no. 128. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. 13.<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote4\">\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote4anc\" name=\"sdfootnote4sym\">4 <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kernodle, Tammy L. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Soul on Soul: The Life of Mary Lou Williams<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Boston, MA: Northeastern University\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Press,2004. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/search.alexanderstreet.com\/view\/work\/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C608181.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote4anc\" name=\"sdfootnote4sym\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote4anc\" name=\"sdfootnote4sym\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote4anc\" name=\"sdfootnote4sym\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote5\">\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote5anc\" name=\"sdfootnote5sym\">5 &#8220;Seein&#8217; Stars.&#8221;\u00a0<em>Arkansas State Press<\/em> (Little Rock, Arkansas), August 19, 1949: 3. <em>Readex: African American Newspapers<\/em>. https:\/\/infoweb.newsbank.com\/apps\/readex\/doc?p=EANAAA&amp;docref=image\/v2%3A12F3CB549363AB38%40EANAAA-13389B7A74C2E5A0%402433148-13385D38ABE57CE0%402-137E0EB5F98FBF5C%40Seein%2527%2BStars.<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote6\">\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote6anc\" name=\"sdfootnote6sym\">6 &#8220;Seein&#8217; Stars.&#8221;\u00a0<em>Arkansas State Press<\/em>\u00a0(Little Rock, Arkansas), August 1, 1958: 7.\u00a0<em>Readex: African American Newspapers<\/em>. https:\/\/infoweb.newsbank.com\/apps\/readex\/doc?p=EANAAA&amp;docref=image\/v2%3A12F3CB549363AB38%40EANAAA-1338B627F74C6328%402436417-1338AC3539628958%406-137E1166F14786FD%40Seein%2527%2BStars.<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"sdfootnote7\">\n<p class=\"sdfootnote\"><a class=\"sdfootnotesym\" href=\"#sdfootnote7anc\" name=\"sdfootnote5sym\">7 &#8220;Mary Lou&#8217;s Jazz Mass Mary Lou Williams.&#8221;\u00a0<em>Chicago Metro News<\/em>\u00a0(Chicago, Illinois), November 3, 1979: PAGE 16.\u00a0<em>Readex: African American Newspapers<\/em>. https:\/\/infoweb.newsbank.com\/apps\/readex\/doc?p=EANAAA&amp;docref=image\/v2%3A12912DF42BF1884F%40EANAAA-12A5138B7B4998D8%402444181-12A5138C61B84748%4016-12A51393C92DA3D0%40Mary%2BLou%2527s%2BJazz%2BMass%2BMary%2BLou%2BWilliams.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My first encounter with the composer Mary Lou Williams was upon stumbling across her choral composition \u201cBlack Christ of the Andes (St. Martin De Porres).\u201d The dynamic range and gratifying dissonance in the harmonic texture of the piece gave me &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2022\/12\/13\/first-lady-of-the-piano-intersectionality-in-early-jazz\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4585,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-1SM","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4585"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7240"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7307,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7240\/revisions\/7307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}