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LP
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ACRSLP 1613LP
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"Known as 'the first lady of the jazz keyboard', Mary Lou Williams achieved extraordinary recognition and success as pianist, composer and arranger in an era where women often found it hard to break through. The perpetually contemporary Williams was always ahead of the field and in a different class. This collection covers a large period of her career, stopping before she chose to devote herself to religion around the 1950s.Had she not largely withdrawn from focusing on the commercial aspect of her art at a crucial stage in her career, she may have achieved a greater level of recognition not only during the rest of her life but in subsequent decades Pressed on 140g black vinyl, this 14-track LP features much-loved numbers such as 'Night Life', 'Overhand (New Froggy Bottom)', 'Walkin' And Swingin'', 'Roll 'Em' and 'In The Land Of Oo-Bla-Dee'. The pioneering Mary Lou Williams is an artist whose versatility and ability matched that of her peers and whose contribution to music remains vital. It's an evocative showcase for her distinctive style."
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LP
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FOX 014LP
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Alternative Fox present a reissue of Mary Lou Williams's Black Christ Of The Andes, originally released in 1965. Pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams played with nearly every major jazz performer during her long, illustrious, and varied career, in addition to recording many solo works. Born Mary Winn in Atlanta in 1910 and raised in a "shotgun shack", where local musicians gathered to jam, she played by ear from a tender age and learned the boogie-woogie style upon moving to Pittsburgh with her older sister Mamie. While still in high school, Williams toured with the Theatre Owners' Booking Association, bringing her into the orbit of Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, and blues singer, Irene Scruggs, among others; later, based in Kansas City during the 1930s, she began composing and recording solo work. After a stint at the Cotton Club, she formed a combo in Pittsburgh that featured Art Blakey, but was soon recruited by Duke Ellington and once back in New York, began jamming with Thelonious Monk and Charlie Christian at bop hotbed, Minton's Playhouse. Art Tatum, Count Basie -- you name it, she played with them! Black Christ Of The Andes is easily one of the most individual albums created by Williams, or anyone else in jazz, for that matter; recorded in New York in late 1963 and first issued on Williams's own Mary Records, the album has jazz explorations of divine concepts, delivered with suitably complex arrangements; "Anima Christi" and "Praise The Lord" both feature soaring assembly by Melba Liston, "The Devil" and the title track have elaborate choral voices from the Howard Roberts Singers, and instrumentals such as "Miss D. D." and "A Fungus Amungus" use her expert piano skills to shock, titillate and provide light relief.
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LP
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DAD 119LP
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Down At Dawn presents a reissue of Mary Lou Williams's Black Christ of the Andes, originally issued in 1965. One of the highly regarded pieces of music by the great pianist and composer Williams, the concept behind Black Christ Of The Andes is about the ideal meeting between jazz and the spiritual, from the dark, smoky atmospheres of the Devil's music to the luminous sound of the African-American Church. A very enjoyable record made up of different materials like "Jump Blues" numbers, a cappella choral pieces and some striking piano trio cuts. All arranged and conducted by the great Melba Liston and featuring performances of jazz luminaries such as Milt Hinton, Grant Green, Percy Heath, and Williams herself.
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