Mary Lou Williams & the Trumpet Giants [Import]

Mary Lou Williams & the Trumpet Giants [Import]

ASIN: B0002UJKKY

Track Listings

1. Love For Sale

2. Autumn Leaves

3. Caravan

4. Jitterbug Waltz

5. Willow, Weep For Me

6. Birks' Works

7. My Man

8. Ballads Medley

9. Jam Session

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Remastered reissue. Lonehill Jazz. 2004.

Tracks:

Cape Cod Girls - Baby Gramps
Mingulay Boat Song - Richard Thompson
My Son John - John C. Reilly
Fire Down Below - Nick Cave
Turkish Revelry - Loudon Wainwright III
Bully In The Alley - The Old Prunes
The Cruel Ship's Captain - Bryan Ferry
Dead Horse - Robin Holcomb
Spansih Ladies - Bill Frisell
High Barbary - Joseph Arthur
Haul Away Joe - Mark Anthony Thompson
Dan Dan - David Thomas
Blood Red Roses - Sting
Sally Brown - Teddy Thompson
Lowlands Away - Rufus Wainwright & Kate McGarrigle
Baltimore Whores - Gavin Friday
Rolling Sea - Eliza McCarthy
Haul On The Bowline - Bob Neuwirth
Dying Sailor to His Shipmates - Bono
Bonnie Portmore - Lucinda Williams
The Mermaid - Martin Carthy & the UK Group
Shenandoah - Richard Greene & Jack Shit
The Cry Of Man - Mary Margaret O'Hara

Tracks:

Boney - Jack Shit
Good Ship Venus - Loudon Wainwright III
Long Time Ago -White Magic
Pinery Boy - Nick Cave
Lowlands Low - Bryan Ferry w/Antony
One Spring Morning - Akron/Family
Hog Eye Man - Martin Carthy & Family
The Fiddler/A Drop Of Nelson's Blood - Ricky Jay & Richard Greene
Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold - Andrea Corr
Fathom The Bowl - John C. Reilly
Drunken Sailor - Dave Thomas
Farewell Nancy - Ed Harcourt
Hanging Johnny - Stan Ridgway
Old Man of The Sea - Baby Gramps
Greenland Whale Fisheries - Van Dyke Parks
Shallow Brown - Sting
The Grey Funnel Line - Jolie Holland
A Drop of Nelson's Blood - Jarvis Cocker
Leave Her Johnny - Lou Reed
Little Boy Billy - Ralph Steadman

Amazon.com

Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski hatched the idea for Rogue's Gallery while filming "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"--that idea being to cast genteel rock superstars like Bono, Lou Reed, Bryan Ferry, Andre Corr, and Sting to reinterpret gritty seafaring standards for an exhaustive 43-track double-disc set produced by Hal Wilner. Throw in a bunch of credible folk stars (Loudon Wainwright III, Richard Thompson), their offspring (Rufus, Teddy) and a string of other curious characters (Jarvis Cocker, Antony) and what results is one of the strangest compilations in recent memory, if not exactly the most historically authentic or, well, digestible. Nick Cave embraces the role just a little too hard on "Fire Down Below," while Ferry can't help but sound like he's singing for the cast of "The Love Boat," but cut through the chaff and there is some real bootie here: Bono's "Dying Sailor to His Shipmates," Jolie Holland's "The Grey Funnel Line" and "Boney" by a mysterious tramp called Jack Sh**, which must be some kind of anagram for Johnny Depp. --Aidin Vaziri

Album Description

While working on the two "Pirates Of The Carribean" films, Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski became fascinated with the lore and fable of the pirates and sailors who ran the high seas. Enter legendary producer Hal Wilner, who brings his knack for matching maverick musicians with extraordinary material. Artists on this double disc set include Bono, Sting, Nick Cave, Bryan Ferry, Lou Reed, Richard Thompson, Lucinda Williams, Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, and many more. "Rogue's Gallery" offers a look at the hardships, the horrors, the lusts and lurid depths, and the crystal beauty that led men to the sea in ships for hundreds of years.

Customer Reviews:

Fun--but not great.......2007-07-03

What a concept--a pirate song co-produced by Verbinski and Depp inspired by the "Pirates of the Carribean" series. It should be great and in places, it is. The big question I came away with is--who is Jack Sh**? That one definitely has me guessing.

I won't belabor the song content or the production value. I think the most notable reviews have got that down pat, although I'm not marking down as far as they have because I'm giving points for originality being a fan of Spike Jones and some other truly demented people.

One thing to note: this is not a CD you'd buy if you were looking for something to amuse your kids. Some of the content is very bawdy and Mom and Dad would have some serious 'splaining to do to the little pirates. There's both some language and some situations that are more twisted than a Hangman's knot.

aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhh!.......2007-06-09

Some of the songs are quite good(mellow)others a little odd. Its what I expected, but not what you would expect.

Disappointment would be an understatement.......2007-06-04

It is not unusual to find sea shanties performed by not the greatest musicians or singers in the world. It is not unusual to find shanties sung by people who have difficulty keeping perfect pitch, or tempo. But at least they understand what the music is about, and sing it with heart and enthusiasm and a love for the genre.

Hal Wilner should stick to whatever genre it is that made him know enough to be approached by labels, because he clearly has no understanding, and less enthusiasm for *this* genre.

If you love lively music from the maritime era, you can only be bitterly disappointed by this collection. Out of 43 tracks, I found 15 that were salvageable. Sort of.

I've already tossed this onto the pile to go to the resale shop. It wasn't worthy the cost of shipping.

Zzz..........2007-04-04

I have to admit that I have no idea what kinds of music the pirates sang aboard their ships. I know it probably wasn't "yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me," but I expected something different than this. I think my expectations have been colored by groups like The Pogues, Flogging Molly, The Tossers, and the Real McKenzies. I have an annual Pirate Party and I was hoping to find some good music here to get people in the mood for a treasure hunt or pirate liar's dice, but instead, the music on this CD is something I'd put on if the party went on too long and I wanted to encourage people to leave. Some of it is actually awful and the rest is too slow and plodding to inject much energy into any situation.

I appreciate what was attempted here (contemporary artists paying homage to sea chanteys in the spirit of our romanticized version of the pirate era) but it just doesn't really work. The effect is similar to what would be achieved if the London Philharmonic Orchestra attempted to play rap "music" with Luciano Pavarotti rhymin' while flashing gang signs.

another set of hopes are smashed.......2007-03-29

the selection of titles attracted me. The quality of the arrangements, the voices, and the music---are all quite bad.

It is VERY sad that these same titles, could not have been produced for quality. They sound like a nightmare.

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill

Average customer rating:

some brilliant renditions, but can't quite all mix together
Cool and Camp
September Song Music of Kurt Weill
It's a long time between January and December
Ain't we Hip?!!?

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill / Levine, Lenya, Armstrong, Gilford, et al
Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs
Weird Nightmare - Meditations on Mingus
Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill
Stratas Sings Weill

ASIN: B0000029WM
Release Date: 1997-08-19

Tracks:

Mack The Knife - Nick Cave
Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife - P.J. Harvey
Alabama Song - David Johansen
Youkali Tango - Teresa Stratas
Lost In The Stars - Elvis Costello
Pirate Jenny - Lotte Lenya
Speak Low - Charlie Haden
Oh, Heavenly Salvation - The Persuations
Lonely House - Betty Carter
Surabaya- Johnny - Teresa Stratas
Furchte Dich Nicht - Mary Margaret O'Hara
September Song - Lou Reed
Mack The Knife - Bertolt Brecht
What Keeps Mankind Alive? - William S. Burroughs

Customer Reviews:

some brilliant renditions, but can't quite all mix together.......2006-10-19

I like the spirit of this album, which is to let the music of Kurt Weill attach itself to the many worlds it came from. This was classical music that also used elements of popular music at the time, all with a very dark and almost mechanical tone. So it would seem fitting to have exquisite voices like Teresa Stratas rub elbows with darker elements like Nick Cave in this collection. There are also the jazz influences developed by Charlie Haden and Betty Carter.

In all, there are some brilliant interpretations of Weill here. I am a fan of Cave's "Mack the Knife" and David Johansen's "Alabama Song," and how can someone NOT like Lotte Lenya herself on "Pirate Jenny" and the drolling of the immortal William S. Burroughs talking through "What Keeps Mankind Alive?"

But other tracks feel to be just too short of brilliance. I love that Lou Reed tries to turn "September Song" into a kind of rock ballad, almost a VU "It Was a Pretty Good Year," but the rendition seems a little short of energy and falls flat after a while. Elvis Costello, though magnificent as an overall artist, just doesn't bring new life to "Lost in the Stars."

Perhaps the problem in the end that the choices were a little too much of the Top 40 Weill (if there really can be such a term). These are songs that have for a long time been regarded as the best of Weill, and it might have furthered the purpose of his music to find new gems and bring them into the sunlight.

Cool and Camp.......2006-08-24

This is a very biased review- I originally had much of Weill's work on cassette tape- way back in the olden days- before CD's- so I am already very partial to many of the tracks on this CD- I would recommend it not only to Kurt Weill fans, and the fans of the various artists featured, but I would also strongly recommend this to anyone who likes artsy, camp, fun burlesque, Bohemian European stuff. The record, even though performed by contemporary artists still retains much of it's zeitgeist, it evokes the era in which Weill was writing and it rounds out any great eclectic record collection. It's a great musical discovery for fans of all sorts of genres, and EVERYONE should own at least one recorded arrangement of "Mack The Knife". (You know, for parties and stuff!)

September Song Music of Kurt Weill.......2006-08-22

Songs from the film-documentary done by various artists. Excellent choice if you like Mr Weill's music. I saw the film and always wanted the CD. Now I have and I recommend it highly.

It's a long time between January and December.......2004-06-11

Kurt Weill is one of those composers who juggles Jewish angst with Catholic guilt: and possibly vice versa. As a collection, it is nonpareil. Each interpretation becomes a definitive reading of the "song". Lord, it is one of the best assemblies of contemporary artists going. Lou couldn't be better; Ms O'Hara, in fine form, performs her deranged puppet-dance to the X. OK. An unknown. Roping-in, such a postmodern figure as, well, you-know-who, to orate Weill's lyrics is never less than exceptional. An amazing collection. Is there a DVD?

Paul

Ain't we Hip?!!?.......2003-07-23

This is the avant version of these songs, everything done with that Downtown fingers-across-the-blackboard screech. They even got Johanson doing it, which is no less than amazing. The sole exception is the Persuasions' "O Heavenly Salvation", but one song does not an album make.

The mystery here is that there's a perfectly good compilation from the 80s, "Lost in the Stars: the Music of Kurt Weill", featuring many of the same songs--and, if I'm not mistaken some of the same performers. That's the one you want. Too bad it's OP.

The Zodiac Suite
Average customer rating:

13 monsters

One for the stars

Pisces waltzes in a dream...

The Zodiac Suite
Mary Lou Williams
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Folkways
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Zoning

Zodiac Suite: Revisited

Live at the Keystone Korner

Mary Lou Williams Presents Black Christ of the Andes

Mary Lou's Mass

ASIN: B000001DM3
Release Date: 1995-10-17

Tracks:

Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces
Aries
Cancer
Virgo
Scorpio
Aquarius

Amazon.com

With just a casual interest in astrology, Mary Lou Williams created her 1945 Zodiac Suite as a series of character sketches, musical portraits of friends from each sign that she would debut on a weekly radio show. "Aries" is for Ben Webster and Billie Holiday, "Taurus" for Duke Ellington, and "Libra" for Dizzy Gillespie, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, and Thelonious Monk. The pieces include piano solos, duets with bassist Al Lucas, and trios with the addition of drummer Jack "The Bear" Parker. The suite is both a remarkable exercise in extended composition and an index of Williams's varied palette. Her mix of blues and boogie roots and strikingly modernist harmonies is sometimes similar to Monk's, while her lighter, impressionist playing can evoke Claude Debussy (and the way Debussy colored the piano music of Bix Beiderbecke). The cumulative work, though, has a warmly sustained lyricism that can only suggest comparisons with Ellington. The Zodiac Suite would assume more ambitious forms, with a chamber orchestra setting for the entire suite later in 1945 and a large orchestra adaptation of three movements a year later. Dizzy Gillespie recorded three movements with his big band in 1957. But the intimacy of these original recordings is very special, with Williams effectively blurring the line between composition and improvisation. --Stuart Broomer

Album Description

Smithsonian Folkways proudly celebrated the 50th anniversary of the original Asch Records release of Mary Lou Williams' work, Zodiac Suite. Performing solo and accompanied by bassist Al Lucas and drummer Jack Parker, Williams crafted these pieces as a series of dedications to fellow musicians born under each astrological sign. This 12-part interpretation of the zodiac was crafted so each movement comprises a set of jazz tone poems. Six alternate takes, mastered from the original acetates, are featured on this reissue. "Irresistible themes...blending sophistication and intimacy." - DownBeat

Customer Reviews:

13 monsters.......2005-05-23

i wonder why they have that weird looking cover pictured. mine looks nothing like that. anyhow, the music on here is of the highest quality, especially considering it was all written by a female. it is all very pleasant to listen to, the playing is first-class throughout, and the compositions are exceptional. i bought this at the smithsonian folk festival a few summers ago. i'm not really sure why i chose to give it four stars. maybe it deserves five.

One for the stars.......2003-06-28

Mary Lou Williams is a pianist from the galaxy of pianists who came from the Greater Pittsburgh area - Earl Hines, Erroll Garner, Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Costa, etc... she had a pile driving left hand at the piano and a wide-ranging imagination when it came to writing music. This album is another fine exmple of her thinking. I don't think she ever received the fame she deserved...as a musician or as a composer.

Pisces waltzes in a dream..........1999-09-15

A delightful collection of "miniatures" in which Mary Lou Williams - not an expert at astrology - accurately captures certain attributes of the various signs by observing them in people she knew & making them into music, much as Virgil Thomson did in his Portraits. Taurus plods along heavily. Pisces waltzes in a dream. Scorpio is sneaky. Cancer is a Debussyan moon. Fun for fans of jazz piano & maybe more than that for the astrologically-inclined. Sound quality is rough, to say the least, but it's like peeking at Mary Lou's private journal.

Bob Rixon, WFMU-FM

Average customer rating:

1953-1954
Mary Lou Williams
Manufacturer: Classics France
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000E6GDZQ
Release Date: 2006-05-16

Tracks:

Sometimes I'm Happy
Monk's Tune
Why
Lullaby of the Leaves
Just You, Just Me
Chicka Boom Blues
Mary's Waltz
O.W.
Moonglow
N.M.E. (New Musical Express)
Tire, Tire l'Aiguille
Lover
En Ce Temps L
Autumn in New York
Between the Devil and Deep Blue Sea
Nicole
Carioca
There's a Small Hotel
Leg 'N' Lou
Gravel (Scratchin' in the Gravel)
Nancy Is in Love with the Colonel
Mary Lou Blues

Average customer rating:

History and Now in a Special Venue
Superb Music
Swing And Purpose

Zodiac Suite: Revisited
The Mary Lou Williams Collective
Manufacturer: Mary Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Lady Who Swings the Band
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Beyond the Wall

ASIN: B000E1MY7W
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Tracks:

Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces
The Bebop Waltz
Intermission
Thank You Madam

Album Description

Mary Records was formed by Mary Lou Williams, the brilliant pianist and composer, in 1964. She established the company to record herself and her own music, and issued three major projects within a ten-year period. The Mary Lou Williams Foundation has revived Mary Records, 30 years later, to continue the Williams recorded legacy. Geri Allen, brilliant pianist and composer of today, has joined forces with Fr. Peter F. O'Brien, S.J., the Executive Director of The Mary Lou Williams Foundation, in forming The Mary Lou Williams Collective. Allen serves, and will continue to serve, as Musical Director of the Collective, with O'Brien as Producer. The Collective will issue new recordings of the music of Mary Lou Williams. Recording Project Vol. One presents Williams's first extended composition "Zodiac Suite." Williams composed and recorded the full work in 1945. Now Allen, with her fellow musicians, revisits this suite. The composition is preserved, but these artists bring their full improvisational and performing abilities to it. he result is a living and fresh realization of a classic work from the history of jazz. Now, 60 years later, we have a second (and contemporary) incarnation of this complete extended composition. The members of The Mary Lou Williams Collective include: Geri Allen, pianist and musical director; Buster Williams, bass; Billy Hart, drums; Andrew Cyrille, drums. Heard also: Williams's 1973 composition "Intermission"; Herbie Nichol's "The Bebop Waltz" and Allen's tender new ballad, written in honor of Williams, "Thank You Madam." Recording Project Volume Two has already been completed and will be issued one year from now. This will present these same four musicians plus the singers Andy Bey and Honi Gordon.

Customer Reviews:

History and Now in a Special Venue.......2006-06-07

Mary Lou Williams created the Zodiac Suite some 60 years ago, becoming famous for the intricacies of her extraordinary pianistic skills as well as for her seemingly never ending inventive jazz writing (if those two terms can be compatible!). The Zodiac Suite takes us through all twelve signs of the zodiac with special colorings and moods for each. Here the work is performed by a group known as the Mary Lou Williams Collective: astonishing fine pianist Geri Allen and her associates - Buster William on bass, and Billy Hart and Andrew Cyrille on drums (though the latter is heard only on the additional three works that flesh our this CD recital).

This is small group jazz at its finest - each soloist converses with the other in that special way known only to the best of jazz musicians. The Suite is spectacular and would suffice were it the only work on this CD. But as bonus, the Collective includes Herbie Nichols 'BeBop Waltz', Williams' 'Intermission', and last but certainly of special note, a work by current pianist Geri Allen called 'Thank You Madam', and there could not be a better way to bring the collection to a close! Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, June 06

Superb Music.......2006-02-25

Geri Allen and friends' rendition of Mary Lou William's Zodiac Suite is not only superb jazz but is superb music of any genre.
Unlike Gershwin's concert music which sought to blend jazz and classical, William's "serious" music , like Ellington's, evolves organically within jazz itself.

The Allen recording is remarkable for its blending into a single unity the virtuosity of pianist, bassist, and drummer and for the faithful development of the composer's conception inthe performers' expression.

I received the CD in the mail yesterday and have already played it several times. I look forward to playing it again as soon as I finish typing this review.

Swing And Purpose.......2006-02-07

Let this wonderful recording serve as an
introduction to two of the finest ladies
to ever play piano. Mary Lou Williams is
one of the great pioneers who brought
Jazz through the Swing of the 1930s, the
Bop of the 1940s, and ever onwards. Geri
Allen is a fire-fingered dancer of the
88s who bridges Freedom and Groove into
newfound tempos and timeless rhapsodies
of the Here and Now.

One of Williams' most exemplary compositions,
THE ZODIAC SUITE, is the focus of this
exceptional excursion into the wonders of
Jazz trio.
Anyone who needs a clue concerning Allen's
mastery, or how Williams held her own amidst
the likes of Ellington and Gillespie, are
invited to park their ears right here! Allen,
bassist Buster Williams and drummer Billy
Hart(Andrew Cyrille on a couple of tracks),
glide and stride their way through this
most ambitious of Williams' original
presentations; bearing an enthusiasm
and vigor worthy of the Kansas City
swinger's own energetic performances.
This one smokes!

Most heartening is the flowing balance
struck by Allen and friends in strolling
this great composition into their turf.
Respecting the integrity of Williams'
genius, they embrace the work with
their own touch, investing The ZODIAC
SUITE (and other treats to be found
here) with a breathtaking originality
all their own.
In addition, Herbie Nichols enthusiasts
will be particularly pleased with Allen's
serenading rendition of "The BeBop Waltz"
here. Those who hold Allen's own writing
hand very dear will not be left adrift,
as her colorful, contemplative tribute
"Thank You Madam" demonstrates.

At all times, the pianist is prodigious
in her powerful, penetrating expression,
so full of song. No less incredulous
is the ever-swirling, ever-steady
Buster Williams, still among the prime
bassists to reckon with after 35 years
of walk and strut. Hart (Williams'
longtime tempo mate) and Cyrille bring
their own sweet histories to bear fresh
pages in the never-ending tale to be
told, extended, and held dear.

Those expecting a deadpan note-for-
note recreation a la Wynton Marsalis
will be sorely disappointed. No
museum mummery will be found here.
This is great Music, African American
expression rich in tradition, fresh
in conception, continuing to nourish
the world.

Listen to a vibrant joining of hands
here.

Average customer rating:

The Piano Mother
Swingin' stuff from Mary Lou
Excellent!

Live at the Keystone Korner
Mary Lou Williams
Manufacturer: Highnote
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Live at the Cookery
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The London Sessions

ASIN: B000068Q3E
Release Date: 2002-07-09

Tracks:

Spoken Commentary by Mary Lou Williams
History of Jazz According to Mary Lou: Spiritual III/Fandangle/Old ...
Night in Tunisia
Jeep Is Jumpin'
It Ain't Necessarily So
Gloria
I Can't Get Started
Mary Lou's Blues
St. Louis Blues
Stormy Weather
Roll 'Em
'Round Midnight
Surrey With the Fringe on Top

Customer Reviews:

The Piano Mother.......2006-02-23

I bought this cd because I already had an old LP version of Williams' solo recital from the Montreux Jazz Festival, 1978. This recording is even better, with Ms Williams working up a piano trio frenzy on blues, boogie woogie and standards, as well as some of her own tunes. The material is excellent, and the performance is tight, swinging, harmonically complex, and the whole thing maintains an incredible down-home feeling. Hearing this live recording makes me wish that I had been there myself...or that I had an extra grandmother this hip.

Swingin' stuff from Mary Lou.......2003-07-21

I first heard Mary Lou Williams when she did a guest spot in 1978 during Benny Goodman's 40th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall. Her version of Roll 'Em (which she also wrote) was an incredible highlight of that evening. Since then I have purchased many of Williams' records and this is perhaps her best. She always sounded better live and her swingin' style was best showcased in front of a live audience. It's impossible to listen to her play and sit still. Just try it... it's not something the average person could do without going stark ravin' mad.

The versions here of such standards as Stormy Weather and St. Louis Blues have power, style and swing. Mary Lou's incredible jazz virtuosity at the piano is a total delight. Her thumping style will set toes tapping for as long as these discs keep spinning. The only clunker in the bunch is an uptempo version of Surrey with the Fringe On Top, a very curious selection for a jazz artist to choose. But aside from this small complaint, the rest of the album shines. Highly recommended addition to your jazz collection.

Excellent!.......2002-12-25

This is a great recording and a welcome surprise for me in 2002! Mary goes through the whole history of jazz in 13 tunes. You can hear spirituals, ragtime, Kansas City Swing and bop. If you want to know what swing is all about just listen to this recording. It's almost impossible to keep your head from swinging and bopping. I enjoyed her beautiful rendition of "It Ain't Necessarily So", a slow tune where you can really feel the blues. Her playing of "St. Louis Blues" is well worth the price of the CD, she tears the piano up. I wish I was there back in 1977.

Average customer rating:

Very good jazz album, worth having

Live at the Cookery
Mary Lou Williams
Manufacturer: Chiaroscuro Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Free Spirits

ASIN: B000003H8W
Release Date: 1994-09-09

Tracks:

Praise The Lord
Blues For Peter
I Can't Get Started
Roll 'Em
The Jeep Is Jumping
My Funny Valentine
Waltz Boogie
The Surrey With The Fringe On Top
The Man I Love
All Blues
Mack The Knife
A Grand Night For Swinging

Amazon.com

Mary Lou Williams had been performing for over a half-century when these recordings were made at New York's Cookery in the 1970s, but what's even more remarkable than the vigor of her playing is its range. A significant harmonic innovator, Williams had never stopped growing, absorbing, and adapting all the shifting accents that jazz had developed into her own distinct style. Every part of her playing had stayed fresh, and her rhythmic language is as varied as her use of block chords, modes, and occasional dissonance. "Roll 'Em" demonstrates her command of classic boogie piano, while "Waltz Boogie" is an imaginative variant. "Praise the Lord" and "Blues for Peter" reach back to gospel and blues sources, but they're played with an insistent, probing intensity that is Williams's own. Her version of "The Man I Love" is angular bop pressing toward atonality. Similarly, her swinging version of "Mack the Knife" uses erratic percussive clusters to keep her ideas moving. Williams gets empathic support throughout from bassist Brian Torff, a fleet-fingered soloist whose lithe walking bass lines are an essential part of this performance. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

Very good jazz album, worth having.......2007-03-19

Mary Lou Williams is the longest performing jazz musician, and has performed through all the periods of jazz history, which is a remarkable position to hold. This is a fairly recent concert having been recorded in the 1990's.

I am really enjoying this album. She may not be a jazz innovator, but Mary Lou Williams brings her personality across in this recording, and the result is an engaging concert. Williams draws on several jazz traditions, from boogie woogie to bebop, and presents them all with a freshness and individuality. Every moment is interesting, even inspired, and at no time does she get lost in excessive soloing or uninteresting playing. That is more than you can say about a lot of jazz recordings out there.

The sound quality is not the best, compared to say the latest recordings, but on the other hand it is an intimate concert, having been recorded at The Cookery. I had to turn up the volume high on my stereo and in my car. Still, this has not spoiled my enjoyment.

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About this CD

Kansas City Jazz - 30s and 40s
Mary Lou Williams , Jimmie Lunceford & His Chickasaw Syncopators , Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra , Original St. Louis Crackerjacks , Count Basie & His Orchestra , Pete Johnson Blues Trio , Harlan Leonard & His Rockets , Jay McShann Trio , Eddie Johnson's Crackerjacks , and Julia Lee with Jay McShann's Kansas City Stompers
Manufacturer: Abm
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
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The Real Kansas City
Story 1930-1941
Kansas City: A Robert Altman Film - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

ASIN: B000025A4M
Release Date: 1999-08-06

Album Details

Includes 'in Dat Mornin' by James Luceford and his Chickasaw Syncopatprs, 'prince of Wails' by Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra. 'shorty George' by Count Basie and his Orchestra, 'sepian Bounce' by Jay Mcshann and his Orchestra.

Customer Reviews:

About this CD.......2004-11-16

Kansas City Jazz 30s & 40s
Acrobat (U.K.) label

Tracks:
1. Night Life - Mary Lou Williams,
2. In Dat Mornin'- Jimmie Lunceford & His Chickasaw Syncopators,
3. Somebody Stloe My Gal- Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
4. Hard Times Stomp- Red Perkins & His Dixie Ramblers
5. The Duck's Yas Yas Yas- Eddie Johnson's Crackerjacks,
6. Toby- Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
7. Moten Swing- Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
8. Prince Of Wails - Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra
9. Overhand (New Froggy Bottom) - Mary Lou Williams Trio
10. Echo In The Dark - Original St. Louis Crackerjacks,
11. Time Out - Count Basie & His Orchestra,
12. Every Tub - Count Basie & His Orchestra,
13. Shorty George-Count Basie & His Orchestra
14. Cherry Red - Joe Turner with Pete Johnson and His Boogie Woogie Boys,
15. Vine Street Bustle - Pete Johnson Blues Trio
16. Some Day Blues- Pete Johnson Blues Trio
17. Holler Stomp - Pete Johnson,
18. Southern Fried - Harlan Leonard & His Rockets,
19. My Gal Sal - Harlan Leonard & His Rockets,
20. Keep Rockin' - Harlan Leonard & His Rockets,
21. Dexter's Blues - Jay McShann Trio,
22. Vine Street Blues - Jay McShann Trio,
23. Hold Em Hootie - Jay McShann Trio,
24. Sepian Bounce - Jay McShann & His Orchestra,
25. Come On Over To My House-Julia Lee with Jay McShann's Kansas City Stompers

Mary Lou Williams Presents Black Christ of the Andes

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jazzmind

Mary Lou Williams Presents Black Christ of the Andes
Mary Lou Williams
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Folkways
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

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Similar Items:

Mary Lou's Mass
Zoning
Story 1930-1941
Live at the Keystone Korner
The Zodiac Suite

ASIN: B0001L3LGS
Release Date: 2004-04-27

Tracks:

St. Martin De Porres
It Ain't Necessarily So
The Devil
Miss D.D.
Anima Christi
A Grand Night For Swingers
My Blue Heaven
Dirge Blues
A Fungus A Mungus
Koolbonga
Forty-Five Degree Angle
Nicole
Chunka Lunka
Praise The Lord

Amazon.com

Generally regarded as our greatest female jazz musician, Mary Lou Williams composed and arranged for Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie and was an important influence on fellow pianists Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. Williams converted to Catholicism in the mid '50s, and in 1962 she began work on Black Christ of the Andes, the centerpiece of which is a hymn dedicated to the 16th century Afro-Peruvian priest, St. Martin de Porres, featuring a chorus by the Ray Charles Singers. In many ways, this three-part work anticipates Ellington's Sacred Concerts. The rest of the disc blends the sacred and the secular while highlighting Williams mostly in trio settings (often including the MJQ bassist Percy Heath). Williams embraces the whole history of jazz, from the funereal, John Kennedy tribute "Dirge Blues" and the Latin-styled "Koolbonga" to the soul-jazz-tinted treatment of "My Blue Heaven" and her avant-garde solo, "A Fungus A Mungus." --Eugene Holley, Jr.

Album Description

Mary Lou Williams, the "First Lady of Jazz," was an extraordinary pianist, composer, arranger, and master of blues, boogie woogie, stride, swing, and be-bop. Williams' complex harmonies and brilliant phrasing, rooted in spirituals and blues, border on the avant-garde. Black Christ is both a powerful secular statement and a call to the divine. Duke Ellington said, "[She was] beyond category - a pianist who sums up in herself the full essence of jazz and expresses it with skill and perception that few other jazz musicians have even approached."

Originally issued in 1964, this CD contains an additional 4 unreleased tracks, new extensive liner notes, and historic photos. 53 minutes.

Customer Reviews:

jazzmind.......2005-07-17

Duke Ellington famously said that if music sounds good, it is good. Ellington had little interest in dividing jazz from other forms of music, and his heir in this regard was Mary Lou Williams. In her later career, she was determined to show that jazz, gospel, blues, boogie-woogie, and so on can all have common roots. This recording is a concept album for this thesis--and it is brilliant. She is also Ellington's heir at the keyboard: never overplaying, always aware of underlying harmonic structure, she swings like the devil. Even simple material, like her version of "It Ain't Necessarily So" here, gets a new Williams meter (6/8, rather than 4/4) and becomes uniquely her own. Let Mary Lou's synthesis grow on you--you just might find religion!

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Mary Lou's Mass
Mary Lou Williams
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Folkways
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

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Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

Swing General | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

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Mary Lou Williams Presents Black Christ of the Andes
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ASIN: B0007727TS
Release Date: 2005-02-22

Tracks:

Willis
O.W.
Praise The Lord
Old Time Spiritual
The Lord Says
Act Of Contrition
Kyrie Eleison (Lord, Have Mercy)
Gloria
Medi I And Medi II
In His Day/Peace I/Leave With You/Alleluia
Lazarus
Credo
Credo (Instrumental)
Holy, Holy, Holy
Amen
Our Father
Lamb Of God
It Is Always Spring
People In Trouble
One
Praise The Lord (Come Holy Spirit)
Jesus Is The Best
Tell Him Not To Talk Too Long
I Have A Dream

Amazon.com

This CD is a 1970 papally commissioned "Jazz Mass," with seven previously unreleased tracks by pianist/composer Mary Lou Williams (1910-81). It was inspired by her conversion to Catholicism in the 1950s. Like her other work, Mary Lou Williams Presents: Black Christ of the Andes, her ebullient, blues-based piano lines brilliantly fuse jazz, R&B, Latin, and liturgical music. This mostly choral-based recording features vocalists Milton Grayson, Honi Gordon, French horn virtuoso David Amram, and percussionist Ralph McDonald. On "Praise the Lord (Come Holy Spirit)," Williams melds Psalms 148 and 150 with funky dance beats, while "Holy, Holy, Holy," swings with a bossa nova lilt. The spectral "Lamb of God," rings with a chilling Mingusonian air, and the CD closes with "Tell Him Not to Talk too Long," and "I Have a Dream," two hymns recorded in Rome, in memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. --Eugene Holley, Jr.

Album Description

The long-awaited reissue of Mary Lou Williams's magnum opus of religious jazz: Mary Lou's Mass. Newsweek called the score "an encyclopedia of black music, richly represented from spirituals to bop to rock." This is Williams's "Music for Peace," a landmark recording which addressed many of the social ills of the 1960s and 70s. It is perhaps the most openly religious jazz recording made at that time. In her own words, it is "Music for the Soul." 32-page booklet, extensive notes, photos, 60 minutes.

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