Mary Lou Williams

Mary was born May 8, 1910 in Atlanta, Georgia. Her mother taught her how to play the piano at the early age of 2 years old and had musical memory at the age of 4 years old. She coined the name "the Little Piano girl" at the age of 10 years old and by then was performing in front of small audiences throughout Pittsburgh. At the age of 12 in 1922 she made her debut in the Buzz and Harris Revue traveling show because she substituted for one of their pianist. She had traveled all around and played with many artist as Jelly roll Morton, Willie smith, Fats Waller, and Duke Ellington. In 1927, her husband John Williams joined Andy Kirk and the Twelve clouds of Joy therefore Mary had to take over his band. In 1929 she moved to Oklahoma and joined her husband and Kirk's band. While with Kirk she became known for solo piano and original arrangements likfe "Froggy Bottom", "Walkin' and Swingin'", and "Roll 'Em". She was also a major influence for the Kansas City-Southwest Big Band sound. In 1945 she premiered the first of many large compositions called the 12-movement Zodiac suite. "Capricorn" was created for dancer Pearl Primus who performed at Cafe Society like she did. Mary moved to Europe in 1952 and performed in Paris and London. In 1954 she took a hiatus from the stage for a few years. She returned in 1957 performing at the Newport Jazz Festival and then with her own trio. In 1970 she recorded a comprehensive performance-lecture called "The History of Jazz". Five years later she was appointed to the faculty of University of Massachusetts and in 1977 to the faculty at duke University.

http://www.biography.com/people/mary-lou-williams-9532632?page=2

Mary Lou Williams "You know Baby"
Its a mixture of piano, horns, and Leon Thomas as the vocalist.
It starts off as an introduction with just the horns for the first 15 second and then the piano comes for a second and then Leon Thomas starts singing for 8 counts and then the chorus comes in with the horns as the base line and the piano as an overlay then Leon starts his 2nd 8 count verse there is also a 4 count bridge before repeating back to the chorus. It ends with the band laughing and clapping and just having a good time. The horns keep the beat with throughout the whole song and the piano gives it a little bit of sassyness to it as it is tricked through out the song. Leon has a strong, powerful, commanding voice that just makes you want to listen to what hes singing about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAZeukY1AMM