Morning Glory
Page 53
Benny’s Bop MLW composer, arranger
Benny’s Boogie MLW arranger
Blue Views (1948) MLW arranger
Bye Bye Blues (1948) MLW arranger
Camel Hop
Conversation (1947) MLW arranger
The Count (late 1930s)
Donna Lee (1948) MLW arranger
(In the Land of) Oo-bla-dee MLW composer, arranger
Knowledge (1949)
Kool (1948) MLW composer and arranger
Lonely Moments (1946) MLW composer and arranger
Lonely Moments (1947) MLW arranger (new version)
Mary’s Idea, a.k.a. Just an Idea (1946)
MLW composer and arranger
Mary’s Idea (1948) MLW arranger (new version)
Messa Stomp (late 1930s)
Out of This World (1941) MLW arranger
Riffs (1937) MLW composer and arranger
Roll ’Em (1937) MLW composer, arranger
Shafi (1977) MLW cocomposer (with
Shafi Hadid), arranger
Shorty Boo (1949)
Stealin’ Apples (1948) MLW arranger
(Sweet) Georgia Brown (late 1930s)
(There’s a) Small Hotel MLW arranger
Tisherome (1949)
Toadie Toddle (late 1930s)
Untitled (1948) MLW arranger
Walkin’ (Out the Door) MLW and Lindsay Steele cocomposers, MLW arranger
Whistle Blues (1946) MLW and Milt Orent cocomposers, MLW arranger
Whistle Blues (1947) MLW arranger (new version)
You Do Something to Me (1940) MLW arranger
You Turned the Tables on Me (1948) MLW arranger
You Were Meant for Me (1948) MLW arranger
4. Compositions and/or Arrangements by Mary Lou Williams for the Ellington Orchestra, 1940s through 1960s
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea MLW arranger
Blue Love MLW arranger, possibly composer
Blue Skies/Trumpet(s) No End MLW arrangement (Ellington archive) (recorded)
Body and Soul MLW arranger
Canteen Bounce MLW arranger
Chief (Natoma from Tacoma) MLW arranger (recorded)
Chopsticks MLW and Ellington coarrangers (recorded)
Conversation MLW arranger
The Count MLW arranger
Don’t Play the Mambo MLW arranger
Everything but You MLW arranger (recorded)
Fill the Cup MLW arranger
Flamingo MLW arranger
Ghost of Love MLW composer and arranger (recorded)
Giddap Mule MLW arranger
Gone with the Blues MLW arranger
Gone with the Wind MLW arranger
He Should’a Flipped When He Flopp’d MLW arranger (recorded)
Honeysuckle Rose MLW arranger
I Love Coffee, a.k.a. Java Jive MLW arranger
Joe MLW and Milt Orent cocomposers, MLW arranger
Knowledge MLW composer and arranger
Little Joe from Chicago MLW composer and arranger
Lonely Moments MLW composer and arranger
Lotsa Mama MLW cocomposer with Bob Russell (lyric), MLW arranger
Mister Good Blues MLW arranger
Move It Over MLW arranger
My Blue Heaven MLW arranger
My Gal Sal MLW arranger
(New) Musical Express, a.k.a. N.M.E. MLW composer and arranger
Ogeechee River Lullaby MLW arranger
Otto, Make That Riff Staccato MLW arranger (recorded)
O.W. MLW composer and arranger
Perdido MLW arranger
Scorpio (from Zodiac Suite) MLW composer and arranger
Scratchin’ in the Gravel, a.k.a. Truth
MLW composer and arranger
Seventy-one MLW composer and arranger
Shiny Stockings MLW arranger
Shorty Boo Blues MLW composer and arranger
Sleepy Valley MLW arranger
Somebody Stole My Gal MLW arranger
Something to Live For MLW arranger
Spring’s Swing MLW arranger
Star Dust, a.k.a. Mary Lou Williams’s
Stardust MLW arranger
(Sweet) Georgia Brown MLW arranger (recorded)
We’d Be the Same MLW arranger
You Know, Baby (“rock-’n-roll” version) MLW composer and arranger
5. Selected Compositions by Mary Lou Williams
Act of Contrition
The Adding Machine
Amy
Angel Love (with M. D. Foster)
Anima Christi, a.k.a. Anima Cristi Suite
Aquarius
Aries, a.k.a. Aries Mood
Babs
Baby Bear Boogie
Back to the Blues
Ballot Box Boogie (in the Key of Franklin D.) (with Bob Russell)
Basic Chords: Bop Changes on the Blues
Bearcut Shuffle
Big Jim Blues (with Harry Lawson)
Big Time Crip (with Henry Wells)
Black Christ of the Andes, a.k.a. (Hymn in Honor of) St. Martin de Porres (with Anthony Woods)
Blue Pastel, a.k.a. (In the) Purple Grotto, a.k.a. Mary’s Blues
The Blues (with Cynthia Tyson)
Blues for Club Français, a.k.a. Club Français Blues
Blues for John
Blues for Peter
The Blues Never Left Me
Bobo
Bobo and Doodles
Boogie Misterioso, a.k.a. Flunga Dunga
Breeze
Camel Hop
Cancer
Cancer Mood, a.k.a. Carcinoma
Capricorn
Cee E. Larkins
Chant of the Jitterbugs (with Sharon Pease)
Chicka Boom Blues
Chief Natoma from Tacoma (with Milton Orent)
Chili Sauce
Christmas Celebration Interlude (medley)
Chunka Lunka
Clean Pickin’
Close to Five
Cloudy
The Colonel’s in Love with Nancy, a.k.a. The Colonel Loves Nancy
Conversation, a.k.a. Jump Caprice
Cootchie
Corky, a.k.a. Corky Stomp (with Andy Kirk)
Corny Rhythm
Deuces Wild
The Devil, a.k.a. Devil (with Ada Moore)
Dirge Blues, a.k.a. Don’t Cry, Baby
Don’t Do This—Don’t Do That—That’s How She’s Treatin’ Me (with Frank Lewis)
Drag ’Em
Du
The Duke and the Count
Dunkin’ a Doughnut
Easy Blues, a.k.a. Easy
8th Avenue Express
Elijah (Under the Juniper Tree) (with Ray M. Carr and Milton Orent)
Exit Playing
Fandangle
Fannie
The Feller from Savannah
Fifth Dimension
Flying Solo (with Paula Stone)
For the Figs
Froggy Bottom (with John Williams)
Froggy Bottom (with lyric, 1938; and
1944 variation on melody)
A Fungus Amungus
Gemini
Gemma
Gerrard Street (with Albon Timothy)
Gettin’ Off a Mess
Ghost of Love (with Sharon Pease and Jack Lawrence)
Gjon Mili Jam Session
Gloria (with Robert Ledogar)
Glory to God
Good Ole Boogie
Gootchie
Hesitation Boogie
Holy Ghost (with Larry Gales)
Holy Holy Holy
I Can’t Go On This Way (with Cecil Doty)
I Don’t Know
I Have a Dream (after words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
I Love Him, a.k.a. I Love You
I Never Know
(I Went to a) Gypsy (with Dick Brooks)
(I) Won’t Let it Bother Me
I’d Still Love You (with Morris
Minton)
I
f I Thought You Cared (with Henry Wells)
If You’re Around
I’m Fooling Myself
I’m Happy, I Guess (with Ada Moore)
I’m Not Complaining
In His Day
In the Land of Oo-bla-dee (with Milton Orent)
Isabelle
Jazz (Close Your Eyes and Listen with
the Ears of Your Heart) (with Gracie Glassman)
J.B.’s Waltz (with Milton Suggs)
Jesus Is the Best (with Tom Virga)
Joe (with Milton Orent)
Joycie, a.k.a. Joyce, a.k.a. Watchers
K.C. 12th Street: Kansas City Swing
(Keep It) in the Groove (with Dick Wilson)
Knowledge, a.k.a. Elevation
Kool
Koolbongo a.k.a. Koolbonga
Lamb of God
Lazarus, a.k.a. Beggar Man
Laudle Leedle (with Leon Thomas)
Lazy Ginger
The Left Side Is the Right Side (with Milton Orent and Stuart Sprague)
Leo
Let’s Do the Froggy Bottom (with Juanita Fleming)
Libra, a.k.a. Libra Mood
Little Joe from Chicago (with Henry Wells)
The Little Scotch Tailor (with Frank Lewis)
Little Willie & Stack O’ Lee
Lonely Moments
Lord Have Mercy
Lord Have Mercy (with George Tucker)
The Lord Is Heavy, a.ka. Spiritual II and Spiritual III
The Lord Says
Lotta Sax Appeal (with John Williams)
Love
Love Lies (with Milton Orent)
Love Roots
Man O’Mine, a.k.a. Sweet Juice
Marnier Mood
Mary Lou Williams Blues
Mary’s Boogie
Mary’s Idea, a.k.a. Just an Idea
Mary’s Waltz (with Herbie Nichols)
Mass for the Lenten Season, a.k.a. Praise the Lord
Medi
Medi II, a.k.a. Busy Busy Busy (New York) (with Gracie Glassman)
A Mellow Bit of Rhythm (with Herman Walder)
Melody Maker
Messa Stomp (revised 1938)
Midnite Blues
Miss D.D.
Misty Blues
Mr. Kennedy (with Paul Oakes)
Mu
My Brother Jim (with Robert Scott and Paul Oakes)
My Dreamer
My Favorite Memory (with Sharon Pease)
My Horoscope (with Milton Orent)
My Last Affair
My Mama Pinned a Rose on Me
N.G. Blues
Nickels
Nicknames
Nicole
Nirees (with Idrees Sulieman)
Nite Life, a.k.a. Night Life
N.M.E., a.k.a. Express, a.k.a. Musical Express, a.k.a. New Musical Express
No Title Blues
Nursery Rhyme No. 2 (Mary’s Lamb)
Ode to Saint Cecilia
Offertory Meditation
Old Time Spiritual
Out of My Dreaming (with Vic Dickenson and Tobie Kaye)
Overhand
Overture
O.W.
Pater Noster, a.k.a. Our Father
People in Trouble
Pisces
Pittsburgh (with Milton Orent)
Play It, Momma
Po-ta-be, a.k.a. Po-tabe (with Melba Liston)
Praise the Lord
Prelude to Prism
Pretty-eyed Baby, a.k.a. Piccola Baby
(with William Johnson and Leo “Snub” Mosley)
The Pussy’s in the Well (Nursery Rhyme 1)
Rhythmic Pattern
Riffs
The Rocks
Roll ’Em
Rosa Mae (with Larry Gales and Gracie Glassman)
Sagittarius
Satchel Mouth Baby
The Scarlet Creeper
Scorpio
Scratchin’ in the Gravel, a.k.a. Truth
Selas
Shafi (with Shafi Hadid)
She Went Up and Down on a Merry Go Round (with Frank Lewis)
Shoo be doo be doo, Santa Claus (with Cynthia Tyson)
Shorty Boo (with Milton Orent)
Show Business
Song in My Soul
Space Playing Blues
Special Freight
Steppin’ Pretty (with B. Kaempfert and H. Rehbein)
Strange Fascination (with Ada Moore)
Strictly on the Know (with Paula Stone)
Sweet (Patootie) Patunia
Swingin’ for Joy
Swingin’ Til the Guys Come Home (with Oscar Pettiford)
Syl-O-Gism (with Larry Gales)
Take the Heat off Me
Take the Wagon
Taurus, a.k.a. Taurus Mood, a.k.a. Study in the Blues
Tell Him Not to Talk Too Long (after words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Tell Me How Long Will the Train Be Gone? (with Paula Stone)
Terry Sanford (with Cynthia Tyson)
Thank You, Jesus
Theme from the Third World (with Herbie Nichols)
There’s a Thing in My Heart (with Joseph Mangiapane)
This Is the Way to My Heart
The Time Is Now (with Paula Stone)
Timme Time
Timme’s Blues, a.k.a. Blues for Timme
Tisherome
Toadie Toddle (with Sharon Pease)
Turtle Speed Blues
Twilight
Twinklin’
Virgo
Votive Mass for Peace, a.k.a. Mass for Peace
Waiting (with Don Mickles)
Walkin’, a.k.a. Walkin’ Out the Door (with Lindsay Steele)
Walkin’ and Swingin’
Waltz Boogie, a.k.a. Dunga
Wanderland (with Don Mickles and Manny Fernandez)
We Three
We’re in Harmony
What I Really Like Is Loving You (with Paula Stone)
What’s Your Story, Morning Glory? (with Paul F. Webster and Jack Lawrence)
Whistle, a.k.a. Whistle Blues (with Milton Orent)
Whose Little Who Are You? a.k.a.
Whose Little Boy Are You? (with Ada Moore)
Why?
Why Go On Pretending? (with Roy Jacobs)
Willis
Yankee Doodle Blues (with lyric by Bob Russell)
Yarm (with George Tucker)
Yatcha Dubue
Yesterday’s Kisses
You Are My Little One (with Paula Stone)
You Know Baby (with Frank Lewis)
You Locked the Door (with Vic Dickenson and Tobie Kaye)
Zoning, a.k.a. Intermission (with Milton Suggs)
Zoning Fungus II, a.k.a. Fungus Number 2
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS
The photographs in this book are reproduced courtesy of the following:
Geraldine Burley Garnett: Fletcher and Julius Burley
Helen Floyd and Geraldine Burley Garnett: with Mamie Floyd and her children
John Williams: John Williams with saxophone; Mary Lou Williams with Margaret Warren and Arletta Harris; the Clouds of Joy
W. Eugene Smith Archive, Center for Creative Photography, The University of Arizona. Copyright © The Heirs of W. Eugene Smith, Courtesy of Black Star, Inc., New York: listening to playback at recording session (begins second photo section)
Photograph by Bob Parent. Copyright © Bob Parent Archive: with Oscar Pettiford at Child’s Paramount Theatre
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb. Copyright © William P. Gottlieb. From the Collection of The Library of Congress: at jazz “salon,” 63 Hamilton Terrace; with Jack Teagarden
M. Gray Weingarten: Lindsay Steele
Photograph by Art Kane. Copyright © The Estate of Art Kane: with Ronnie Free, Mose Allison, Lester Young, Charlie Rouse, Oscar Pettiford
Photograph by Dennis Stock. Copyright © Dennis Stock/Magnum Photos, Inc.: in apartment, 1958, with back to piano (begins third photo sectio
n)
Copyright © 1984 by Malcolm G. Moore, Jr. Courtesy of Joyce Breach: with Dizzy Gillespie
Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, with permission of The Van Vechten Trust: Peter O’Brien as a young seminarian
Copyright © Tom Caffrey/Globe Photos, Inc.: kneeling at prayer in church
Duke University Library: teaching jazz at Duke University
Photograph by Louis M. Ruffulo: convalescing at Duke University Hospital
Photograph by Ken Abé. Copyright © Ken Abé: performing at the Cookery Restaurant
All other photographs are courtesy of the Mary Lou Williams Collection at the Institute of Jazz Studies
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LINDA DAHL has written the acclaimed Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen, and many shorter pieces about music and musicians. She lives with her husband, daughter, dog, and cat in upstate New York.
Earliest known photograph of Mary, probably taken between 1921 and 1922, when she was eleven or twelve and at the height of her local fame as “the little piano girl of East Liberty” in Pittsburgh.
Mary’s beloved stepfather, Fletcher Burley, is on the left, with his half-brother Julius Burley. A laborer by day, Fletcher Burley cut a dashing figure as a gambler at night, often sneaking Mary into taverns to play for tips.
The redoubtable Anna Jane “Nanny” Riser, Mary’s maternal grandmother.
Mary’s mother, “Miss Ginnie,” holding an unidentified infant, probably one of her many grandchildren, circa 1950.
Mary, at right, with her favorite sister, Mamie Floyd, center, and Mamie’s children, Alvin and Helen, in the 1940s. Mary often went back to Pittsburgh to stay with Mamie, her version of a vacation.
Mary with Robbie Mickles, the nephew she part-raised, probably in 1957 or 1958, at Birdland.
Mary, at bottom right, with Buzzin’ Harris and His Hits ’n Bits, her first job as a traveling professional pianist, in 1925.
Saxophonist John Williams in 1926. He was Mary’s first husband.
Mary in 1926 with the band that backed the dance team Seymour and Jeanette on big-time vaudeville. Usually called the Syncopators, the group was here billed as the Midnite Strutters’ Band.
Left to right: Mary, dancer Margaret Warren, and Arletta Harris in 1925, with the Hits ’n Bits. Finery aside, the troupe could barely feed itself.
Mary, right, and Mabel Durham, trombonist Allen Durham’s wife, kicking up their heels, probably in Oklahoma in 1929, just before the Clouds of Joy moved to Kansas City.
The Clouds of Joy, 1933. Bandleader Andy Kirk, in the white coat, is next to Mary, the band’s featured soloist, arranger, and composer. Fourth from the left is saxophonist Ben Webster, with whom Mary had fallen in love.
Mary, third from the left, looking bored, between Andy Kirk on her right and vocalist Pha Terrell on her left, others unknown, circa 1937 or 1938. The Clouds of Joy was then enjoying its biggest success.