MARY LOU WILLIAMS

Mary Lou Williams was a black African-American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer from the 1920s to the 1980s. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records. Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie. She continued to perform and work as a philanthropist, educator, and youth mentor until her death in 1981.