In 2000 Our Lady of Victory Church inBrooklyn, NY asked composer andvibraphonist Cecilia Smith to perform aconcert totally devoted to the composi-tional work of Mary Lou Williams.Cecilia’s earlier studies had not identifiedMs. Williams as a composer but merelya jazz pianist. Her preparation for thisproject led her to the Mary Lou WilliamsArchives, housed at Rutgers UniversityJazz Institute, where she uncovered aplethora of compositional information.
The breadth and complexity of Ms.Williams’ composition work was awe-inspiring. Her library comprised morethan 350 works for BigBand, Small Ensembleand Chorus and was onpar with recognizedjazz greats like DukeEllington and TheloniousMonk. Yet this greatartist, for themost part, hadnot been recog-nized by jazzhistorians.
Since that con-cert, CeciliaSmith has con-tinued research-ing Mary LouWilliams andperforming herwork, resultingin the Mary LouWilliams Resurgence Project(MLWRP), Ms. Smith’s tribute to thisphenomenal musician.
In addition to showcasing Ms.Williams’ music with a band thatreflected her career, Ms. Smith want-ed to illustrate the timelessness ofMary Lou’s work and created newarrangements of several of her com-positions that use contemporarystraight-ahead, R&B, hip-hop andclassical concepts that bring theminto the new millennium.
The first concert series of theMLWRP, The Sacred and SecularMusic of Mary Lou Williams, evolvedfrom a four-month residency Ms.Smith did at the New EnglandConservatory in 2002 that culminatedin a concert of Ms. Williams’ works forBig Band, Small Ensemble andChorus using NEC students.Following this residency, renownedmusician and educator, CecilBridgewater, who has mentored Ms.Smith, as well as other women interestin a career in jazz, encouraged her toconsider repeating this program withprofessional musicians capable ofmastering the harmonic and rhythmiccomplexities of the work.
As the idea for this concert evolved,Ms. Smith and Mr. Bridgewater decid-ed that the MLWRP Big Band should
reflect the multi-generational, mix-gendered array of musicians Ms.Williams worked with and was influ-enced by during her career. CecilBridgewater agreed to serve as thecontractor for the big band and wasinvaluable in helping Cecilia identifyand recruit the band’s members. Atinaugural performance of The Sacredand Secular Music of Mary LouWilliams in May 2005 for the KennedyCenter’s 10th Annual Mary LouWilliams Women in Jazz Festival, theensemble of 19 musicians includedjazz veterans, noted mid-career pro-
fessionals and promis-ing newcomers to thejazz scene.
The band’s veterans—Cecil Bridgewater,Benny Powell, HowardJohnson, Jack Jeffers,Amina Claudine Myers,
Bill Easley, and Eddie Allen—com-bined careers total more than 250years, longer than the history of thiscountry. Most of these seasonedmusicians have led their own ensem-bles and worked with many of the wellknow jazz orchestras including theCount Basie Orchestra, the DukeEllington Orchestra (Jack Jeffers ledDuke’s orchestra for several weeks atNew York’s famed Birdland) the ChicoO’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestraand the Thad Jones/Mel LewisOrchestra. They have performed withmany of the greatest names in themusic cannon including: MuhalRichard Abrahams, Ajaramu (JeroldDonavan), Gene Ammons, GatoBarbieri, Count Basie, Louis Bellson,Art Blakey, Lester Bowie, RuthBrown, Benny Carter, Ron Carter,Cyrus Chestnut, Hank Crawford,Mercer Ellington, Gil Evans, FrankFoster, Panama Francis, DizzyGillespie, Lionel Hampton, Sir RolandHanna, Jimmy Heath, AbdullahIbrahim, Illinois Jacquet, J.J.Johnson, Quincey Jones, Kalaparush(Maurice McIntyre), B.B. King, JohnLennon, Taj Mahal, Wynton Marsalis,Earl May, Jimmy McGriff, CharlesMcPhearson, Charles Mingus, OliverNelson, Nicholas Payton, BuddyRich, Mongo Santamaria, JohnScofield, Archie Shepp, Bobby Short,
Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, SonnyStitt, Grady Tate, Henry Threadgill,McCoy Tyner, Randy Weston, JamesWilliams and Gerald Wilson.
The other members of the KennedyCenter ensemble—Lakecia Benjamin,Iantheia Calhoun, Montez Coleman,Tanya Darby, Kenny Davis, ElonRobin Dixon, Tia Fuller, CarltonHolmes, Jennifer Krupa, Keith Loftis,Cecilia Smith, and Debra Weisz—have resumes that are equally asimpressive. Like the band’s veteransthey have performed and recordedwith some of the greatest names inpop and jazz including Donald Byrd,Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Clark
Terry and Stevie Wonder; per-formed in bands ranging fromthe NBC’s The Tonight ShowBand to the famed LincolnCenter Jazz Orchestra, ledtheir own groups and record-ed as leaders. ArtisticDirector, Cecilia Smith, wasthe first female vibraphonist
to record as aleader (TheTakeoff, CSQ—Volume II, HighStandards, andLeave No StoneUnturned); shecan also beheard on CDs byC a s s a n d r aWilson, Digable
Planets, Lonnie Plaxico, Yoshi Katori,Leonora Zenzalai Helms, J-Curveand Hesterian; and has written workscommissioned by the Cooper-HewittMuseum, Langston Hughes PubicLibrary, Cambridge Children’sPerformance Arts Project and theBoston Museum.
This prestigious group of nineteenjazz professionals has performed atfestivals, in clubs and on concertstages on all seven continents andacquainted audiences with the multi-faceted world of jazz through bothperformance and recordings.
If you would like to receive additionalinformation about The Sacred andSecular Music of Mary Lou Williamsor are interested in booking the con-cert, please contact:
CEA Music186 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1RBrooklyn NY 11217(718) 398-2946
Please note that the choir for this con-cert series will be hired locally andthat the concert is available for book-ing in a variety of formats.
Kennedy Center photographs courtesyof Margot Shulman
Rehearsal photographs courtesy ofShem Rajoon
THE MARY LOU WILLIAMS RESURGENCE PROJECT’S
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