Mary Lou Williams: 1978

Three years before her death in 1981, pianist Mary Lou Williams performed an extraordinary concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Here's nearly an hour of her playing solo, which will give you a full sense of her brilliance and significance. If you can't watch all of it, let it run in the background as you work. Her technique and soul are breathtaking. In my opinion, Williams has never been fully recognized as a musical innovator on par with Earl “Fatha" Hines, Teddy Wilson and Erroll Garner...