Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Marian McPartland: Piano Jazz with Mary Lou Williams

225

Marian McPartland: Piano Jazz with Mary Lou Williams

Marian McPartland: Piano Jazz with Mary Lou Williams
Pianist and world treasure Marian McPartland, who received a NARAS Trustees Award at this year’s Grammy Awards, has hosted her radio show Piano Jazz for about a quarter century. The Jazz Alliance label has captured a few of these jewels on CD, including the wonderful premiere featuring the very underappreciated pianist, arranger and composer Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981). From the moment McPartland gushes “Mary Lou!” the listener is in for a special treat: two jazz legends and good friends, performing and talking about what they love.

The disc opens with Williams, along with bassist Ronnie Boykins (who also performs marvellously here), swinging along on her tune “Space Playing Blues.” “Baby Man” is supposed to be a slow blues, but Williams is so spry on the keys that she almost seems to defeat the purpose. She plays the ballad “What’s Your Story, Morning Glory?” with stunning dexterity, making the notes cascade from her fingers. The first duet Williams and McPartland share, “Scratchin’ in the Gravel,” is played with perfect harmony and timing, as though the two have played together for years. Boykins has a great plucked/bowed/plucked moment on “Medi No. 2.” Williams is especially charming when, on a playful dare from McPartland, she sings a gravelly and diffident “Rosa Mae.”

The between-song banter between the players is also both informative and entertaining. Williams’ description of Fats Waller’s style (“like a metronome... has a lot of love in it”); the effect that playing boogie-woogie has on the arms; how to adjust the keys in which one plays to account for the effect of humidity on the piano; Williams’ pride in her place in jazz history (“I’m the only living musician that has played all the eras. Other musicians lived through the eras and they never changed their styles.”) At one point McPartland asks Williams to replay some of her left hand changes, adding playfully “I’m trying to steal it, can’t you tell?” Williams responds by wordlessly going into a lovely “I Can’t Get Started.”

Track Listing

1 - Space Playing Blues 2 - Conversation 3 - Baby Man 4 - Conversation 5 - What's Your Story, Morning Glory? 6 - Conversation 7 - Scratchin' In The Gravel 8 - Conversation 9 - Medi No. 2 10 - Conversation 11 - Rosa Mae 12 - Conversation 13 - Rosa Mae 14 - Conversation 15 - Caravan 16 - Conversation 17 - I Can't Get Started 18 - Conversation 19 - Jeep Is Jumpin', The 20 - Conversation 21 - Exit Playing

Personnel

Marian McPartland - piano.

Album information

Title: Piano Jazz with Mary Lou Williams | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: Unknown label

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.