Mary Lou Williams' musical career began in the mid-1920s, when she was still a
teenager performing in cabaret. Recognized in Kansas City and married to John
Williams, himself a saxophonist, she obtained a position as pianist with him in
The Twelve Clouds Of Joy, a band formed by Terence Holder in the late '20s and
later taken over by Andy Kirk. Alongside this orchestra, in which Mary Lou
Williams spent over ten years, the pianist wrote numerous compositions and
arrangements for a number of very popular bands, including those of Louis
Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Ear...