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| You had to have a strong left hand in those days or they wouldn't pay attention to you. |
| Mary Lou Williams
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 The
musically well-schooled Andy Kirk soon realized Williams' for inventing
original piano pieces. One of her first was "Froggy Bottom," a blues.
Kirk encouraged her as an arranger, and helped her improve her musical
reading and writing skills. The band's fortunes rose in late 1929
when talent scouts from Brunswick Records made a field trip to Kansas
City, recording talent in a local hotel. They recorded eight sides
(two as by John Williams and his Memphis Stompers, the others as by
Andy Kirk and His Twelve Clouds of Joy). Three of the recordings featured
Mary's compositions and arrangements ("Lotta Sax Appeal," "Mess-A-Stomp,"
and "Froggy Bottom") and she was at the keyboard all of them. The
following year, Williams recorded her first piano solo, "Drag 'Em,"
in Chicago in April 1930.
Aside from a 1931 Victor recording with Blanche Calloway (Cab's singing sister), The Clouds of Joy would not record again until 1936, some five years after Mary took over regular piano duties and proved to be the musical brains of the outfit. (Other standout soloists included tenorman Dick Wilson, the underrated clarinetist Johnn Harrington, trombonist Ted Donnelly, and trumpeter Harry Lawson, a master of the blues.)Kirk vocalist Pha Terrell, a high tenor vocalist, produced the band's greatest hit, "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," in 1936.
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The song's success facilitated the recording of many Williams instrumentals. Among the 109 issued Kirk sides made until Mary left the band in may 1942, there are such Williams gems as "Steppin' Pretty," "Walkin' and Swingin," "Mary's Idea," "Scratchin' the Gravel," including a well-earned tribute, "The Lady Who Swings the Band. "Under Mary's direction, the Kirk band, which emerged on records from Kansas City just before Count Basie, had a softer, gentler touch than the Basie crew, but was just as deeply rooted in the blues, always a key element of Mary's music.
Her brilliant arranging for Kirk didn't go unnoticed, and Mary did plenty of freelance work for other leaders, Benny Goodman, for whom she produced one of her classics, "Roll 'Em," and the excellent "Camel Hop." For Lunceford, she penned "What's Your Story Morning Glory (which, as she eventually managed to prove legally became the basis for the hit song "Black Coffee"), and for Ellington, she did a rousing version of "Blue Skies" that became known as "Trumpets No End." Other clients of Williams during this period included Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Glen Gray and Tommy Dorsey. But her work with the Kirk crew-as close-knit as an extended family, musically and personally-has a very special flavor and ranks with the best of the Swing Era.
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 Mary Lou Williams
as she appeared about the time she first recorded under her own name
in April 1930. That session for Brunswick produced two sparkling piano
solos, "Nite Life" and "Drag 'em." |
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Andy Kirk, seen here
in the early 1930s, led one of the more notable Southwest territory
bands based in Kansas City, a jazz scene that produced such luminaries
as Count Basie, Bennie Moten, Lester Young, Jay McShann and, later,
Charlie Parker. It was not long before Kirk realized that the future
of the Clouds of Joy was in the gifted hands of Mary Lou Williams,
though she was never adequately compensated for her immense contributions. |
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This historic photograph
taken at the Pearl Theater in Philadelphia in 1930 shows Andy Kirk
and His Clouds of Joy in the service of Cab Calloway's sister, Blanche,
seen doing a split with baton in hand. Mary Lou Williams is visible
at the piano, with Andy Kirk behind her, John Williams to Kirk's left
and trombonist Floyd "Stumpy" Brady leaning on piano at far left.
Dancer Bill Bailey, Pearl's brother, at left, is holding a bowler
hat. The Kirk band recorded with Calloway for RCA Victor in Camden
under the name Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys. |
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This program from
the Pearl Theater engagement advertising Blanche Calloway and Her
Clouds of Joy suggests that Calloway attempted to appropriate Andy
Kirk's band during their six-month-long date at the theater. For this
engagement, the great singer Ethel Waters starred. When Pearl Wright,
Waters' regular pianist went home for her mother's funeral, Williams
accompanied the singer. |
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Ethel Waters was surely
jesting in this inscription when she lauded the young piano powerhouse
as "that light piano player frenzy." Williams, using the parlance
of the day, knew her success as a pianist in the big band era lay
in her ability "to play like a man.". |
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Andy Kirk and His
12 Clouds of Joy in 1931, with Williams (seated center), Kirk (second
from left standing), Ben Thigpen (far left), John Williams (third
from right), Johnny Harrington, (clarinet), and Big Jim Lawson (trumpet).
Asked DM about further ID. |
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Henrietta Randolph
(left), wife of trumpeter Irving "Mouse" Randolph, Mary Lou Williams,
and Mabel Durham on the road with the Kirk band in the early days.
Williams stayed with the Clouds of Joy from 1929 to 1942, establishing
her reputation as one of the stalwarts of jazz. |
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Mabel Durham and
Mary Lou Williams in Baltimore during a six-month Kirk band road trip
in 1930-1931. |
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Mary Lou Williams-pianist
, composer, and arranger-when she was in her prime with the Kirk band
ca.1936. During this period, Williams also produced arrangements for
some of the most popular bands of the day, such as Les Brown, Benny
Goodman and Cab Calloway |
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The addition in 1936
of singer Pha Terrell, signaled an upswing in the Kirk band's fortunes,
most prominently Terrell's version of the ballad "Until the Real Thing
Comes Along." Williams can been seen at the keyboard as Kirk leads
the band. The Clouds of Joy's great tenor saxophonist Dick Wilson
is immediately to Williams' left. |
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Mary Lou Williams
looks like a confident leader of the pack in this publicity photo
of her with Andy Kirk's brass and reed sections. |
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