05/05/2026
We have a very special live music night this Thursday by !! They are visiting from Pittsburgh so don’t miss this rare opportunity to dance to them!
Classes start at 7 & 8 pm. Live music 9-11:15 pm.
New dancers welcome. No partner needed!
About:
Mary Lou Williams was a Pittsburgh-raised jazz pianist and composer who would go on to become one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time, writing music for Andy Kirk in Kansas City and later Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, as well as informally instructing jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk. Williams’ harmonic and rhythmic ideas, while chronologically rooted deep in the swing era, were the foundation on which much of the bebop movement was built. Despite this, her own name and work is underrepresented in the Jazz Canon.
Adam Lee-Morgan is a Pittsburgh-Based Jazz Scholar, professor, and bandleader. This project: “Revitalizing the Big Band Works of Mary Lou Williams,” aims to ensure that Williams’ work is presented and passed along to new generations of jazz musicians and fans, furthering her legacy as a jazz icon. This Project Reconstructs her big band writings from her handwritten notes supplemented by transcription and musical analysis of her writing style.
