Jazz for Young People®
Jazz for Young People: Who is Mary Lou Williams?
Note: This event took place on 11/7/2009.
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What is jazz? How does it work? And what can we do with it? Few break it down more clearly and with as much humor and warmth as host Wynton Marsalis.
In this interactive family concert Wynton and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) explore the workings of jazz through the lens of pianist, composer and iconoclast Mary Lou Williams. A child prodigy, Mary began supporting her family with her playing at age 6. She hit the road at 14 and by her early 20s she was composing and arranging for the best of the Swing Era big bands. She became the "First Lady of Jazz" a master of every style from ragtime and stride to boogie-woogie, bebop and beyond.
Join us as the JLCO performs her deeply swinging music including "Roll 'Em," "Walkin' and Swingin'," and "In the Land of Oo Bla Dee" and invites us all to sing, move and play in Mary’s musical world. Performing with the orchestra are the winners of a nationwide search for the next Mary Lou Williams, pianists Alma Macbride, age 14 from West Hartford, CT and Yasiel Sanchez, age 13 from New York City.
Please join us in the Atrium before the concert for a hands-on workshop on Mary Lou and her music. Pre-concert activities start at 12:15pm and 2:15pm.
