Morning Glory: A Biography of Mary Lou Williams »

Linda Dahl writes frequently about jazz. Her groundbreaking book Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen was published in 1984.

Mary Lou Williams-pianist, arranger, composer, and probably the most influential woman in the history of jazz-receives the attention she has long deserved in this definitive biography.

"[An] account of the artist's hard life and heady times. With impressive attention to detail, Dahl traces Williams from her childhood in Atlanta, where she was born in 1910, and Pittsburgh through her ongoing battle for her art on and off the bandstand." (Calvin Wilson, Kansas City Star)

"Dahl's straightforward prose is filled with details gleaned from interviews and Williams' personal diary [that] highlight both the strength of Williams' character and her professionalism. In one particularly compelling and funny segment, Williams punches fellow pianist Phil Moore in the mouth after a dispute over equipment. Rather than let the sexism of the industry lay claim to her, Williams often fought toe to toe with male counterparts for respect and recognition." (Mark Anthony Neal, Emerge)

"A serious and engaging historical portrait of one of jazz's greatest underappreciated figures. . . . During the 1940s Williams held piano-queen court of Café Society, the famed Greenwich Village nightspot that catered to the rich and intellectual left, and was one of the first to break the color bar. Meanwhile, she mentored bop outlaws like Thelonious Monk (who wrote 'Rhythm-a-ning' from one of her riffs), Bud Powell (who fell in love with her) and Dizzy Gillespie. Her capacity to absorb new sounds and idioms into her own voice and her restless quest to forge new forms of jazz composition had few equals." (Gene Santoro, New York Times Book Review)

"This unsettling book about an unsettled woman, who became an inspiration to everyone who loved her music, can impart a history lesson about the travails of most women jazz musicians until the last two decades of the twentieth century. . . . Morning Glory should move those readers who didn't know Williams' music to go in search of it." (Leslie Gourse, Women's Review of Books)

"Until the release of Linda Dahl's definitive biography, not all that much had been written about Mary Lou Williams beyond her musical life. Dahl tells the full story, warts and all, and the result is a portrayal of a very talented by troubled and often-confused woman, one with good intentions and grand schemes who was not always very realistic or able to follow through on her dreams. Dahl did a superb job of weaving together stories from relatives (including Mary Lou's first husband John Williams), friends and fellow musicians plus the pianist's own writings to tell the full Mary Lou Williams story." (Scott Yanow, Jazz Improv)

Author Biography: Linda Dahl writes frequently about jazz. Her groundbreaking book Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen was published in 1984.

Publishers Weekly

In a time when the music of Harlem was beginning to stake a claim on the racially mixed Greenwich Village clientele, Williams, a young black pianist, trained her sights on a more classical venue. In 1947 she reached it, leading Carnegie Hall's New York Philharmonic in a boogie-woogie symphony of her own composition. Williams began her jazz career as a teenager accompanying orchestras "by ear." She soon taught herself to read and write music and gained a reputation as a masterful arranger. Her influence on the evolution of jazz spanned four decades from ragtime to bop, and can be heard in the works of jazz giants from Duke Ellington to Charlie Parker. Many musicians attribute her with genius, but lasting popular recognition has eluded her. Dahl's (Stormy Weather) narrative, while well researched, lacks the vibrancy needed to launch Williams to the fame she nearly obtained and so clearly deserves. Using a plethora of quotations, Dahl reconstructs Williams's evolution as a prodigy, a mystic, a bohemian and a religious convert, but she offers little insight into Williams's character: Dahl tells us that Williams was shy, but follows with stories of a very sassy nature; she announces that Williams's telepathic gift haunted her throughout her life, but offers scarce anecdotal evidence. Nonetheless, Dahl's comprehensive appendixes of discography, compositions and arrangements are a boon to jazz scholars, and despite its defects, this biography remains an important step toward recognizing the achievements of a remarkable woman. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.