"Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite" studio & live

[ghost of miles]

This week on Night Lights it’s “Mary Lou Williams’ Zodiac Suite.” In 1945 pianist, composer and arranger Mary Lou Williams debuted her first extended work, The Zodiac Suite, with musical movements for each sign of the zodiac. Williams was 35 years old, already a veteran of the swing era; she was playing regularly at New York City’s Café Society, hosting a weekly radio program, and had begun a fruitful recording relationship with Moe Asch’s label (which would eventually become Folkways). She was also at the center of a circle of emerging bebop greats that included Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell. In the midst of this busy period she composed The Zodiac Suite, a series of modernistic sketches that were dedicated to various friends and fellow musicians. In addition to the recordings she made for Asch’s label, she also performed the work live on several occasions; we’ll hear excerpts from two of those, one a December 31, 1945 concert at New York City’s Town Hall, the other a 1957 appearance at Newport with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. We’ll hear a number of the original Asch sides as well. “Mary Lou Williams’ Zodiac Suite” airs Saturday, November 25 at 11:05 p.m. EST on WFIU, 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville, and at 10 p.m. EST Sunday evening on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio. The program will be posted Monday afternoon in the Night Lights archives. You can read more about Mary Lou Williams and her career here.

Next week: "The French Connection."

Edited March 22, 2008 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

Up for broadcast later tonight on WNIN and WFIU at the links above--forgot to mention that there is a previous Mary Lou Williams Night Lights program, devoted to her sacred music, that's posted online here. Some discussion of the Mary Lou Williams Collective (headed by Geri Allen) re-recording of The Zodiac Suite (a fine CD in and of itself) here and here.

Edited March 22, 2008 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

This program is now archived.

Edited March 22, 2008 by ghost of miles

[Teasing the Korean]

This program is now archived.

Thanks for this. I've never heard it, but I love John Dankworth's "Zodiac Variations." I'll have to give it a spin.

[ghost of miles]

We're rebroadcasting Mary Lou Williams' Zodiac Suite this weekend, Saturday evening at 11:05 EST on WFIU and 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville, and Sunday evening at 10 EST on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio. It's already archived for online listening.