A Fabulous Weekend of Music Celebrating Mary Lou Williams

Two concerts highlight Duke’s first artist-in-residence

Our First Lady of Jazz, Celebrating Mary Lou Williams

The life and legacy of the late Mary Lou Williams will be the center of attention at Duke this weekend, and the music will be amazing.

In two concerts, the noted jazz pianist and composer will be honored with performances that showcase her extraordinary talent. Both concerts are part of the university’s centennial celebration.

Both performances are linked by Mary Lou Williams’ history at Duke University. Hired in 1977 as the university’s first artist-in-residence and director of the jazz ensemble, Williams continued performing and composing during her four years at Duke. The concerts will feature different pieces of music that are connected to her time at Duke.

The concerts follow the reopening of the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture in its former home in Flowers Building after two years of renovation. The center was upgraded so it could better serve its mission of being a hub of student life on campus. It was named in Williams’ honor because of her work during her time at Duke as a mentor and in promoting Black culture.

8 p.m. Saturday, April 13, Baldwin Auditorium

Duke Wind Symphony: “History…”

This concert has an amazing story behind it. For years, Duke music professor Anthony Kelley had heard that Mary Lou Williams had been working on a composition when she died, but little was known about it. Working with University Archives, Kelley spent a year looking for any trace of the work.

After a year of searching, an archivist found a collection of music sheets bundled together in the Mary Lou Williams Papers in the Rubenstein Library. The work was called “History …”

“It was like one of those scenes from ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ when the light shines in your face. She held this paper. This is her handwriting,” Kelley told the News and Observer about the discovery.

Kelley took on the challenge of completing the work, and the Duke Wind Symphony, directed by Verena Mösenbichler-Bryant, will perform it Saturday night. To complete the historical circle, Kelley performed in the Wind Symphony when he was a Duke student.

The concert also includes works in tribute to the late Paul Bryan, the long-time Wind Symphony director.

Admission is free with no tickets needed. The concert will be livestreamed on YouTube.

4 p.m. Sunday, April 14, Duke Chapel

“Our First Lady of Jazz”

The Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, Duke Arts, and Duke University Chapel present a free, public concert celebrating Williams and featuring a range of Black sacred music, from vocal jazz and gospel to spirituals, classical and the blues.

As with “History …”, the music in this performance is connected to her work at Duke. Williams performed several times in Duke Chapel, including with the Duke Chapel Choir. Sunday’s concert will include parts of her acclaimed work “Mary Lou’s Mass,” which was performed in Duke Chapel in February 1978 by a chorus comprising 135 students from Williams’ jazz history classes, during a worship service co-sponsored by the Music Department and the Duke Catholic Center.

The concert will also include excepts from Williams’ albums Music for Peace and Black Christ of the Andes; works by Undine Smith Moore, Florence Price, and Duke Ellington; and spirited renditions of classics such as “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” and “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me.”

The Duke Chapel Choir, above, and the North Carolina Central University Vocal Jazz Ensemble will perform Sunday in Duke Chapel. The concert will include works from Mary Lou Williams including excerpts from “Mary Lou’s Mass.”
The Duke Chapel Choir, above, and the North Carolina Central University Vocal Jazz Ensemble will perform Sunday in Duke Chapel. The concert will include works from Mary Lou Williams including excerpts from “Mary Lou’s Mass.”
The Duke Chapel Choir, above, and the North Carolina Central University Vocal Jazz Ensemble will perform Sunday in Duke Chapel. The concert will include works from Mary Lou Williams including excerpts from “Mary Lou’s Mass.”

Visitors can learn more about the music and legacy of Williams at a pre-concert talk by Melodie Galloway, director of visual and performing arts at the University of North Carolina—Asheville. The talk is at 3:15 p.m. in Duke Chapel.

This performance brings together guest artists from the community and Duke musicians:

  • The North Carolina Central University Vocal Jazz Ensemble, directed by Lenora Helm Hammonds
  • John V. Brown, Vice Provost for the Arts at Duke
  • Patrice E. Turner, Director of Worship and the Arts at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and student at Duke Divinity School
  • Orlandus Perry, drummer and music educator
  • The Duke Chapel Choir, directed by Zebulon M. Highben