The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams: Deanna Witkowski

In her recent book, Mary Lou Williams: Music for the Soul, Deanna Witkowski brings a fresh perspective to the life and music of the legendary jazz pianist-composer Mary Lou Williams (1910-81).

As a fellow jazz pianist-composer, an adult convert to Catholicism, and liturgical composer, Witkowski offers unique insight gleaned from a twenty-year journey with Williams as her chosen musical and spiritual mentor. Viewing Williams’s musical and corporal acts of mercy as part of a singular effort to create community no matter the context, Witkowski examines how Williams created networks of support and friendship through her decades-long letter correspondence with various women religious, her charitable work, and her tireless efforts to perform jazz in churches, community centers, concert halls, and schools.

Throughout this fascinating story told with equal amounts of deep love and scholarly research, Witkowski illumines Williams’s passionate mantra that “jazz is healing to the soul.”

Deanna Witkowski is a professional jazz pianist, composer, and liturgical musician. She is the winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition and most recently, a featured performer with the Pittsburgh Symphony. As a noted Williams scholar, Witkowski is dedicated to bringing the pioneering jazz pianist-composer Mary Lou Williams’s soulful legacy to communities across the United States.

If you enjoy this episode, you might also want to hear our interview with Michael Scott Alexander, who also writes about Mary Lou Williams.