Mary Lou Williams has always been around. The pianist, born1910, shaped the swing era, bebop, and in the 1960ies she even pointed out to the avant-garde where her path could lead to. “I constantly change”—was her credo. Mary Lou Williams is the first musician in the history of jazz who was taken seriously by her male colleagues, and was partly even feared because of her mastery. She came from a simple home, and stirred up the jazz scene from the early 30ies up until her death in 1981. The Afro-American film producer Carol Bash created an insightful, empathetic documentary portraying Mary Lou Williams’ life and musical power. It is being shown in collaboration with the Heidelberg Center for American Studies and citizens of Heidelberg. “The Lady Who Swings the Band” assigns Williams her rightful place in the centre of jazz. At Enjoy Jazz, Carol Bash’s documentary is being shown as part of a series with other great film portraits on Charles Lloyd and Irène Schweizer. And not to be forgotten, Mary Lou Williams was a key figure in various emancipation movements—as an Afro-American woman in a tough music business and in times of racial segregation. And by the way, it is not without reason that the film is being screened a few weeks before the presidential elections in the USA.
