Shocking Omissions: Mary Lou Williams' Choral Masterpiece
The jazz composer and pianist wrote the devotional work after her conversion to Catholicism. For her long, endlessly inventive and astonishing career, she belongs at the center of our canon.
When NPR Music published its list of 150 Greatest Albums By Women two weeks ago, we who created it firmly intended that this be just the beginning of a conversation that puts women's musical artistry at the center. Immediately, others took up our call. Lists began proliferating, representing different taste affinities, time periods and genre focuses than what our list encompassed. In that spirit, today NPR Music introduces two ongoing series of essays: Forebears, celebrating women whose recording careers made the most impact before the time period our list encompasses, and
