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Tag: Zodiac Suite

Sign O’ The Times: Mary Lou Williams’ ‘Zodiac Suite’ Rises In Akron

Mary Lou Williams, Theron Brown

It wouldn’t be inaccurate to call pianist, composer and bandleader Mary Lou Williams the Zelig of jazz. At every crucial turn of the music’s early history, she was on the scene writing, playing and teaching many of the most pivotal figures in mid-century jazz Yet the spotlight always evaded her.

No more. The recent efforts of the jazz establishment to recognize the achievements of women yield new and long-overdue revelations of her multi-valent genius, not just in the jazz capitals of the world, but in Northeast Ohio, too. Pianist Theron Brown and the Akron Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Christopher Wilkins add to the momentum Saturday with a concert presentation of five movements from Williams’ “Zodiac Suite.”

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Roll Call: February 19, 2021

I get a lot of music for my consideration, more than 460 new releases in 2020. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So, every week, more or less, I’ll offer hot takes on the releases of the preceding seven days.

If you’ve been wondering how the L.A. studio cats who have been replaced by digital one-man-bands and library music are passing their time, the not-so-short answer might be found in “Out On The Coast” (Basset Hound Music), a three-CD set by The David Angel Jazz Ensemble.

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