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MUSIC 1726 - MARY LOU WILLIAMS: STUDYING JAZZ, GENDER, AND RACE THROUGH A PITTSBURGH ICONMinimum Credits: 3 Maximum Credits: 3 Few figures in jazz enjoyed a longer or more dynamic career than Mary Lou Williams. After emerging as a child prodigy in Pittsburgh in the 1920s, Williams became one of the most sought-after arrangers of the swing era and a germinal figure in the bebop movement. Her later work included compositions for chamber and symphonic orchestras, a full mass setting, and even concerts with avant-garde improvisers. At every turn, Williams cultivated a reputation for elegant arrangements, stalwart professionalism, and a fiercely swinging piano style. This course will examine Williams' storied life and work, paying particular attention to the larger contexts relating to jazz and gender in the 20th century. Like many women artists, Williams never wished to be reduced solely to her gender a trend too-frequently embedded in patronizing epithets like "the great female pianist" Our discussions will therefore seek to avoid framing her in overly-reductive ways. We will strive toward a deeper interrogation of how jazz's complex and often fraught discourses surrounding gender impacted Williams' career, as well as those of subsequent generations of artists. The course will explore a wide range of texts (some unrelated to Williams) in order to grapple with such issues. In doing so, we seek not only to celebrate the legacy of one major jazz composer, but also to think about the cultural landscapes that underlie the construction of such legacies in the first place. Academic Career: Undergraduate Course Component: Seminar Grade Component: Letter Grade Course Attributes: DSAS Diversity General Ed. Requirement, DSAS The Arts General Ed. Requirement, SCI Diversity General Ed. Requirements, SCI Polymathic Contexts: Humanistic GE. Req., Undergraduate Research
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