Melba Liston
trombonist, composer, arranger
Melba Liston (1926-1999) was a trombonist, composer and arranger who grew up in Kansas City and began playing the trombone at an early age. She was a talented movement player and soloist and very soon became the first woman ever to play in the big bands of Gerald Wilson, Dizzy Gillespie and Count Basie.
She also toured with Billie Holiday and played with Art Blakey's bands. She quickly became a sought-after arranger and wrote for Gillespie, Mingus, Ellington and Basie, among others, and worked closely with Randy Weston in particular. However, as a black female jazz musician, Liston did not always have it easy in the then completely male- dominated jazz world and touring in particular was sometimes very strenuous for her due to the racial segregation in America.
In 1973, she became director of African-American pop and jazz at a university in Jamaica and then returned to the USA in 1979. She led her all- women band Melba Liston and Company from 1980, but released her only album under her own name in 1958 with the band Melba Liston And Her 'Bones.
During her career, Liston often worked as a ghost writer; many of the arrangements that belong to the repertoires of the above-mentioned big band leaders were actually written by her.
Melba Liston was one of the few truly recognized and successful female jazz musicians of her time and was also an important mentor and pioneer for women in jazz.
Mary Lou Williams
pianist, arranger, composer, educator
Mary Lou Williams (*8 March 1910, Atlanta) was a pianist, arranger, composer and teacher. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arranged for big bands led by Andy Kirk,
Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. Her well-known arrangements include Trumpet No End for Ellington and Roll ‘ Em for Goodman.
After her time in the big band scene, she dedicated herself to her own compositions and developed the Zodiac Suite, a work for jazz orchestra. As one of the first women to gain recognition in bebop, she was dubbed the ‘Mother of Bebop’. During this time, she worked a lot with Tadd Dameron, Thelonius Monk and Dizzy Gillespie, for whom she was a great inspiration.
Later, spiritual elements flowed into her music when she returned to the Catholic Church. She released works such as Mary Lou's Mass and Black Christ of the Andes (St Martin de Porres) on her own label Mary Records. In 1977 she became artist in residence at
Duke University and taught jazz history.
After playing a duo concert with Cecil Taylor, which was labelled a ‘free jazz disaster’ by some critics, she said: ‘Now I can truly say that I've played everything.’