THANK YOU all so much for your support of the Mary Lou Williams project. Your donations helped us record and package the cd and we hope you enjoyed the special gifts! Please click the poster graphic above to view the list of people and companies that helped bring this wonderful tribute to life! Virginia Mayhew's "Mary Lou Williams Project" was recorded live by NPR at the Kennedy Center's Mary Lou Williams Women In Jazz Festival in May, 2010. Click the above graphic to hear the performance. . . . SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER! Sign-up for our Newsletter and get behind-the-scenes photos, parety invites, gig announcements, special offers and more. Just click here to sign-up. Thanks! . . .

NEWS | FALL & WINTER 2011 CD RELEASE PARTY! "Mary Lou Williams - The Next 100 Years" Please join us on Friday, October 28th, 7:30pm at Smalls Jazz Club in NYC, to celebrate the release of Virginia Mayhew's "Mary Lou Williams - The Next 100 Years". In late 2009, jazz saxophonist-composer-arranger Virginia Mayhew and Italian jazz pianist Tony Pancella were considering various female jazz musicians to focus on for an upcoming Italian Women In Jazz festival. At some point Tony realized that 2010 was the 100th anniversary of Mary Lou Williams birth, and this project began. During the course of her research, Virginia was introduced to the executor of Mary Lou’s estate, Father Peter O’Brien, who offered invaluable information and musical suggestions, and made arrangements for Virginia to have full access to the Mary Lou Williams Collection at Rutgers’ Institute of Jazz Studies. The Jazz Institute has many of Mary Lou’s hand-written charts, arrangements, musical sketches, and lyrics/notes. This material was so inspiring that Virginia decided to build this into a bigger project, "Mary Lou Williams - The Next 100 Years", which will include a CD, U.S. performances, and an international tour with her quartet(s) beginning in the Spring of 2010. "Although I was aware that Mary Lou Williams was a well-respected jazz musician," offered Virginia, "I was surprised by the depth and breadth of her career - composing and arranging for Andy Kirk and the Clouds of Joy in the 30’s, arranging for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, recording with tenor giant Don Byas, and mentoring such Jazz giants as Monk, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie and Bird (Charlie Parker), in addition to leading her own groups. She covered every major style from Stride Piano to Big Band to Bebop to Funk, and even touched on Free Jazz. There’s so much to be explored in her music, that I knew I wanted to do a more involved project than just a few arrangements for a single gig." On December 10, 2010, Virginia recorded material for "Mary Lou Williams - The Next 100 Years", with her quartet: Ed Cherry (guitar), Harvie S (bass), Andy Watson (drums) and special guest Wycliffe Gordon on trombone. The cd is available now. You can purchase directly from Renma Recordings or from Amazon, iTunes and most major retailers. Mary Lou Williams Photos Credit: William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress. . . . . . . .