Linda Dahl: Morning Glory – A Biography of Mary Lou Williams
Gene Santoro, 'Highway 61 Revisited...', 2004
MARY LOU WILLIAMS was the first girl who really made it into the boys' club that was (and mostly still is) jazz. Sure, girl singers by the dozen fronted the Big Bands. And there were always women who played jazz, though most of them worked in all-female outfits, like novelty acts. Think Some Like It Hot, with Marilyn Monroe as the ukulele-strumming vocalist.
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