Fiscal Note
No expenditure is required.
Title
Proclaiming September 30 - October 3, 2010, as Mary Lou Williams Weekend in the City of Madison.
Body
WHEREAS, the late Mary Lou Williams was a pioneering jazz pianist, composer, and arranger whose career spanned and influenced nearly every era in jazz history and who mastered and absorbed every jazz style into her music; and
WHEREAS, Mary Lou Williams composed hundreds of works in both secular and sacred veins, including major hits of the Swing Era and three jazz masses, and joins Aaron Copland, Stephen Sondheim, and Philip Glass as among only 40 American composers chosen by the American Musicological Society for its "Music of the United States" critical editions series; and
WHEREAS, Mary Lou Williams arranged music for some of the most celebrated bands of the Swing Era, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Jimmie Lunceford, and the Dorsey Brothers; and
WHEREAS, Mary Lou Williams opened the door for generations of female instrumentalists and composers in the male-dominated field of jazz; and
WHEREAS, Mary Lou Williams was an important mentor to the great pioneers of the modern jazz era, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell; and
WHEREAS, Mary Lou Williams has been enshrined in the prestigious DownBeat Hall of Fame and is celebrated annually by the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC; and
WHEREAS, 2010 marks the centennial anniversary of Mary Lou Williams, an occasion being commemorated in communities and major cultural institutions across the country; and
WHEREAS, the Mary Lou Williams Foundation invited the Greater Madison community to stage a centennial celebration for Ms. Williams in memory of her 1976 artist residency at the UW-Madison and in recognition of continuing local interest in her music and life story; and
WHEREAS, Madison's Mary Lou Williams Centennial Committee has partnered with a host of local arts and education organizations to produce a year-long series of concerts and educational programs that are helping community residents learn about Ms. Williams' contributions to American culture, to become more familiar with her music, and to develop a greater appreciation for jazz, America's classical music; and
WHEREAS, Madison's centennial celebration reaches its peak during the Mary Lou Williams Fall Festival Weekend, from September 30 - October 3, 2010, with concerts at the Overture Center and Mt. Zion Baptist Church, a scholarly symposium at the UW's Pyle Center, a hip hop theater presentation by students from the UW First Wave program, presentations by authors of books about Ms. Williams as part of the Wisconsin Book Festival, and more; and
WHEREAS, nearly all centennial events during the Mary Lou Williams Fall Festival Weekend are free and open to the public;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor and the Common Council do hereby proclaim September 30 - October 3, 2010, to be "Mary Lou Williams Weekend;"
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Mayor and Common Council acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of Madison's Mary Lou Williams Centennial Committee and encourage all residents to learn more about Ms. Williams and her music by attending the programs being presented at venues throughout our community during the upcoming Fall Festival Weekend.