Concert will honor Mary Lou Williams

Long before Wednesday-night jazz (and wine), the name Mary Lou Williams meant much more at Duke. Few students are aware that Williams was not only a noted jazz musician and composer, but also served as Duke's first artist-in-residence from 1977 until her death in 1981. The Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture was established two years later, and although the center does focus on dealing with black issues on campus, it has a secondary mission to honor Williams' legacy.

"The purpose of the center is to extend the story of her life and to extend her music into the present and into the future," said Father Peter O'Brien, executive director of the Mary Lou Williams Foundation.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the center, O'Brien organized a concert for this Saturday with Duke Performances. The show begins with Patricia Barber's Mythologies, an 11-song cycle inspired by characters in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Following Barber's piece, the Geri Allen Trio will play Williams' own Zodiac Suite. Zodiac, which was originally composed in 1945, is a 12-part piece based on the signs of the zodiac. The connection between the two pieces is clear, as both deal with classic mythological content and Barber said much of the style and structure of Mythologies was inspired by Williams' Zodiac.

For Allen, the material will be familiar territory. In 2006, she helped record Zodiac Suite: Revisited, which was released on Mary Records, a label started by Williams herself in 1964. Allen will perform with bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Andrew Cyrille Saturday. Cyrille, who also appeared on Revisited, is a former member of the famed Cecil Taylor Unit and performed alongside Williams.

"Zodiac highlights the band's individual members. It's a very intimate piece, very elegant and very modern," Allen said. "It represents the best of what music is about. It's clearly [Williams'] voice, and it comes through."

For O'Brien, the piece is a fitting work to appreciate such a noteworthy musician.

"No jazz artist wrote anything like this," he said. "It's powerful. It's a work of genius."

Evolutions: The Mary Lou Williams Center's 25th Anniversary will be held Saturday at 8 p.m. in Reynolds Theater. Tickets are $5 for students, $20 for Duke employees and $28 for others.