Black Christ of the Andes: Mary Lou Williams' "Praise the Lord"

Perhaps my favorite gospel-jazz piece (sorry, Charles Mingus!), "Praise the  Lord" is a triumphal jam session meets revival meeting, even with the prayers and exhortations to God that show up all over the place. The funky, swinging piece, featuring wailing sax, propulsive rhythm, and eerily humming back-up vocals, is the best kind of church music I've ever heard. For some reason, Williams, a Catholic convert when she recorded this album in tribute to a black Catholic saint, Martin de Porres, keeps herself rooted in Black, non-Catholic church music with this number. As someone who had the fortune of seeing a presentation by a Catholic priest who knew Mary Lou Williams personally, I learned of her important role in the evolution of swing and bop in jazz, as well as her spiritual convictions and conversion to Catholicism (see my review of the event here). Williams, whose apartment in New York was popular for other, mostly male, jazz instrumentalists, was a teacher, innovator, composer, and perhaps the most prominent female instrumentalist in jazz history, save Nina Simone's mean piano skills. Truly a great composer and pianist, her suites, such as the exploratory Zodiac Suite, also follow the jazz tradition of paying homage to earlier innovators and artists, being dedicated to various contemporary jazz artists of her time. Likewise, Black Christ of the Andes celebrates the life of an African-descended saint of the Andes, thereby linking her conversion to Catholicism to Black history and her own African-American roots. The rest of the album is not bad, either, the standout being her rendition of "It Ain't Necessarily So" in a trio setting. In some ways, her tribute also represents Afrocentric and broader pan-Africanist sensibilities, using the words "Black Christ," suggestively stating the importance of Africa and African-descended people in Christianity. Keep on clapping your hands in heaven, Mary Lou Williams, this is beautiful music.