Mary Lou Williams Quotes

"When Seymour saw me seated at the piano at that first rehearsal, he shouted: 'What's that kid doing here? Call your piano player and let's get started.'"
- Mary Lou Williams
(Related: First)

"One way and another I was having a ball - playing gigs, jamming and listening to fine musicians. Then came a crisis at home. My stepfather fell sick, and it meant I had to support the family."
- Mary Lou Williams
(Related: Family, Home, Crisis, Listening, Musicians, Support)

"Offers for me to play dances, society parties, even churches, were now coming in regularly. For most dates I was paid the sum of one dollar per hour, and they always tipped me at the end of the night."
- Mary Lou Williams
(Related: Society, Churches, End, Night, Now, Play)

"I have been tied up with music for about as long as I can remember. By the time I was four I was picking out little tunes my mother played on the reed organ in the living-room."
- Mary Lou Williams
(Related: Music, Time, Mother, Living)

"He explained how ridiculous the clowning was, and there and then I decided to settle down and play seriously."
- Mary Lou Williams
(Related: Play)

"Within a few hours I had them off, was about ready to play the shows. That night I opened, and during the week Harris was over to the house to talk my mother into letting me leave home."
- Mary Lou Williams
(Related: Home, Mother, Night, Play, Talk)