Mary Lou Williams – Credo/ It Aint Necessarily So

With the belief that jazz was the only true art form and Catholicism the only true faith, pianist, composer, arranger, author and philanthropist Mary Lou Williams headed to the studio in 1964 to record her album Black Christ of the Andes. Ten years previously she had turned her back on the ‘devil’s music’, and this was her first recording session in all that time. During those years she had been involved in the church, and spent much of her time and money personally helping drug-addicted jazz musicians back to health. But with the civil rights movement in full swing and the growing conflict in Vietnam, she felt an even greater calling for her talents, and the recording studio beckoned.



The album included a much slowed-down version of the Gershwin classic ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’. Built upon a melancholy bass figure in 6/8 time, there is a clarity and purity about the arrangement, with single notes from her right hand picking the melody out of the blues, with the left hand adding subtle chords. As captioned on a Williams pic in Life magazine – ‘Cool as the smoke off dry ice’. Spiritual jazz indeed!



In 1971 the instrumental version of Credo was recorded, having been recorded with a vocal accompaniment the previous year. During this period in her life Williams was primarily engaged in the writing and recording jazz for performance in church, and most notably for singing at Mass. In Credo we can hear influence from the street, as the funk rhythms of the day were omnipresent, permeating even the church and its hallowed walls.