The Mary Lou Williams Foundation is organized to extend the life story and the musical legacy of Mary Lou Williams, and to advance the public knowledge of the Art Form of Jazz by teaching and exposing the same, in all its forms, to the public, with some emphasis on children and young adults, individually or in groups, enabling them to perform before audiences, or giving them the opportunity to hear Jazz in concert, on recordings, and in studio performances.

The Mary Lou Williams Collection is located at The Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers Universityin Newark, N.J. Since its opening in 2000, this Collection remains the single most used archival resource there. Ms. Williams saved almost everything. The 100 cubic feet of this archive contains numerous original music manuscripts, one of a kind sound recordings on acetates amd tapes, a large number of photographs, her scrapbooks, her personal day by day books, her unpublished writings about music and her life, her paintings, and letters. This valuable collection at this prestigious Institute ensures that the life and work of Mary Lou Williams will continue to be known and safely extended in perpetuity.

The Mary Lou Williams Foundation Collection carries the archive from the date of Ms. Williams' death to the present. This collection contains transcribed musical works composed by Mary Lou Williams which are performance ready. These include: Big Band and Small Group scores and parts; Choral Works including Mary Lou's Mass; Zodiac Suite for Chamber Orchestra; and some Piano Works. This collection also posesses the complete catalog of CDs relating to the recorded music of Mary Lou Williams. Correspondence and ephemera fill out the story.

The music of Mary Lou Williams has also been brought into the present in several ways.

The Mary Lou Williams Collective (with Geri Allen), The Dutch Jazz Orchestra, and Dave Douglas have all recorded full length tributes. The United States Army Field Band/Jazz Ambassadors plans a recording of 15 of Ms. Williams' works later this year. This will be available to schools, teachers, and libraries without charge.

Concert presentations of Ms. Williams' Big Band works have been given by The American Jazz Orchestra, The Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra, The Smithsonian Masterworks Jazz Orchestra, The Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Concert performances of "Mary Lou's Mass" have taken place at The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. with Marian McPartland and Carmen Lundy under the direction of David Baker. Cleo Parker Robinson created new choreography to this Mass for her Dance Company in Denver, Colorado with Geri Allen at the piano and with Ms. Lundy .

Our second purpose has been fulfilled during this past academic year by the students at Rogers CAPA (Creative Arts Performing Arts) Middle School in Pittsburgh, Pa. These 6th, 7th, and 8th graders have been studying and playing some of the piano works and big band scores of Mary Lou Williams. They have also been learning all of Mary Lou's Mass for future performance.

And, under the musical direction of Geri Allen, the Madrigal Singers of Cass Technical High School (Detroit), together with The University of Michigan Mass Choir, presented a concert performance of Mary Lou's Mass on February 7, 2006-2008 in Ann Arbor. Carmen Lundy and the operatic tenor George Shirley graced the performance with their singing. Robert Hurst and the great Mr. Jimmy Cobb played with Ms. Allen. Four other faculty members in the Jazz Department of The School of Music added their weight to the music.

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Visit the Mary Lou Williams Collection @ The Institute of Jazz Studies