Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records. Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie.
Williams c. 1946
Williams in her apartment with Jack Teagarden, Tadd Dameron, Hank Jones and Dizzy Gillespie
Benjamin David Goodman was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing".
Goodman in 1942
Goodman's swing fans in Oakland, California
Goodman with Christian in a recording studio, April 1941
Goodman in Stage Door Canteen (1943)