Zodiac Suite
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Zodiac Suite is a series of 12 pieces of jazz music written by the American jazz pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams and first performed in 1945. The suite makes use of elements of classical music
Mary Lou Williams with Milt Orent who assisted with some of the arrangements for Zodiac Suite
Williams performing at Café Society, where she worked before the Town Hall concert
Mary Lou Williams and Dizzy Gillespie (bottom left), with whom she would later perform music from Zodiac Suite
Third stream
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Third stream is a music genre that is a fusion of jazz and classical music. The term was coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller in a lecture at Brandeis University. There are many ways to define
Zodiac Suite
…performed, both thematically and musically, due to its references to and use of classical music. The work's symphonic nature makes it a precursor to the third stream genre which combines jazz and classical music. Writer Richard Lawn described the combination of jazz and classical as "unique and groundbreaking". The…
Gunther Schuller leads NEC Jazz Orchestra in rehearsal in Jordan Hall, 1990.