Mary Lou Williams was born in Atlanta, Georgia on May 8, 1910, as Mary Elfrieda Scruggs. She grew up with an absent mother who drank, and the father was not in the picture, so little Mary grew up much ...

Atlanta-born jazz pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams arranged music for greats like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Cab Calloway. Log In. Log In.