Free Spirits: Kiana Mickles presents Mary Lou Williams

For this listening session, Kiana Mickles traces the work of their great-great-great aunt, the bebop pioneer Mary Lou Williams. The conversation explores the musician’s pivotal role in revolutionizing spiritual jazz, or "jazz for the disturbed soul," highlighting her mentorship of jazz legends and her shift toward providing healing through sacred music. The session journeys through Mary's discography, opening with her ragtime period in Pittsburgh, moving into her Kansas City swing and boogie-woogie era, and concluding with her forward-thinking spiritual works following her conversion to Catholicism. Kiana Mickles is a New York-raised music critic at Pitchfork whose writing focuses on electronic music subcultures, experimental fringes, Black and queer expression, and pop music.