upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024

upcoming grant deadline: 05/15/2024

Leeway Co-sponsors Mary Lou Williams Documentary

Tuesday, July 14, 2015 7:00 pm-9:00 pm
[ International House - 3701 Chestnut Street ]

Leeway Foundation is proud to sponsor Scribe Video Center's screening of Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band a documentary by Carol Bash about the life and music of one of the greatest jazz pianists, composers and arrangers. Away from the piano, Williams was a woman in a “man’s world,” a black person in a “whites only” society, an ambitious artist who struggled against the imperatives of being a star.  Tuesday, July 14, 7:00 PM at International House (3701 Chestnut Street). $10, $7 Students/Seniors, $5 Scribe and IHP members. Director, Carol Bash will be in attendance.

Screening preceded by a piano performance by Kendrah E. Butler. Pianist, composer, and violinist, Butler has performed in the tri-state area and abroad. She is the organizer of the Women in Jazz Philly Tour featuring her all female jazz group nVizion.

About Mary Lou William Film

She was ahead of her time, a genius. During an era when Jazz was the nation's popular music, Mary Lou Williams was one of its greatest innovators. As both a pianist and composer, she was a font of daring and creativity who helped shape the sound of 20th century America. And like the dynamic, turbulent nation in which she lived, Williams seemed to redefine herself with every passing decade.

From child prodigy to "Boogie-Woogie Queen" to groundbreaking composer to mentoring some of the greatest musicians of all time, Mary Lou Williams never ceased to astound those who heard her play. But away from the piano, Williams was a woman in a "man's world," a black person in a "whites only" society, an ambitious artist who dared to be different, and who struggled against the imperatives of being a "star." Above all, she did not fit the (still) prevailing notions of where genius comes from or what it looks like. Time and again, she pushed back against a world that said, "You can't" and said, "I can." It nearly cost her everything.

About Carol Bash 
Carol Bash is the Founder and President of Paradox Films. Most notably, she worked with Firelight Films on Freedom Riders, which won three Primetime Emmy awards; and A Place of Our Own, which premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Bash also worked with Two-Tone Productions on Banished, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.

About Scribe Video CenterScribe Video Center was founded in 1982 as a place where emerging and experienced media artists could gain access to the tools and knowledge of video making and work together in a supportive environment. Scribe provides training in all aspects of film, video and audio production. We also offer classes in computer-based interactive media to individuals and community organizations as well. We give emerging and mid-level video makers the skills and opportunity to use video and film as tools for self-expression and for representing and supporting their communities. In the three decades since its inception, Scribe has established eight ongoing programs designed to meet the needs of the general public and media artists:

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