Lovie Austin: The Hidden Blues Queen Who Inspired Swing Kingmakers

Duke Ellington is remembered as perhaps swing’s greatest bandleader. But prodigious pianist Mary Lou Williams—who also wrote for Earl Hines, Benny Goodman, and Tommy Dorsey—was actually behind some of The Duke’s greatest hits. She is rightly remembered for her contribution to jazz; unlike another lady pianist, who inspired young Mary Lou’s “entire concept.” Lets put a long-overdue spotlight on 1920s blues piano powerhouse and Williams’ musical heroine, Cora “Lovie” Austin. I can’t remember when I first sat at a piano; possibly not long after I could sit up at all. It would be at my Aunty Mary’s house, near where I grew up in suburban Liverpool, as there was a nice old upright there. There’s some shaky old camcorder footage of me plunking those keys with pudgy little fingers, delighting at the twangy tone it produced. Fast forward five years and my Uncle Joe introduced me to rock ‘n’ roll, through dusty old cassette tapes he kept in a big, leather-bound box. Chuck Berry and Little Richard were his favorites, but mine was always Jerry Lee Lewis. There was something about those rollicking, rockin’ 88s which grabbed me by ears and shook me. From age seven I took piano lessons, in the hope of emulating my new heroes: Fats Domino, Albert Ammons, Art Tatum, Pete Johnson, Jelly Roll Morton, and the rest. At that tender age, nothing about this list seemed odd.