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Loyola celebrates the music of the late jazz great, Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981), in late March, 2024. As an adult convert to Catholicism (with many ties to Jesuits), Williams's sanctity is getting better known - especially in her corporal works of mercy for fellow musicians and loving care for all who crossed her path. Williams expressed her faith in her music - innovatively composing and situating jazz in liturgical settings and demonstrating the sacral range of jazz music in new registers. A virtuoso pianist, in her early career, Williams was part of the 1940s Kansas City jazz scene - inspiring and mentoring such artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Parker.