Women in jazz
Part of a series on |
Women in society |
---|
Women in jazz have contributed throughout the many eras of jazz history, both as performers and as composers, songwriters and bandleaders. While women such as Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald were famous for their jazz singing, women have achieved much less recognition for their contributions as composers, bandleaders and instrumental performers. Other notable jazz women include piano player Lil Hardin Armstrong and jazz songwriters Irene Higginbotham and Dorothy Fields.
History
United States
With
It was not until the 1930s and 1940s that many women jazz singers such as Billie Holiday were recognized as successful artists in the music world.[5] Billie Holiday’s music rose to fame following the Great Depression. She, along with several male artists, added a new flavor to the sounds of jazz that become known as swing music. This music brought in heavier use of a band of instruments as well as many artists then began playing music in addition to already singing.[7] These women were persistent in striving to make their names known in the music industry and lead the way for many more women artists to come.[5]
While jazz songwriting has long been a male-dominated field, there have been a few notable women jazz songwriters.
South Africa
Besides earlier singers such as Miriam Makeba or Dorothy Masuka, women in contemporary South African jazz include trombone player Siya Makuzeni, pianist and vocalist Thandi Ntuli, or pianists Lindi Ngonelo and Lindi Ngonelo.[9]
Activism
Within the early industry of jazz, possessing masculinity was viewed as a preference that made women in jazz struggle for recognition. Many musicians began taking the discussion of inequality from the musical aspect and applying those same concepts to becoming activists. Several women in jazz were activists either for gender equality or racial equality and often both. Once jazz music transitioned from the 1920s to the 1950s, many black female artists began singing more in the style of R&B blues as well as folk jazz.
Billie Holiday was another prominent female jazz singer who provided an effective notion to the Civil Rights Movement in her song "Strange Fruit".[12] Through an emotional and metaphorical narration, Holiday's song depicts the vision and harsh reality of blacks being lynched as a result of racism. Holiday performed the song nearly every night she went on stage, thus shaping the song to become a popular melody. This melody slowly began to be associated heavily with civil rights protests and was often used by well-known activists such as Malcolm X.[12][13]
Role of women
Historically, women performers in jazz have been mostly singers, among them Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996), Billie Holiday (1915–1959) Bessie Smith (1894–1937), Carmen McRae (1920–1994), Dinah Washington (1924–1963), Sarah Vaughan (1924–1990), Betty Carter (1929–1998), Anita O'Day (1919–2006), Abbey Lincoln (1930–2010), Nancy Wilson (1937–2018), Diane Schuur (born 1953), Diana Krall (born 1964), and Gretchen Parlato (born 1976). However, there are many notable instrumental performers. In some cases, these musicians are also composers and bandleaders:
- Beegie Adair (piano, arranger and composer)
- Toshiko Akiyoshi (piano, composer, and bandleader)
- Melissa Aldana (tenor saxophone, and bandleader)
- Geri Allen (piano, composer, and bandleader)
- Lil Hardin Armstrong (piano, composer, arranger, and bandleader)
- Lynne Arriale (piano, composer, and bandleader)
- Dorothy Ashby (harp, composer, and bandleader)
- Lovie Austin (piano and bandleader)
- Judy Bailey (piano, composer, bandleader)
- Sweet Emma Barrett (piano)
- Carla Bley (piano, composer, and bandleader)
- Jane Ira Bloom (soprano saxophone, composer, and bandleader)
- Joanne Brackeen (piano, composer]
- Jane Bunnett (saxophone, flute, piano, and bandleader)
- Judy Carmichael (piano, bandleader, and vocalist)
- Terri Lyne Carrington (drums)
- Barbara Carroll (piano, bandleader)
- Regina Carter (jazz violin)
- Anat Cohen (clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophones, and bandleader)
- Alice Coltrane (harp, composer, and bandleader)
- Roxy Coss (saxophone, flute)
- Blossom Dearie (piano, vocalist, and bandleader)
- Dena DeRose (piano, vocalist)
- Dorothy Donegan (piano, vocalist)
- Eliane Elias (piano, vocalist, composer, arranger)
- Mimi Fox (guitar, and bandleader)
- Champian Fulton (piano, vocalist, composer, and bandleader)
- Scheila Gonzalez (saxophones, woodwinds)
- Mary Halvorson (guitar, and bandleader)
- Jutta Hipp (piano)
- Shirley Horn (piano, vocalist)
- Bobbi Humphrey (flute)
- Margie Hyams (piano, and vibraphone)
- Ingrid Jensen (trumpet)
- Dolly Jones (trumpet)
- Yoko Kanno (composer, arranger, and bandleader)
- Andrea Keller (piano, composer)
- Grace Kelly (saxophone)
- Joelle Khoury (piano and composer)
- Jeanette Kimball (piano)
- Kristin Korb (bass, vocalist, bandleader, and composer)
- Diana Krall (piano, vocalist, and bandleader)
- Katia Labeque(piano)
- Melba Liston (trombone, arranger, composer, and bandleader)
- Marilyn Mazur (drums, percussion)
- Marian McPartland (piano, composer, and bandleader)
- Myra Melford (piano, composer, and bandleader)
- Amina Claudine Myers (piano, organ, and composer)
- Linda Oh(bass, composer, and bandleader)
- Mary Osborne (guitar, and bandleader)
- Nicki Parrott (bass, vocalist, and bandleader)
- Ann Patterson (saxophones, woodwinds)
- Billie Pierce (piano)
- Terry Pollard (piano, vibraphone, and bandleader)
- Vi Redd (alto saxophone, and bandleader)
- Emily Remler (guitar, and bandleader)
- Renee Rosnes (piano, composer, arranger, and bandleader)
- Stacy Rowles (trumpet)
- Patrice Rushen (piano, composer, arranger, and bandleader)
- Gaea Schell (piano, flute, composer)
- Maria Schneider (composer, arranger, and bandleader)
- Hazel Scott (classical piano, singer, and actor)
- Nina Simone (piano, vocalist, and bandleader)
- Esperanza Spalding (bassist, vocalist, and composer)
- Riyoko Takagi (piano, composer, and bandleader)
- Barbara Thompson (saxophonist, flutist and composer)
- Hiromi Uehara (piano, composer, and bandleader)
- Mary Lou Williams (piano, arranger, bandleader, composer)
There have also been
Factors contributing to lower participation and recognition
According to
"Only a few of the many women [songwriters] in America had their music published and heard during the late 19th and early 20th centuries."[17] According to Richard A. Reublin and Richard G. Beil, the "lack of mention of women [songwriters] is a glaring and embarrassing omission in our musical heritage."[17] Women "struggled to write and publish music in the man's world of 20th-century Tin Pan Alley. Prior to 1900 and even after 1900, it was expected that "women would perform music, not make music."[17] In 1880, Chicago music critic George P. Upton wrote Women In Music, in which he argued that "women lacked the innate creativity to compose good music" due to "biological predisposition".[17] Later, it was accepted that women would have a role in music education, and they became involved in this field "to such a degree that women dominated music education during the latter half of the 19th century and well into the 20th century."[17] The "secular music in print in America before 1825 shows only about 70 works by women." In the mid-19th century, notable women songwriters emerged, including Faustina Hasse Hodges, Susan McFarland Parkhurst, Augusta Browne and Marion Dix Sullivan. By 1900, there were many more women songwriters, but "many were still forced to use pseudonyms or initials" to hide the fact that they were women.[17]
However, in recent times, women have employed jazz music also for creating movements and awareness about sexism and misogyny within the jazz industry. A group of women called the "We Have a Voice Collective" aims to bring attention and appreciation for the women associated with jazz music past and present.[18]
See also
References
- ^ "Coming To The Theaters". The Pittsburgh Press. 30 June 1931. p. 28.
- ^ Stacy Harris website.
- ^ Ward, Larry F. "Bessie", Notes, Volume 61, Number 2, December 2004, pp. 458–460 (review). Music Library Association.
- ^ Howzie, Margaret. "Jazz Profiles". NPR. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ a b c Borzillo, Carrie, "Women in Jazz: Music on Their Terms--As Gender Bias Fades, New Artists Emerge", Billboard 108:26 (29 June 1996), pp. 1, 94–96.
- ^ Williams, Richard (14 February 2004), "Trumpet queen" (review of Valaida by Candace Allen), The Guardian.
- ^ Gioia, Ted. "Jazz in the World". United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
- ^ a b c d e Gioia, Ted (12 March 2013). "Five women songwriters who helped shape the sound of jazz". OUP Blog. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
- ^ Moncho-Maripane, Kgomotso (2016-09-02). "Five South African female jazz instrumentalists you should know". AfriPop! - What's New and Whats Next in Global African Culture. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
- ^ Bennion, Rob (14 November 2016). "Jazz Music and the Civil Rights Movement". Gold Standard. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ Hunger, Max (May 12, 2017). "Influential Women in Jazz". DW. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
- ^ a b Verity, Michael (15 July 2018). "Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement". Thought Co. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ Wright-Mendoza, Jessie (May 2015). "How Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement Came Together in the 1960s". Blank on Blank. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
- ^ a b Duchen, Jessica (19 March 2014), "Classical music's shocking gender gap", CBC Music.
- ^ Duchen, Jessica (28 February 2015). "Why the male domination of classical music might be coming to an end". The Guardian.
- ^ Ncube, Rosina (September 2013). "Sounding Off: Why So Few Women In Audio?". Sound on Sound.
- ^ a b c d e f "In Search of Women In American Song; A neglected musical heritage", Parlor Songs, 2002.
- ^ Russonello, Giovanni (30 April 2018). "Women Fighting Sexism in Jazz Have a Voice. And Now, a Code of Conduct". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
Further reading
- McGee, Kristin A. (June 1, 2009). Some Liked It Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928–1959. ISBN 978-0-8195-6908-0.
- Rustin, Nichole T., and Sherrie Tucker (eds) (2008), Big Ears: Listening for Gender in Jazz Studies. Duke University Press. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
External links
- Women In Jazz: A Bibliography with numerous titles about individual women musicians or gender studies in jazz