Women and Jazz

I have long wondered why women in jazz are frequently limited to (or perhaps choose to) sing or play piano. Frequently, there is no female on the bandstand. This seems to be true in all ethnic and cultural contexts, from Japan to Europe to the USA .

Would anyone care to speculate on why this occurs?

Drummer Leonard King drew my attention to the book Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen by Linda Dahl. It is an essential resource for anyone exploring this subject. (Dahl is also the author of a book on the great Mary Lou Williams, who at the age of 17 was writing most of the arrangements for the Andy Kirk orchestra during the 1930's.)

I would also like to begin a list of women jazz figures who neither sing nor play piano. All-female groups are mentioned, and the individuals are mentioned separately. Dahl's book was a major resource for this list. And please write in and add to it.

Alive! - all female group

Liz Allbee - trumpet

Dorothy Ashby - harp

Vera Auer - vibes

Chelsea Baratz - sax

Willene Barton - tenor sax

Lollie Bienenfeld - trombone

Jane Ira Bloom - Soprano

Karen Borca - bassoon

Barbara Borden - drums

Pauline Braddy-drums

Clora Bryant - trumpet

Jane Bunnett - Soprano Sax

Viola Burnside - tenor sax

Deidre Cartwright - guitarist

Terri Lynne Carrington - drums

Norma Carson - trumpet

Regina Carter - violin

Rachel Cocks (she is mentioned in article on Simon H. Fell) - clarinet

Anat Cohen - clarinet

Alice Coltrane - harp

Elizabeth 'Libba' Cotton - blues guitar and vocals

Claire Daly - baritone sax

Ernestine 'Tiny' Davis - trumpet

Fostina Dixon - bass, clarinet, reeds

Dottie Dodgion - drums

Barbara Donald - trumpet

Susan Evans - percussion

Jane Fair - saxophone

Kali Z. Fasteau - sax, traditional flutes, piano, cello, viola, drum set, etc

Stephanie Fauber - french horn

Jean Fineberg - saxophone, flute, clarinet

Laurie Frink - trumpet

Mimi Fox - Guitar

Marian Gange - guitar

Adele Girard - harp

Rose Gottesman - drums

Corey Hale - harp

Jennell Hawkins - organ

Leora Meoux Henderson - trumpet

Deborah Henson-Conan - harp

Jessie Mae Hemphill - blues guitarist and singer

Heroines - Only album I know of is Cadence Jazz Records 1040 (and it is great)

The Hip Chicks

Robbi Humphrey - flute

Margie Hyams - drums, vibe

Susie Ibarra - Drums

International Sweethearts of Rhythm

Bonnie Jefferson - blues guitar and vocals

Dodie Jeshke - drums

Dolly Jones - trumpet

Carol Kaye - electric bass

Carla Kihlstedt - violin (in tin hat trio)

Joelle Leandre - Bass

Anne LeBaron - harp

Elaine Leighton - drums

Melba Liston- trombone

Ellen McIwaine - blues guitar and vocals

Sarah McLawler - organ

Lynn Milano -bass

Lizzie Miles -

Naomi Millender - cello

Memphis Minnie - blues guitarist and singer

Nicole Mitchell - Flute

Montclair Women’s Big Band

Kathryn Moses - flute

Amina Claudine Myers - organ

Bridget O'Flynn - vibes, drum

Mary Oliver - violin

Mary Osborne - guitar

Mary Fettig Park - alto saxophone

Ann Patterson - alto saxophone

Terry Pollard - vibes

Carline Ray - electric bass, guitar

Vi Reed - alto saxophone

Emily Remler (deceased) - Guitar

Ruth Ritchie - percussion

Matana Roberts — Sax

Pola Roberts - drums

Janice Robinson - trombone

Billie Rogers - trumpet

June Rottenberg - bass

Ali Ryerson - flute

Jenny Scheinman - violinist Sax

Shirley Scott - organ

Jenny Scheinman - violinist

Seattle Women's Jazz Orchestra

Ellen Seeling - trumpet

Elsie Smith - tenor sax, clarinet

Ginger Smock - violinist

Valaida Snow - trumpet

Phil Spitalny and his All-Girl Orchestra

Esperanza Spalding - Bass

Jean Starr - trumpet

Kathleen Stobart - tenor saxophone

Monette Sudler - guitar

B. Taylor - bass

Sue Terry - alto sax

Barbara Thompson - reeds

Tindanga Mama - Organized by Nicole Mitchell (see above)

Suzanne Vincenza on bass

Biggie Vinkeloe - sax

Faye Washington - Flute and reeds

L'Ana Webster - reeds

Bonnie Wetzel - bass

Edna Williams - trumpet

Mary Lou Williams Girl Stars - All woman band

And please help me out with this. I would like this list to get very long; while I don't claim to speak for these women, perhaps some could use more recognition in what could be a lonely artistic context.

Click below for some interesting comments:

A POWER STRONGER THAN ITSELF by George Lewis

Interviews with members or associates of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music:

 

Douglas Ewart

Janis Lane-Ewart

In the middle 1960's a group of black, mostly working class men and women from Chicago formed a musician's collective for the purpose of creating original, often avant-garde music. And, against all odds, they succeeded. 

George Lewis' fine new book A Power Stronger Than Itself, tells the story of the collective in a highly readable, even lyrical manner, while at the same time making the case for further academic investigations into the group. The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) is still a strong, vital institution today. Contemporary artists such as Nicole Mitchell and Jeff Parker continue to make startlingly original music.

 

Members of earlier generations of the AACM have 'succeeded', according to standard measures: Anthony Braxton and George Lewis (the author of the book) are MacArthur Fellows. Henry Threadgill has won the Downbeat composer's poll a number of years. And the AACM's most famous group, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, is still making great music after 40 years, in spite of the death of two of its original members, Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors Maghostut.

What sets many of the AACM musicians apart from other avant-garde musics of the latter half of the 20th-century is the use of silence, space, and percussive flexibility. While Cecil Taylor and the late John Coltrane pulverized musical space with all-out intensity, the AACM members offered an equally challenging, but less aggressive type of music that places a lot of emphasis on composition, group interplay, and collage techniques.

Over the next several months, I will be posting interviews with members or associates of the AACM in celebration of the book's publication.

While I hate lists, I realize their importance for guiding people new to a subject . What follows is a list of  AACM recordings that would be the start of a good collection of the challenging music coming out of this collective. I am listing albums from the whole of the collective's years, rather than simply focusing on so-called 'classic' works. I am not "rating" these recordings, I am merely helping new listeners to get their feet wet.

Anthony Braxton - For Alto

A solo alto saxophone album, this still-controversial album developed a 'new syntax', according to Braxton, for the saxophone.

Roscoe Mitchell - Sound

The first AACM album. It is still fresh, even shocking at times, 40 years after its recording.

Joseph Jarman - For Song

Brilliant album full of dramatic crescendoes and intense, even at times scary, passages.

Muhal Richard Abrams - Levels and Degrees of Light

For years the de facto leader of the AACM, Muhal Richard Abrams here shows the

connections of the new so-called 'jazz' music to history and tradition. 

Art Ensemble of Chicago - Bap-tizum

If you have never heard these guys, you have not yet lived. They have a distinct sound which, at the same time, allows for plenty of flexibility so that most songs sound unique.

Amina Claudine Myers - Salutes Bessie Smith

Beatiful, gospel-influenced vocals and superb piano playing.

Henry Threadgill - Easily Slip Into Another World

This may puzzle some people, but for decades I have loved this album like no other by Threadgill, including his work with Air. As far as Air goes, I would suggest Air Time.

Philip Cohran & the Artistic Heritage Ensemble -

Philip Cohran is an old-time Chicago artist, who worked with Sun Ra when he was there in the 50's. These are some recordings from Cohran's legendary 'beach band'. They would play at of Lake Michigan. A point of interest: band members went on to play with Miles Davis and, ee gads, Earth, Wind, & Fire. They were probably the only AACM members to make real money.

George Lewis - Solo Trombone Album

Lewis is, hands down, my favorite trombone player.

Douglas Ewart & Inventions Clarinet Choir - Angles of Entrance

The most formidable line-up of clarinet players ever: Mwata Bowden, Anthony Braxton, J.D. Parran, Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Threadgill, Edward Wilkerson, Jr., Don Byron

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble - Hang Tuff

Led by percussionist Kahil El'Zabar, this band develops some of the directions opened by the Art Ensemble: emphasis on world music (especially African), the use of a bevy of little percussion instruments, development of more 'open' compositions. The unique aspect of the group is it often does not use a bass: the rhythm is based almost entirely on the percussion.

Malachi Thompson - Buddy Bolden's Rag

Brilliant and highly versatile trumpet player, composer and arranger. We lost him way too soon.

8 Bold Souls - Last Option

Led by Ed Wilkerson, Jr., this is a classic band.

Ernest Dawkins New Horizons Ensemble - Jo'burg Jump

I hope this won't get me in trouble, but this fine band is, I think, one of the more conservative groups to come out of the AACM. They usually play advanced hard bop with plenty of room for improvisation.

Nicole Mitchell - Black Unstoppable

The 40-something Mitchell is flutist with tremendous conceptual abilities relative to music. She is now the co-president of the AACM.

Sticks & Stones - Sticks & Stones

A young group: Matana Roberts, Joshua Abrams, Chad Taylor. I believe that only Matana Roberts is a member. She also has a solo album released in 2008: The Chicago Project.

Interview with Drummer Leonard King

Click here

On my website entitled "Experimental Writing / Explorative Music" I am placing audio reviews with writers and musicians. The first podcast is a 90-minute interview with the important drummer Leonard King. Although best known as James Carter's drummer — he appears on Out of Nowhere, Live at Baker's Lounge and In Carterian Fashion — Leonard is himself a unique bandleader and composer. The following wide-ranging interview covers everything from the dubious origins of the word 'jazz' to the open cultural possibilities in Detroit in the 50's and 60's to the Vietnam war and  all the way back to how fun it is to play with James Carter and Gerhard Gibbs in The James Carter Organ Trio.

Savor it.

The Dr. Professor and the Washington Family

The first set was a full 90 minutes long. Tenor and Baritone saxophonist Donald Washington explored the lower ends of his instruments in order to create solos with a distinct groove and swing to them, while at the same time exploring outward. His wife, Faye Washington, played alto saxophone and flute solos often floating high over her husband's explorations, in what felt like of moments  transcendental ecstasy. The Washington's son, Kevin, played drums and percussion. The second percussionist was the legendary Dr. Professor himself, Leonard King.

This was a concert organized by Leonard King that featured the Washington family and took place on June 12 at a South Minneapolis cultural center.

The interplay of the two drummers was so telepathic and full of so much bottom, I did not realize that there was no bass until a good 20 minutes into the show. 

Kevin Washington had a more African based kit than did Leonard. He played bongos and so forth, in addition to a cymbal and bass drum. Leonard King is the snappiest drummer I have ever heard. The snars pop like hail, and he makes liberal use of the cymbals, creating (may I use this exclusively melodic term) glissando after glissando. And when the music gets most intense, Leonard's face brightens with an enormous smile, that stretches his mouth to its very limits.

That first 90-minute set, after a short unaccompanied vocal by Faye, moved into an advanced bop feel, then into some bluesy feeling music. In the middle of the set, the four players broke into a vocal quartet. They rarely sang 'words', but instead conveyed feeling through moans, sounds, and boppish runs. Kevin Washington came up with some very interesting moments during this highly spiritual section.

It was a rich set which seamlessly shifted from blues, to Africanist percussion, to bop, to gospel, to dissonance and back again. Since I knew that Leonard had been writing some suites, I asked him if he had written the piece. He said, "We all did, just now."

What I had just heard was completely free jazz.

I am no novice to jazz or to free jazz. But I have never encountered free jazz in which the players paid such close attention to each other. I assumed that they were working from arrangements, but they were not. Where did this come from? These musicians, before moving to Minneapolis, had been playing together for decades in the Detroit area. They have come to know each others' habits and proclivities to such an extent that an arranger or composer is superfluous. They can arrange themselves, on the spot, freely.

Aside from the tightness of the group, its other standout characteristic was its ability to call on gospel, soul, and blues feel. Although there was some dissonance,  never have I encountered less dissonance in a free jazz context. This was the 'deepest' (if you will allow me the word) free jazz I have ever heard.

Donald and Faye Washington have chosen the humble life of educators and local musicians, in spite of their obvious ability to pursue music full time. The road, apparently, was not for them. For years, Donald has taught in the Minneapolis Public Schools. He has three albums out: Donald Washington and the New Day Blues Band: This Cat is Out, Donald Washington and the New Day Blues Band, — both of which feature his family — and, brand new, is a solo saxophone effort entitled Pictures From the Studio. Contact me if you would like to buy one of these albums. 

Leonard King has been a more active national and international jazz artist. His latest effort is with theSouthpaw Isle Steelband. A more traditionally jazz album is entitled Extending the Language, which features a trio that includes James Carter on saxophones and Gerard Gibbs on organ.

Perhaps some of you are wondering if "James Carter" is the James Carter — one of the hottest jazz artists on the scene today and perhaps destined to be rated as one of the greatest reed players of all time. The answer is yes, indeed. Donald Washington during his years in Detroit was James Carter's mentor, and Leonard King also served as his teacher for a time.

And the trio on Extending the Language  is the exact same trio that appears on two James Carter albums:Out of Nowhere and Live At Baker's Keyboard Lounge. King takes the same trio in different, more eclectic directions than does Carter.

You can find some of Leonard's cd's at CD Baby.