Womyn In Jazz

Winter Quarter Music 127A @ UCSD Creative Assignment

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Babe Egan and the Hollywood Redheads

Successful from 1924 to 1933 as a vaudeville act throughout the United States, Canada, and in Europe.

There is so much poise and uniform in this photograph.

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There are many recent articles and documentaries that intend to document the history of women in jazz. However, most often when they include a picture of an all-girl band, why is the only one identified be the  bandleader? Should there not me an effort to credit ALL the women musicians individually?

Secondly, why are they identified as an "All-girl band" rather than "All-women band"? Are the counterpart bands known as "All-boy bands" or "All-man bands"? No, because they are just known specifically AS. A. BAND. No need for gender identification in their name because it is already intended for the people to know they are of all-males, or a mixture of both genders in rare accounts.

Ina Ray Hutton's band in LA, early 1950s

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Focuses on Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday, and Bessie Smith

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Disturbing, I know. 

Did it make you laugh? Did it make you want to close your eyes and wish you never saw this image?

What if it was a woman dressed in this; would it be as comical? Would it depend if she was overweight, or had a pretty face?

In aspects of feminism, this relates to the class because it refers to the way we reacts to certain sexualize images. What is beauty, and what is comical?

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Nora Jones, where are your clothes? Are you here to sell music or yourself?

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3.12.14 | Mary Lou Williams Quintet

American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She has written and arranged for well-known bandleaders such as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. 

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Visit Original Link

Don’t Mean A Thing by Ella Fitzgerald

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There are notes between notes, you know.

Sarah Vaughan

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Without feeling, whatever you do amount to nothing.

Billie Holiday

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3.11.14 | Ella Fitsgerald

Olympia Theater 1960. At first I thought it was coming from her eyes, as if tears were coming from her eyes, imagining her singing a really emotional song. Then realized just a huge sweat bead from her leaving her heart on the stage. So much passion and emotion in one close-up photo.

Photographed by Herman Leonard.

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3.11.14 | Sarah Vaughan (young)

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3.11.14 | Billie Holiday

Stubborn woman, known to be act like a diva, but boy could she sing! As a woman in the industry, she held her own, and with the difficult 

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Honestly, it’s hard to be a woman in this business. I have to prove myself over and over again. So many people have said to me, “You don’t play like a girl!” They think it’s a compliment. But actually, I do play like a girl. This is what girls play like. People hear with their eyes: They see a “girl” and are surprised when they hear the power and prowess that they associate with “boys.” By getting onstage and throwing down while looking the way I do, I am breaking stereotypes. I am a woman. I am a dyke. I am a tomboy. I play jazz.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allison-miller/you-dont-play-like-a-girl-queer-in-a-jazz-world_b_2769544.html

—a great article about being a woman and also a jazz musician. If you get to the end and you don’t want to learn more about the author (Allison Miller) I’d say you were doing it wrong.

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3.10.14 |

Note her glamour is the main focus rather than her talent of actually playing the instrument in this picture. As said in lecture, women may be talented, however, if their physical appearance is not up to par, then they are no longer as valuable as the next woman musician.

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3.10.14 |

As previously stated, it is typical to see a female pianist in this case, Marian McPartland, back in the day. However, the environment present day is more hospitable for female musicians.

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You can be up to your boobies in white satin, with gardenias in your hair and no sugar cane for miles, but you can still be working on a plantation.

Billie Holiday