Women Instrumentalists in Jazz
Women Instrumentalists in Jazz in the United States Do they exist? Are they serious? Can they play? Do women really play a role in Jazz music? Indeed they did. Contrary to what many people believe, females played a large role in the expansion and development of Jazz. Although Jazz was created by men, and primarily performed by them, the women played a great role in exposing Jazz to a new group of people in America. The era of commanding female jazz performers as saxophonists Claire Daly, Fostina Dixon, and Jane Ira Bloom, and drummers Terri Lyne Carrington and Sylvia Cuenca, its effects linger. Women who play jazz on saxophone, brass instruments, bass, or drums still encounter befuddled reception to their very presence: "I've never seen a woman do that!" or the ubiquitous, "You play good for a girl!" or "You play like a man!" Commentary about women in jazz still sticks at fundamental questions: Jazz couldn't have been birthed without its feminine side. To omit this law of nature in a setting that reaches millions perpetuates untruths about this music and continues to pass on concepts that make women's contributions rare, exceptional and unimpactful. (Lawson) Consider Lil Hardin Armstrong's contributions alone.
Mamie Smith in 1920 had recorded "Crazy Blues" in 1920, which sold so well (against all expectations) that Columbia set up a separate division for "race" records. It was Lil who notated the music, arranged it and had it copywritten. Years later she dealt with a similar situation at the famous Apollo in New York by demanding that a very dark chorus girl be kept-though she accepted a dimming of the lights. Terri was also the house drummer on the late night TV show, "VIBE", hosted by Sinbad. New York: Hobart & William Smith Publishing, Inc. There has always been a Latin influence in jazz, the result of the Afro-Caribbean influence that occurred when people of African descent arrived in the United States via Haiti and Cuba, and musicians in the U. Piano skills were historically considered appropriate, and often desirable, for women in both African-American and Euro-American contexts. In that show she met Ma Rainey, generally considered the first woman blues singer. She adopted the blues style for her shows, and quickly made it her own. (83) On the percussion side of Jazz, drummer Terri Lyne Clark has become one of the most widely known and recognized musicians in all of Jazz history. This combination was a potent brew and audiences idolized her, thus helping her towards riches rarely achieved by black artists of her generation. The road that took her to that title was not an easy one, no romantic " rags to riches" story such as Horatio Alger made popular in her youth for white boys.
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Acceptance Essays
