Women in Jazz:

Overview

Orcherton, OLLI, Spring 2018

Women in Jazz:

Bessie Smith

Orcherton, OLLI, Spring 2018

Definitive Style● Strong contralto range

-useful for the acoustic style of

recording

● Powerful voice

-paired well with horns

● Big onstage personality

● Phrasing from the

blues tradition

● Gospel like, anthems

● Ability to

communicate with

many audiences

Recordings/ VideosI Ain’t Gonna Play Second FIddle

https://youtu.be/92heJJCtRO4

Nobody Knows You When You’re

Down and Out

https://youtu.be/6MzU8xM99Uo

Video:

St Louis Blues

https://youtu.be/kTXBZFvFXdA

Bessie the Movie:

https://youtu.be/r_6mq0TehZk

Legacy

-Far reaching influenceBillie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin...

-Joplin “She showed me the air and taught me how to fill it.”

-HBO film, biography, theatre production, several musicals

-One of the first African-American women to gain nationwide popularity (solo artist!)

Whatever pathos there is in the world, whatever sadness she had, was brought out in her singing — and the audience knew it and responded to it.” Apollo Theater owner Frank Schiffman

Women in Jazz:

Mary Lou Williams

Orcherton, OLLI, Spring 2018

Distinct Style:● Left hand dexterity● Chordal solos (closed voicings)● Influenced by blues and stride

piano

● “Bluesy”● Long phrases● Rhythmic complexity● Feels fresh, modern

Style Through the ErasStride- BoogieLate 1930s, “Overhand (New Froggy Bottom)”https://youtu.be/r2zUxgkDi8g

Boogie1946 - "Waltz Boogie” with June Rotenberg (bass) and Bridget O'Flynn (drums)https://youtu.be/u4-nUQxsIM0

Swing 194888s - “What’s Your Story Morning Glory”, became a hit for Jimmy Luncefordhttps://youtu.be/6URKjTrG4Bo

“Outside of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, there's no other composer she has to take a back seat to." David Berger, Manhattan School of Music

Legacy

-Over 350 compositions and arrangements

-at least 19 recordings as band leader(and others as a sideman)

-mentored many young musicians (jazz and others) :Formal- universities :Informal- relationships

*stayed relevant throughout over 4 distinct different musical decades

*major force in the development of Kansas city swing and bebop

Women in Jazz:

Melba Liston

Orcherton, OLLI, Spring 2018

Definitive StyleARRANGING:

● Flexibility in variety of stylesMotownAfrican musicSwingPost bop

● Polyrhythmic

● Use of altered harmony

● Thick layers/ voicings

PLAYING:

● Bebop and post bebop-based in her work with Gillespie and Art BLakey

● Use of motives -short repeating figure,-melody or rhythm

● Use of extended harmony (later in her career)

RecordingsMy Reverie, soloist with Quincy Jones, 1960

https://youtu.be/ojwANp_D_fE

You Don’t Say from Melba Liston and Her Bones, 1958

https://youtu.be/tvQ22UqrNwA

Randy Weston- Melba Liston Collaboration on Volcan Blues

https://youtu.be/WZdO_8KcZRk

Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

https://youtu.be/NMPKoHY_aAE

Legacy

Randy Weston collaboration

*Helped pave a role for women other than as vocalists

Visible trombone player

Arranger / composer-Ghostwriter

Performed and toured with INternational Sweethearts

Kansas Women’s Jazz Festival headliner

Women in Jazz:

Marian McPartland

Orcherton, OLLI, Spring 2018

Definitive Style

● Fluid, fast right hand

● Attention to melody

● Development of ideas

● Favored Piano/ Bass/ Drums -allowed interaction

● Comping behind soloists (Piano, voice…)

● Harmonically rich, (ballads)

RecordingsThings Ain’t What They Used to Be

https://youtu.be/P1JGCXECmFg

In a Mist

https://youtu.be/0PMP8RZ2-eo

Live in San Diego

https://youtu.be/klNWZ3bfCBg

Live at Yoshi’s NightClub

https://youtu.be/7JJiYrcjkB8

Legacy

-Interviews with musicians on Piano Jazz

-Prolific output of albums

-Complex harmony and rhythms

-Well versed in many style

-Influenced many women, and young musicians to a life of music

-literary, education, broadcasting….