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Female Jazz Artists


brewski

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14 hours ago, brewski said:

I would  to list my top picks: Anita Oday  (the best) Sarah Vaughn,Carmen Mccray, Sue Raney, Chris Conner, June Christy, Joanie Sommers, Dianne Ware, I'm sure I missed some, but I grew up with these Girls.

OK. Look. If you like 'em, you gotta learn how to spell 'em.

*Anita O'Day

*Sarah Vaughan

*Carmen McRae

*Chris Connor

Who's Dianne Ware? Casual googlification yielded nothing.

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For her name alone (she also was a good player), one of my favorite female jazz musicians is drummer Dottie Dodgion, Jerry Dodgion's former wife.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dottie_Dodgion

Kind of a mini-novel in this excerpt: "She grew up in the Bay Area and sang with Charles Mingus as a teenager, then married [bassist] Monty Budwig. She began playing drums while married to Budwig in the 1950s, but Budwig tried to dissuade her from the instrument; she received encouragement to play from Jerry Dodgion, and subsequently divorced Budwig to marry Dodgion."

I once spent a long post-concert evening with Jerry and singer Anita Gravine in Anita's Manhattan apartment. Jerry has some great stories.

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Gents, PLEASE ...

Be patient and don't undermine his enthusiasm ...

See this ...

Where (and how) would you (or we) all be at THAT age, I wonder?

(BTW, I suppose Fran from the old AAJ board has passed on by now ... He was an extraordinary character.)

 

1 hour ago, Guy Berger said:

weird that your list only includes singers.

My thoughts too when I first saw this thread. .

Mary Lou WIlliams

Jutta Hipp

Marjorie Hyams

Mary Osborne

Valaida Snow

Tiny Davis & The International Sweethearts of Rhythm

Lorraine Geller

a.o.

(and no, I don't particularly like Candy Dulfer ;))

 

 

 

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There are many female singers I like (in jazz, I prefer the women to men), but in terms of instrumentalists the ladies are often slighted--as if they belong on the B list.  It's not fair. There are many outstanding female players, and I expect more in the future.

Just a few (and seven of these do not play piano):

  • Geri Allen
  • Carla Bley
  • Jane Ira Bloom
  • Ingrid Jensen
  • Joanne Brackeen
  • Emily Remler
  • Toshiko
  • Regina Carter
  • Linda Oh
  • Terri Lyne Carrington
  • Mary Halvorson
Edited by Milestones
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2 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Gents, PLEASE ...

Be patient and don't undermine his enthusiasm ...

See this ...

Where (and how) would you (or we) all be at THAT age, I wonder?

(BTW, I suppose Fran from the old AAJ board has passed on by now ... He was an extraordinary character.)

Fair enough.

"Online message board's crankiest crank turns 41. His response? 'What?? Get off of my lawn!!'"

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To continue the list with a few more names:

Akiko Tsuruga (organ)

Shirley Scott (organ)

Barbara Dennerlein (organ)

Gloria Coleman (organ)

Vi Redd (alto saxophone)

Virginia Mayhew (tenor saxophone)

Claire Daly (baritone saxophone)

Holly Hoffman (flute)

Jane Bunnett (flute & soprano saxophone))

Mimi Fox (guitar)

Sherrie Maricle (drums)

Cecilia Smith (vibraphone)

Alice Coltrane (piano & harp)

Lil Hardin Armstrong (piano)

Renee Rosnes (piano)

Shirley Horn (piano & vocals)

Blossom Dearie (piano & vocals)

Eliane Elias (piano & vocals)

Jennifer Leitham (bass)

Sheila Jordan (jazz singer extraordinaire)

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry about the spelling, I am sorry if I offended some of the members. Just thought it would entertaining to start this topic, you listed a bunch of singers that I never heard of. I intend to investigate them.  I will thoroughly check any topic that I might want to start from now on.

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Sharel Cassity is tops, heard her playing with some Dizzy Gillespie Alumni feat. John Lee, Ed Cherry etc.

Cindy Blackman before he went to Santana, one of the greatest drummers, fantastic what she played with Jackie McLean.

Those are my favourite female jazz artists I heard more recently....

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On 2/19/2018 at 10:28 PM, brewski said:

Sorry about the spelling, I am sorry if I offended some of the members. Just thought it would entertaining to start this topic, you listed a bunch of singers that I never heard of. I intend to investigate them.  I will thoroughly check any topic that I might want to start from now on.

Takes a lot more than a spelling mistake to offend people around here, but almost anything can bring out their/our sense of humor.  We learn to just roll with it and have fun!  to the list of excellent female musicians, I would add Nicole Mitchell (don't think I saw anyone else mention her).  Love some of what I have heard by her.

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Definitely Nicole Mitchell. I've not heard a disappointing album by her, no matter the line up, and I've heard quite a few by now.

She visited London a couple of years ago and played Cafe Oto in duet with Mark Sanders to an embarrassingly small audience (maybe partly due to Joelle Leandre pulling out and also the Arkestra were in town). The concert was of a very high calibre, great improvising from them both. Available as a recommended download from Oto's site. I'd love to see one of her larger ensembles live

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Lisa Parrott and Nicole Glover were on fire last night in Allen Lowe's band -- bari and tenor, respectively.

I definitely agree that there are far more women instrumentalists in the spotlight now; I'd assume part of that is due to the changing dynamics of the education system in that music schools are more diverse. 

Trumpeter Jaimie Branch and guitarist Mary Halvorson have both gotten a lot of love here, as has saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock. 

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