WOMEN IN JAZZ - The Women, The Legends & Their Fight
Written by Sammy Stein
An 8th House Book
This is an extremely readable book that tackles head on a subject that can be controversial and thought provoking at the same time. Covering a wide range of subjects within the remit of the title, Ms Stein writes in a commanding and authoritative style that ensures that the readers attention is grasped from the outset, and sets out her statements and opinions clearly and concisely before backing them up with solid facts and opinions from some of the leading women on today's international jazz stage.
In addition to women who perform, the author also closely examines other roles in the music industry, record producers, engineers, publicists, and of course journalism. This perhaps place her in the perfect position to tackle such a complex subject that is viewed from all angles from within the industry and our modern society as a whole.
The book is broadly divided into two distinct halves. The first half of the book focuses on the lives and careers of some of the 20th century's pioneering women in jazz; seminal figures that include Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Maxine Sullivan, Sarah Vaughan, Melba Liston, Alice Coltrane, Aretha Franklin and Carla Bley. All strong women that have contributed greatly to the music as vocalists, instrumentalists and composers that not only challenged the inequality in a male dominated field but also advancing the very art form that often endeavoured to relegate them to a mere supporting role at best. Many readers will already be very knowledgeable about and acknowledge the role of these women, but while their achievements are well documented in the music that is available the struggle and hardship they endured to bring us the music is forgotten or buried in the annals of time.
The second part of the book is where the real meat and drink is found. Have attitudes to women in jazz changed, or do many still face the same indifference or discrimination when pursuing their careers? One would like to think that things are very different, but as some of the accounts from some of today's leading women musicians show that society may not have made quite the advances that we would like to believe. Yes, things have changed, but the change has come slowly and has been beneficial to the careers of some, but others have found doors firmly closed or more difficult to open; and again Ms Stein highlights this in a forthright and succinct manner with comments from women musicians, publicists and journalists that all serve as examples as to how their careers have been affected by issues arising from gender. On a more positive note, some of these anecdotes also show the resourcefulness of the women in overcoming any discrimination or misogynistic attitudes, and in doing so enhance and develop the music that they care about so passionately, and the contributions from Georgia Mancio, Wendy Kirkland, Tina May, Kim Cypher, Trish Clowes; and from the US, Terri Lyne Carrington, Amanda Bloom, Jane Bunnett and Jane Ira Bloom, among others convey different challenges that they have overcome.
With the author delving so deeply into the industry as whole, she also broaches the topics of the importance of social media, music education, career paths for aspiring musicians, and the discrepancy in numbers of women compared to men not just in jazz but all areas of music in roles from performing, composing, production, publicity and indeed as listeners to the music examining the the number of women that attend live music. This has therefore made me consider how I have perceived the role of women in jazz as a listener and from a journalistic point of view as a writer for this website.
In her own inimitable way, Sammy Stein has given us a work that will be read, poured over and discussed for quite some time. A document of how society today perceives music and the women that choose to pursue a career in the industry in all its many guises, and therefore quite rightly asks as many questions as it answers.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
An 8th House Book
This is an extremely readable book that tackles head on a subject that can be controversial and thought provoking at the same time. Covering a wide range of subjects within the remit of the title, Ms Stein writes in a commanding and authoritative style that ensures that the readers attention is grasped from the outset, and sets out her statements and opinions clearly and concisely before backing them up with solid facts and opinions from some of the leading women on today's international jazz stage.
In addition to women who perform, the author also closely examines other roles in the music industry, record producers, engineers, publicists, and of course journalism. This perhaps place her in the perfect position to tackle such a complex subject that is viewed from all angles from within the industry and our modern society as a whole.
The book is broadly divided into two distinct halves. The first half of the book focuses on the lives and careers of some of the 20th century's pioneering women in jazz; seminal figures that include Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Maxine Sullivan, Sarah Vaughan, Melba Liston, Alice Coltrane, Aretha Franklin and Carla Bley. All strong women that have contributed greatly to the music as vocalists, instrumentalists and composers that not only challenged the inequality in a male dominated field but also advancing the very art form that often endeavoured to relegate them to a mere supporting role at best. Many readers will already be very knowledgeable about and acknowledge the role of these women, but while their achievements are well documented in the music that is available the struggle and hardship they endured to bring us the music is forgotten or buried in the annals of time.
The second part of the book is where the real meat and drink is found. Have attitudes to women in jazz changed, or do many still face the same indifference or discrimination when pursuing their careers? One would like to think that things are very different, but as some of the accounts from some of today's leading women musicians show that society may not have made quite the advances that we would like to believe. Yes, things have changed, but the change has come slowly and has been beneficial to the careers of some, but others have found doors firmly closed or more difficult to open; and again Ms Stein highlights this in a forthright and succinct manner with comments from women musicians, publicists and journalists that all serve as examples as to how their careers have been affected by issues arising from gender. On a more positive note, some of these anecdotes also show the resourcefulness of the women in overcoming any discrimination or misogynistic attitudes, and in doing so enhance and develop the music that they care about so passionately, and the contributions from Georgia Mancio, Wendy Kirkland, Tina May, Kim Cypher, Trish Clowes; and from the US, Terri Lyne Carrington, Amanda Bloom, Jane Bunnett and Jane Ira Bloom, among others convey different challenges that they have overcome.
With the author delving so deeply into the industry as whole, she also broaches the topics of the importance of social media, music education, career paths for aspiring musicians, and the discrepancy in numbers of women compared to men not just in jazz but all areas of music in roles from performing, composing, production, publicity and indeed as listeners to the music examining the the number of women that attend live music. This has therefore made me consider how I have perceived the role of women in jazz as a listener and from a journalistic point of view as a writer for this website.
In her own inimitable way, Sammy Stein has given us a work that will be read, poured over and discussed for quite some time. A document of how society today perceives music and the women that choose to pursue a career in the industry in all its many guises, and therefore quite rightly asks as many questions as it answers.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
