Women in Jazz: A (More) Complete History

In my band, Chameleon, there are only 2 women: a trombone player, and a singer. In all the competitions I have participated in, most of the bands are predominantly male. And, if there are women in jazz bands, they are usually singers. This phenomenon brings up many questions: Why are women seldom part of the jazz scene, and why do women in jazz generally not play an instrument? 

After researching heavily into jazz history and watching documentaries about women in jazz like The Girls in the Band or Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band, I learned more about the origins of jazz from a female perspective. Upon jazz’s creation in the Deep South during segregation, gender roles developed as jazz centered around black male musicians. As a result, sexism began to percolate through the jazz scene and many women were locked out of opportunities to play in a jazz band. Even worse, the women who were able to play instruments or sing in a band were never talked about and were left out of history by other men in the jazz scene due to sexism. Black women were especially at a disadvantage due to gender roles and segregation as opposed to Black men or White women, as they were both discriminated against because of their race and their sex. Due to gender roles, only women who were singers had some chance of opportunity, which explains why most singers today are women and early renowned female jazz musicians were singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, or Nina Simone.

Although I began to understand how gender imbalances arose in jazz, it does not solve the issues we face as a result of it. Even though jazz, like everything else, is altered by complex relationships and there are no straight answers on how to solve this problem, I think there are many things that we can do to foster inclusivity and opportunities for women in jazz. 

The main aspect of jazz we can improve upon is female representation. In general, I think people tend to not pursue certain careers/hobbies if they do not feel socially accepted or if there are limited role models related to them in a chosen field. As of late, there are few known role models for women to look up to in the jazz scene, and I think that promoting and featuring women in jazz concerts, masterclasses, and festivals can put women on the grid. Although more can be done to improve women's representation, there is already a greater number of women involved in the jazz scene: I have seen many female musicians throughout gigs and festivals like Alexa Tarantino(https://alexatarantino.com), Lauren Sevian(https://www.laurensevian.com), Sarah Hanahan(https://www.sarahhanahan.com), Mariel Bildsten(https://www.marielbildsten.com), or Erena Terakubo(https://www.jamrice.co.jp/erena/en). There are also many up-and-coming talented musicians part of Gen Z like Summer Camargo, Skylar Tang, Ruby Farmer, or Priyanka Magavi part of prestigious bands like NYO or who won national competitions like YoungArts or Essentially Ellington. 

In general, by providing opportunities for female jazz education and supporting aspiring female jazz musicians, we can create a more inclusive and diverse jazz community. Even though the effects of women’s exclusion from jazz have been realized for the past 100 years, we can disassemble the dogma piece by piece to create a more positive and acceptable environment.