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• 1 media/jazz-background2.jpg 2016-04-19T08:00:38-07:00 Revolutionary Women In Jazz 30 Intro to Digital Humanities Final Project toc 2016-05-14T09:13:41-07:00 Revolutionary Women in Jazz aims to inform users about the trajectory and path breaking experiences of talented women from different ethnic backgrounds who defied societal norms.  The project examines their struggle against gendered and racialized social standards during the mid- twentieth century.  This digital project defines “Revolutionary Women in Jazz” by referring to women who had to overcome barriers of race, musical talent, and/ or gender oppression.  While many of the women shared common themes, i.e., family life, influence, the sources did not yield a similar result for all of the women.  However, because of the information's relevance, our DHi team deemed it important to include. We found the following women to be just a few Revolutionary Women in Jazz out of many: Ann Rabson, Dianne Reeves, Etta Jones, Holly Hofmann, Maria Schneider, Mary Lou Williams, Michi Fuji, Nancy Wilson, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Vi Redd.
   

  How To Use This Website

  Navigating and using this website is very simple. At the top left of the website there is an icon that when hovered over with the mouse reveals the navigation menu for the website. From here, you can access and explore any part of the website and visit pages on each individual woman. Also included on the webpages are YouTube videos of various video clips of the particular woman beign interviewed. They can simply be viewed by clicking on them effectively pressing play. After that there are also full transcripts of the interviews that can be viewed.
  
  
  Sarah Pickup, Lissette Acosta, Matt Goon, and Terri Moise completed this project in fulfillment of the partial requirement of the Introduction to Digital Humanities Course taught by Dr. Angel Nieves at Hamilton College.
   
• 1 media/jazz-background2.jpg 2016-04-19T07:55:38-07:00 Holly Hoffman 12 plain 2016-05-14T13:39:39-07:00 Holly Hoffman

  RACE

  Holly Hoffman explains how there are still strong issues about the African-American community and the White community with many African-American supporters following African-American jazz performers “because they feel it’s their music.”¹ Also, Holly comments on the general jazz audience being mainly white and age 55 explaining that “this seems to be the demographic that has the money and the interest,” but that more young people as well as different ethnic groups are becoming interested in jazz festivals.²

  GENDER/ GENDER BIAS

  Holly Hoffman learned more about gender bias in music—more specifically jazz—during her college years. While she was raised by her father to think that it did not matter if you were male or female or black or white as long as you were a talented musician, Holly realized at this time that this was not the case. She learned that your success had little to do with your talent. She adds that there was a group of male promoters who felt that “women don’t swing or really belong in the jazz idiom.”³

  INFLUENCE

  Holly Hoffman is an American flutist who was introduced to music at an early age. Informal lessons started at age five with her father who was a jazz guitarist. By the age of seven, Holly could play the tunes of “Springtime” and Beautiful Springtime.” At age four, she began with a flutaphone moving to a flute at age five. While Holly is experienced both as a classical and jazz musician, the classical talent developed more with training whereas jazz evolved more naturally.⁴ Among her artistic influence Holly credits Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Thelonious Monk.⁵
   
  
  
  Sample performance:
  
  
  
  For full interview transcript, read the following:

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  1 For more on Holly Hoffman see, interview by Monk Rowe, Hamilton College Jazz Archive, February 13, 1998, lines 203-206, Transcript.
  2 Interview, lines 469-472.
  3 Interview, lines 189-194; 201-206.
  4 Interview, lines 22-31; 41-53.
  5 Interview, lines line 251.