Ann Rabson: A Life of Music
Ann Rabson is an extremely talented Blues guitarist, pianist, vocalist, and composer who made her way in the challenging world of jazz. She did not take on the official mantle of ‘musician’ until she first began to learn guitar in high school, and took to it immediately. At that point she knew there was no other profession she could choose, as all her father had been a musician and had constantly played music around the house, so she “...thought all grownups played music. I assumed that I would be playing music” (line 29-30). Music had always been a part of her life, as she claims she was four years old when she wrote her first song, “All the Pretty Bubbles” (line 267). But it was in the rough years of her youth, in a state of general solitude, she turned to music and her family's records even more for comfort. Music soon became the all-encompassing focus of her life and later on, her career. Compared to her male musical peers, however, she had a very late start, as she said, "I didn’t play until I was like in high school. But I always listened to it" (line 39-40). When she finally began her work as a musician, she was a junior in high school and she started on the guitar, the instrument she would carry with he for the rest of her career. Of the moment she received the guitar, she said, "I’d always wanted to play the guitar. I always wanted to play anything" (line 152-153). Finally, years of dreaming about becoming a musician had been given a chance to become reality. Ann Rabson locked herself away in a room at camp for two months, and taught herself how to play the guitar, an impressive feat of will and skill. A similar experience would occur far later in her career, when she taught herself the piano simply to extend her repertoire of ability.
In 1962, Rabson got her first paying gig. Her first official song she wrote when she was 26 years old, in 1971, as her second marriage was crashing to an end. In her constant struggle as a musician to earn a living and a name, she found that “men fall in love with me because I play music and then they want me to stop playing music” and eventually learned through her hardships that, “I had to find somebody who was happy for me to be successful at something that he couldn’t do, and who doesn’t have a jealous bone in his body” in order to be able to maintain a successful career and relationship (line 298-300). She worked in clubs through the 1970’s and 1980’s, struggling as live music audience membership began to decline and more and more people began to turn to their computers for music. This soon led her to perform at libraries, festivals, and schools, as she realized that she must go where the audiences are. She also went on to form a three-woman band named Saffire, who performed many successful gigs.
Ann Rabson sums up her life, struggles, and career with the simple, heartfelt statement, “I mean I love music” (line 116). Ann passed away on January 30th, 2013. She will be remembered not only for her love of music, but also for her passion for singing to school children, her extraordinary vocal and musical talent, and her compositional creativity. She will be remembered not just as a 'woman' in jazz, but as a Blues master.
