Women Composers in Jazz

Introduction

         Our society has a problem with gender roles and subjecting specific groups of individuals to certain responsibilities. Men are expected to be providers, strong, a ladies man, and emotionless. Women face a whole host of expectations as they are told to meet certain standards of beauty, intellect, and promiscuity. Women are paid less in the work force, are seen as emotional, and incapable of performing tasks that have been historically delegated to men. The best place to see these issues is in small microcosms where the misogyny and the sexism is very apparent. These gender roles are extremely noticeable in jazz music where women are usually delegated to more singing roles. However, women have done and do much more in jazz music than they are given credit for. In particular, composers such as, Ann Rabson, Jane Ira Bloom, Maria Schneider, and Marian McPartland, have worked tirelessly to build their presence and reputation as female composers in the jazz world. Our project explores the experiences and impact of women songwriters and composers in the male dominated jazz world.
 
         Each woman will tell their personal narrative of some of the issues they have had to encounter in the male dominated jazz world. They wrestle with issues concerning pay, how to book performances, and how to get their music noticed. But, as women, they face much deeper questions that male performers would not deal with. For example, “will they respect me?” or “If I sleep with these men, will I have an easier time?” They must decide how they react to their male critics who use femininity as a means to critique their playing ability. Many might feel that femininity is a crutch in jazz, but these women did not think so. They created their own pieces of music instead of replicating the works of others. Therefore, their legacy will continue in the music they created.
 
 
         Furthermore, we explore separate themes according to the stories of each woman, looking at the way in which they compose their music and their specific gender biases. We also speak about the way in which race plays in the world of jazz as being a musical art form that was primarily for Black people. This DH project is the culmination of the efforts of the Hamilton College Digital Jazz Archive, The Digital Humanities Initiative at Hamilton College, and several students who found it important to document the lives of these women. We hope that you enjoy our project.

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