Theme 1: Gender Biases
Gender is a major factor in the jazz world that can, subtly or overtly, determine a musicians instrument, career trajectory, and success. For Ann Rabson, she found her skill constantly challenged by her male peers. Marian McPartland had a slightly different experience, as she was supported by her husband in pursuing a career and getting gigs.
For Rabson, it was not so easy-going, and she often faced difficulties because of her gender. There was casual sexism coming from her peers and male musicians, who she recounts making statements like, “‘women shouldn’t play guitar because a guitar is like a woman, it’s shaped like a woman’” or “‘women shouldn’t play guitar because look it’s a man thing, it’s got that thing sticking up’”(77-81). Then there was the more troubling incidences when Rabson was auditioning for gigs in the early days of her career, in Chicago, about which she said: “I got the feeling, well I also got the feeling that if I’d go to bed with them it might have been different” (90-91). Despite these difficulties, Rabson continued relentlessly forward in her career, pushing herself to learn the piano despite already being a gifted guitarist. Her attitude of expecting nothing while still always working hard to do her best helped her see and confront the sexism she faced without letting it control her career, “people say oh you’re a woman and has it been hard. I don’t know. But the truth is I’ve had a lot of — it’s hard to say that anything’s hurt my career because my career is so much better than I ever expected it would be. And I expected I’d always be playing for fifty bucks, and having all that trouble” (line 111-114). Ann Rabson struggled from the start of her career, searching for opportunities, and through constant work managed to build herself up slowly. She therefore never expected her career to go far, and certainly did not foresee her general success as a musician, or her work as a teacher inspiring young minds.
Conversely, the presence of Marian McPartland’s husband, Jimmy, caused her to have leverage in the jazz world and give her a leg up on other women. When asked about her experience of being a woman in male dominated field, McPartland responded, “I don’t think it was ever an uphill struggle for me, because I sort of had my indoctrination in working with Jimmy and boy Jimmy was so supportive and proud of me” (lines 308-309). Unlike Rabson and the sexism she faced, McPartland’s transition into the jazz scene with her own trio had much greater ease. She admits, “And I never had to feel that things were tough. I never did” (lines 324-325). She remembers her only great struggles with her gender were in her first review when it was written that “she has three strikes against her: she’s English, white and a woman” (line 316). While McPartland admits that her husband had a large influence over how she was perceived, she does recognize that many women during her time and still recently, such as bassist Carline Ray who made an appearance on Piano Jazz, would get turned down from gigs once the owner knew the musician was a woman. McPartland’s inexperience with gender bias throughout her career caused her to doubt the presence of it as a whole in jazz. She stated, “But I don’t think it was all that prevalent, truthfully. Although I’m sure that you know in a way I mean we’re all doing well but I expect there’s probably still an air of male chauvinism there” (lines 332- 334). While her perception may be naïve and unreflective of some women, such as Ann Rabson and her experiences, she stands by that her husband played a huge role in her success as a woman in jazz.
