This page is referenced by:

• 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 2016-04-19T07:54:14-07:00 Mary Lou Williams: A Documentary by Carol Bash 7 plain 2016-05-14T13:41:40-07:00 Mary Lou Williams

  RACE

  Carol Bash is an African-American documentary filmmaker who produced a piece on Mary Lou Williams, the African-American jazz pianist. Carol Bash was first introduced to Mary Lou Williams through her music and explains that Williams’ philosophy was that jazz came from the Blues, “from the suffering of black people.”¹ During the interview, Monk Rowe, explains that he heard once that Mary Lou Williams, “did not blame the downside of her career on social issues very much. According to Rowe, Williams did not complain, “if I had been a white woman” or “if I had been a man.” Carol Bash followed by sharing that as far as she is concerned, Williams never felt “that being a woman held her back and that Williams simply “thought of herself just as a fine musician.”² While this might be true, we must look at the fact that Williams said not to blame the outcome of her career on social issues “very much.” This “very much” does not discard the possible of Williams considering it at all.

  GENDER/ GENDER BIAS

  While we know now that to a certain extent Mary Lou Williams did not zero in to social issues regarding her music career, Monk Rowe shares with Carol Bash having heard Mary Lou Williams’ husband say that Mary Lou played like a man. This was confirmed by Bash who also added that Williams would say it herself.³
  
  
  Sample performance:
  
  
  
  For full interview transcript, read the following:

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  1 For more information on Mary Lou Williams, see Carol Bash, interview by Monk Rowe, Hamilton College Jazz Archive, February 4, 2012, line 18.
  2 Interview, lines 213-219.
  3 Interview, lines 231-232.