Vi Redd
FAMILY LIFE
Vi Redd grew up with very musical family. Her aunt, Mrs. Hightower, was very influential in music and her father was also very involved in the music world. Growing up, Vi’s mother would often complain about the noise level of the house because people would always be coming over and playing music. This was often the case with her father and Lloyd Reese. They would rehearse in the living room of Vi’s house together and did this for years.1 Vi’s father was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and spent most of his childhood growing up in New Orleans. Because of this, he had a strong background in jazz music. Him and his mother, Vi’s grandmother, lived in New Orleans for years until they moved to the west for more opportunities.2 Vi describes her father as a “gentle, benevolent man. Always concerned about the sick”.3 Vi’s mother was much more strict than her father. She kept a tight leash on Vi and always was making sure she was staying safe. She was not as big into music as the rest of her family but still tolerated it and supported it.4 Vi’s family gave her a wonderful childhood. She celebrated every holiday with the biggest of trees and extensive, elaborate Easter egg hunts. Her father was hard working and worked many different jobs to make sure he could support the family. They were very well off and this made Vi’s mother very happy.5 Today, Vi is married and has two sons. Very horribly, she lost one of her sons due to malpractice and this still really affects her.6 He was her drummer and so she struggles often when performing. Vi is also a grandmother and has three grandchildren. She is very happy with her life and loves her family more than anything.7INFLUENCE
The very first person that influenced Vi was her Aunt, Mrs. Hightower, when she was singing at her church when she was around the age five or six. She was amazed by all that music could offer her, and especially at her church. She had access to pianos and so many instruments all through the church.8 Today, Vi still is influenced to play at her church. Race is also one of her biggest influences and she plays the Black History Month service every year.9 Vi’s family was also a major influence in her life. She was born into a very musically talented family who felt strongly about the arts. There was always music playing in her home and she even had friends that would come over to Vi’s house specifically to listen to the music that was playing because it was not allowed in their homes.10 When Vi was recording the album, “Bird Calls” she was influenced by Leonard Feather. He thought that her instrument sounded like different tunes that birds sing. Because he was such a master of the instrument, Vi listened to him and now the album is a collector’s item.11 In Vi’s interview with Monk Rowe, he asked, “Who do you name as your basic influences or people that you looked up to on the saxophone?” When responding to this question Vi says, “Well you can’t speak about the alto saxophone unless you say Charlie Parker, Bird Parker… I never got a chance to hear him play… I never got a chance. But in some strange way his music was in the air, and it influenced me and so may others.” She also spoke about Tab Smith and Tony Stitt. Then Vi says, “I don’t know, music, who influenced me, the whole nine yards, it just seems like osmosis. It’s just I can’t say that I tried to play like somebody or I tried to sing like somebody, it was just whatever I did it just happened sort of.”12INDEPENDENCE
Growing up, Vi loved teaching herself music. She would try any instrument that someone offered her and she would just play it to learn. Throughout her life she played so many different instruments because of her independence and passion for learning.13 Vi did not start off her career in music. It actually wasn’t until she graduated high school that she realized that she wanted to teach music. During her first two years of college this is what she did. All throughout this time she was also performing and was one of the first women in Los Angeles during the late ‘40s and early ‘50s who had her own band. For the time period, women didn’t have a dominant role in society, especially in jazz, so by Vi having her own band she was very progressive and independent… a true revolutionary woman!14GENDER
Vi admits that sometimes it was difficult to be a woman in the jazz world. The first time she went out onto the road was in the 50s with Dick Hart. Dick was very progressive about hiring woman to sing and always made sure that he had a female in his band.15 As time went on, Vi was slowly asked to participate in trips with more and more bands. She eventually travelled to England and played with a bunch of European musicians.16 However, she had to tell the British that she was a “singer that played the saxophone every now and then”.17 This was because women were not allowed to play other instruments unless they joined the British Union. In this case, Vi had to end up joining the union there so she was able to continue with her career.18 When interviewed by Monk Rowe, Vi was asked, “How do you feel about the history of how women have been treated in the world of jazz?” Vi’s answer, “Like they’ve been treated in other professions, not too good. But it’s improving as I see some of the younger women musicians playing. Not a whole lot, but I saw, recently there was some television shows that were using an all- women’s band. But it was like a gimmick thing again, like going back to that gimmick thing and I don’t like that”.19 Vi thinks that the treatment of women in jazz has improved a bit, but definitely still needs more improvement. “You’ll run across a guy sometimes that don’t want you to play with them. A lady was asking me that. Her daughter was concerned because the guys wouldn’t let her play. I said ‘well just keep practicing, and just get up on there and just play, push them out of the way.’ If they don’t want you to play you just play anyhow. And you always have the audience on your side. So just play. Practice and get good, and the more you play the better you’ll be. So that’s it. You have to get kind of --- you don’t have to particularly be masculine but you have to be forceful… Aggressive… you have to be aggressive and say hey, I want to be heard too”.20 This still happens to Vi sometimes and she just gets up there and plays and proves herself to everyone and Vi strongly encourages young female musicians to do the same.RACE
In Los Angeles there used to be two different music unions. When the two of them merged together, many of the black musicians got lost in the shuffle of the merge. However, during the Civil Rights Movement, the black musician’s union started to hire more and more people. They also used the space that they had to perform and practice their music. This created an issue because when the two unions merged, the new space was much farther away for the black musicians. The white musicians were also very hesitant about socializing with the black musicians and further pushed away the black musicians from coming to the union space.21 Race is something that is very important to Vi and she takes a lot of pride in being a person of color. This greatly influences her everyday life and her work in the jazz world.Sample performance:
For full interview transcript, read the following:
1 For more details see, Vi Redd, interview by Monk Rowe, Hamilton College Jazz Archive, February 13, 1999, lines 34- 38, transcript.
2 Interview, lines 40- 44.
3 Interview, lines 598- 599.
4 Interview, lines 600- 603.
5 Interview, lines 611- 620.
6 Interview, lines 172- 176.
7 Interview, lines 637- 650.
8 Interview, lines 46- 54.
9 Interview, lines 487- 488.
10 Interview, lines 88- 95.
11 Interview, lines 217- 223.
12 Interview, lines 328- 345.
13 Interview, lines 67- 73.
14 Interview, lines 142- 149.
15 Interview, lines 236- 239.
16 Interview, lines 243- 246.
17 Interview, lines 249- 250.
18 Interview, lines 251- 252.
19 Interview, lines 412- 416.
20 Interview, lines 430- 439.
21 Interview, lines 271- 307.
