Why jazz owes women a great deal of respect and recognition

19 January 2017 - 17:58 By Kaya FM
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SPONSORED | January – or Jazzuary, as radio station Kaya FM 95.9 has named it – brings an annual celebration of all things jazz as the station presents its Master Class 2017.

Building on the success of its 2016 presentation, Kaya FM again honours both the music that defined the golden age of jazz and the resurgence of the new school as it reflects on the rich history of this ever-evolving genre of music.

Live music is an important part of Kaya FM’s offering. Artists including Nomfundo Xaluva and Gabisile Motuba perform on the station’s live stage, and these women who are making their mark in contemporary jazz also talk exclusively about their views and music.

In an interview with the Mail & Guardian in 2014, Xaluva – one of Africa’s best jazz instrumentalists and vocalists (she composes and arranges too) – touched on stereotype jazz audiences and how jazz culture supported women. “People revere jazz singers but in terms of them taking jazz vocalists seriously, we still have a long way to go before that perception is completely transformed,” she said.

“A lot of the time, women in jazz are expected to be vocalists who have to look pretty and have to be the eye candy of the band, and I think we are trying to change that. Our artistry and skill goes beyond how we look,” she added.

Indeed, jazz owes women respect and recognition for their artistry and contribution to the genre.

One of the most innovative and dynamic jazz musicians was pianist, vocalist and composer Mary Lou Williams (1910–81). Her music not only survived new eras but contributed immensely to them. Duke Ellington wrote: “Mary Lou Williams is perpetually contemporary. Her writing and performing have always been a little ahead throughout her career. Her music retains, and maintains, a standard of quality that is timeless.”

Ellington knew about her talent because she wrote and arranged music for his band. He and many other great male jazz artists are seen as innovators in jazz, yet Williams’ name should also be included. She was one of the first jazz artists to release extended works – the album Zodiac Suite, on which she performed solo, sometimes accompanied by drummer Jack Parker and bassist Al Lucas, was her first. She also mentored younger jazz musicians such as Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie.

Another icon was jazz pianist, composer and spiritual teacher Alice Coltrane (1937–2007). A classical piano prodigy by her mid-teens (she had been playing since the age of seven), Coltrane studied jazz in Paris with Bud Powell in 1962. Her jazz legacy has, however, been obscured by her marriage to a fellow jazz musician, the legendary John Coltrane. She had already been well on her way to fame when they met in 1963.

Alice joined the Coltrane Quartet as pianist when McCoy Tyner left, which is how her musical legacy became intermingled with her husband’s. He used to erase many of her contributions. Jazz lovers also tend to forget she was instrumental in his experimental, spiritual jazz, even as avant-garde as he was.

In her obituary in The Guardian, John Fordham wrote: “She developed an undulating, trancelike (and harplike) manner of keyboard playing to accompany his haunting soliloquies, exploring ambient and slow-moving textural ideas that would later seem like pioneering steps in New Age music.”

As a final mention, Dianne Reeves (1956–present) has done much to preserve jazz traditions throughout her illustrious, Grammy Award-winning career of 41 years. She is considered the last true jazz diva keeping the tradition of jazz vocals alive. Look to her for scatting skills and improvisation.

Reeves has been compared to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, and was chosen to pay homage to Billie Holiday at her 100th birthday celebrations. But her name doesn’t often show up alongside those of other jazz greats as a legend in her own right. Why?

There is enough room in jazz history and memory for these women, and the genre owes its existence to countless others whose names we do not know.

Listen to the Jazzuary interviews and enjoy live and unplugged performances on Kaya FM 95.9.

 

This article was paid for by Kaya FM.

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