[Dixielandjazz] International Sweethearts of Rhythm (was Ina Ray Hutton)

[Marek Boym]

Thank you, Dave.
Some lovely music.  I have the feeling that this is not the first time
You've mentioned this - it seems to me that I've heard a lot of this
before, from your source.
Cheers


> I agree they were probably the best all-female Swing Band to record.
>
> Sorry you missed it but there is a section on the Intl Sweethearts   --
> including photos,   an article (see below), links and sound clips.   They're
> also heavily featured in the full series with over a half dozen of their
> tunes scattered about those programs available free for streaming online.
>
> International Sweethearts of Rhythm (look halfway down the first page
> listed):
> http://jazzhotbigstep.com/170.html
>
> AND:
>
> Women of Jazz (AUDIO)
> http://jazzhotbigstep.com/18801.html
>
> As you may be aware there are also recent books and a film about them which
> can be found for instance at Amazon.com.
>
> Best,
>
> Dave
>
> ************
>
> INTERNATIONAL SWEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM
>
> A racially mixed group averaging around 16 women, the International
> Sweethearts of Rhythm was a hot Swing band equal to the best -- a powerful Swing
> band in the Count Basie style featuring a superb Lester Young follower, Viola
> Burnside blowing some amazing tenor sax.
>
> It originated in the Piney Woods of Mississippi at a school for poor and
> black children in 1937. As the co-ed band quickly matured it moved to Virginia
> and began attracting professional musicians to its ranks; among them was
> Anna Mae Winburn, a singer who had been leading an all-male orchestra. During
> WW II most of the men in the band were drafted and the band became the
> all-female International Sweethearts of Rhythm.
>
> They called themselves ‘International’ to signify their diverse ethnic
> origins: Hispanic, White and Asian. Beginning around 1940 the very popular
> Sweethearts performed at the Apollo Theater in New York, all over America (once
> appearing for an audience of 11,000 in Kansas City) and a tour of European
> USO clubs in response to overwhelming demand from black GI’s after WW II.
> However, on their frequent trips through the southern United States white girls
> in the band had to wear dark makeup onstage due to Jim Crow segregation.
>
> The International Sweethearts were crack musicians capable of playing the
> toughest arrangements, some of which were written by arranger Eddie Durham
> from the Basie band. The Basie influence is very strong in the riffing style
> and driving rhythms of the Sweethearts. In my opinion, the star of this band
> is a powerful tenor saxophone player deeply influenced by Lester Young,
> Viola Burnside.
>
> Recordings of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm have been exceedingly
> hard to get for years and sixteen long-unavailable tracks have just been
> recently issued on CD.
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