[Dixielandjazz] "The Girls in the Band" reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

The Girls in the Band (Docu)
by Robert Koehler
Variety, January 16, 2012
The hidden history of women in jazz is treated with a fan's enthusiasm and musical
depth in Judy Chaikin's lovingly rendered "The Girls in the Band." Plentiful screen
time for three generations of femme jazzers, led by energetic and witty gals from
the golden age of big band and swing who unlock a treasure trove of memories, make
this a real crowdpleaser (it won the Palm Springs fest's documentary audience award).
A lock for widespread fest travels and ancillary sales, the pic may prompt a rewrite
of jazz history.
The search for women's contribution to the form begins here with the legendary "Great
Day in Harlem" group photo taken in August 1958, featuring virtually every major
American jazz artist of the time, from Thelonious Monk to Charles Mingus, Coleman
Hawkins to Dizzy Gillespie. There are also two women, introduced with the lingering
question: "Who are they?" (The answer is revealed later, but jazz mavens will easily
recognize them as piano greats Mary Lou Williams and Marian McPartland.)
Led by ebullient sax player Roz Cron (whose memories inspired Chaikin to begin the
project), a group of players from the 1930s and 1940s relate their triumphs and struggles
as they describe the contradictions and sexism faced by talented distaff musicians
in this male-dominated world. Cron, Clora Bryant, Billie Rogers, Peggy Gilbert and
Viola Smith (among many others) all grew up around music and were encouraged by their
parents to follow that path in an era when such career options were conventionally
frowned upon for children.
Generally barred from bands in which men were exclusively members, many of the women
formed or joined all-female groups, ranging from the highly successful touring band
the International Sweethearts of Rhythm to the Ada Leonard Orchestra, the Melodears
and the Ingenues. The plentiful and remarkably vivid performance clips (edited with
aplomb by co-writer Edward Osei-Gyimah) are proof positive of the women's chops,
which, if heard with one's eyes closed, defy old gender stereotypes that women couldn't
keep up with men on the more "physical" instruments like horns and percussion.
In perhaps the pic's emotional highlight, Cron recalls being one of the few white
players in the diverse Sweethearts band as it toured the South during the waning
days of Jim Crow. "I felt ashamed of my race," says Cron, describing such efforts
as trying to darken her face with makeup to blend in. More bittersweet are nods to
great but neglected artists who were sometimes compelled to exit the performing and
recording jazz scene, including saxophonist Vi Redd and trombonist/arranger Melba
Liston.
Typical of the docu's complex story is a sequence exclusively focused on Williams,
whose unique career was marked by her sudden retreat from the jazz scene after rising
to the art's creme de la creme, only to re-emerge as a brilliant pianist devoted
to Catholicism before a gradual return to the mainstream.
Liston herself eventually came out of retirement with a '70s-era resurgence of women's
presence in jazz, including Kansas City's respected women's jazz fest (the first
of its kind) and the rise of such players as Toshiko Akioshi, Joanne Brackeen, Carla
Bley (seen too little here), Patrice Rushen, Jane Ira Bloom and, later, Terry Lyne
Carrington and Esperanza Spalding. As Bloom observes, the opportunities for women
in jazz have directly paralleled developments in women's social liberation since
the '70s. The present-day good news has the effect of placing the older women's stories
into a more poignant context, leading to a powerfully emotional finish.
Filming of talking-heads segments by a numbers of lensers is standard, but Chaikin
elicits terrific responses and anecdotes from her enthusiastic jazzwomen. The filmmakers
are planning a shorter version for the education market.
__________
An Artist Tribe/One Step production. Produced by Judy Chaikin, Michael Greene. Executive
producer, Greene. Co-producer, Hugh M. Hefner. Directed by Judy Chaikin. Written
by Chaikin, Edward Osei-Gyimah. Camera (color, DV), Joey Forsyte, Tom Kaufman, Tom
Hurwitz, Eddie Marritz, Nancy Schreiber, Mark Allensworth, Jason Nabb, Mark Lewis;
editor, Osei-Gyiman; sound (stereo), Peter Miller, Steven Corbiere, Roger Phenix,
David Lankton; supervising sound editors, Victoria Sampson, Robert Braun; re-recording
mixer, Derek Jones; associate producers, Erin M. Li, Kelly Ann Sharman. With: Roz
Cron, Clora Bryant, Billie Rogers, Peggy Gilbert, Viola Smith, Carline Ray, Herbie
Hancock, Terry Lyne Carrington, Jane Ira Bloom, Geri Allen, Anat Cohen, Esperanza
Spalding, Billy Taylor, James Briggs Murray, Tammy Kernodle, Peter O'Brien. Reviewed
at Palm Springs Film Festival (True Stories), Jan. 14, 2012. (Also in 2011 Dubai,
Vancouver film festivals.) Running time: 87 min.


--Bob Ringwald
www.ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
530/ 642-9551 Office
916/ 806-9551 Cell
Amateur (Ham) Radio K6YBV

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