[Dixielandjazz] The Girls in the Band reviewed -Seattle Times, February 14, 2014

[David richoux]

I saw the film a few weeks ago - it was quite good, but the focus was on American women for the most part.

David Richoux

> On Feb 16, 2014, at 1:27 PM, Marek Boym <marekboym at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I wonder how many Europeam musicians are featured.  When I heard Bob Oliver
> in Bude in 1994, he announced "I Never Knew What a Girl Could Do - until I
> had two of them in my band."  One - the trombonist Christine Woodcock - has
> become a well known star; in 2000, it was enough to advertise "Christine
> and the Stackyard Stompers" to draw a sizeable crowd.  The other one  was
> Sylvia Marsh on sousaphone.  There also is the wonderful French reed player
> Aurelia Tropez.  We should not forget the French all-girl band Some Like it
> Hot, the Swedish Carling Family, or the Dutch Slidin' Selena.  There are
> more, too many to mention.  All have been playing for a while - the younger
> ones less than the oder ones - the way of the world!
> Anyway, when Emily Asher played in Tel-Aviv, I was certainly not deterred
> by her gender!
> Cheers
> 
> 
>> On 16 February 2014 00:18, Robert Ringwald <rsr at ringwald.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 'The Girls in the Band' a Heartening Look at Ladies of Jazz
>> by Paul de Barros
>> Seattle Times, February 14, 2014
>> On the heels of feminism's second wave, the '80s saw a florescence of
>> books and TV
>> shows about -- and tributes to -- women in jazz, who had long been
>> neglected, ignored
>> or forgotten. Now we have Judy Chaikin's celebratory, superbly directed
>> and edited
>> documentary film on the same subject.
>> The major strength of "The Girls in the Band" is its abundant, crisp
>> footage of women
>> playing at the highest level, from pianist Lil Armstrong (Louis' wife) to
>> contemporary
>> reed player Anat Cohen. With music like this, there's no need -- as there
>> was 50
>> years ago -- to defend female jazzers.
>> The music speaks for itself, whether it's trumpet player Billie Rogers
>> (hired by
>> Woody Herman) blowing up a storm on "The Ed Sullivan Show," Patrice Rushen
>> (whom
>> Quincy Jones counseled, "you're going to have to be very, very good")
>> wailing on
>> electric piano, or Portland's Esperanza Spalding doubling down on bass and
>> vocals.
>> How heartening that as the film moves on speed dial through history, from
>> the bad
>> old days when women were flat-out unwelcome, it arrives at a place where
>> women are
>> saying gender isn't a hurdle anymore (never mind that not all would agree).
>> The film is also candid about what, in part, held women back, explaining
>> that men,
>> particularly in the big-band era, simply did not want a woman around when
>> they were
>> telling dirty, often misogynist jokes and/or cheating on their wives.
>> Some worthy players are omitted -- in particular, trumpeter Barbara Donald
>> and pianist
>> Patti Bown (who is actually in the background of a shot about trombonist
>> Melba Liston,
>> but goes unmentioned) -- but a more important weakness is that it doesn't
>> explain
>> why anyone who doesn't already love jazz and support its women should
>> care, which
>> will probably doom this doc to the jazz festival circuit.
>> That's too bad, because it has a smart shape, starting with the famous
>> 1958 "A Great
>> Day in Harlem" photo, which featured only three women, and ending with a
>> restaging
>> of that same photo in 2008 -- using all women and three men.
>> I happen to have been at the shoot, and it was a moving moment, especially
>> when everyone
>> cheered for the late grande dame of jazz, Marian McPartland, as she got
>> out of her
>> town car.
>> If there was ever a moment when the cliche "You've come a long way, baby"
>> was appropriate,
>> that was it.
>> 
>> 
>> -B-30
>> ob Ringwald K6YBV
>> www.ringwald.com
>> 916/ 806-9551
>> 
>> "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours."
>> --Lawrence Peter (Yogi) Berra
>> 
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