08 July 2023
(Until 08 July)1930s-50s Women Jazz Instrumentalists
Simon Marnie & Greg Poppleton - Sonic Journey ABC Radio Sydney
Talking Women Jazz instrumentalists from the 1930s-50s with Simon Marnie on Sonic Journey, 11am – 12noon 702 ABC Radio Sydney. Listen this Saturday 8 July 702 ABC Radio Sydney.
The Women Jazz instrumentalists you’ll hear…
Mary Osborne was born into a musical family. She played banjo in her father’s ragtime band, had her own radio program till she was fifteen, at 12 she started her own trio of girls playing hillbilly music, she heard electric guitar pioneer Charlie Christian when he toured her town, sat in with him, bought her own guitar, had a friend build an amp, and she went on to play with all the jazz greats in swing and bebop in the 1940s to the 90s. She started her own Osbourne Guitar Company making Osbourne Guitars in 1968 – Isle of Capri
Beryl Newell was a Broken hill born pianist and musical director at the Columbia record studios in Homebush. She accompanied bands and such singers as the Lady Baritone, Des Tooley and The Personality Girl, Barbara James – 20th Century Blues
Marjorie Hyams: Jazz vibraphonist, pianist and arranger. She played in Woody Herman’s Orchestra (1944 – 1945), the Hip Chicks (1945), Mary Lou Williams (1946), Charlie Ventura (1946), George Shearing (1949 – 1950), and led her own groups. And this was from her first broadcast with Woody Herman – Northwest Passage
Sylvia Sapira harpsichordist whose stage name was Sylvia Marlowe played Baroque repertoire as well as contemporary classical compositions and this in 1941… She founded the Harpsichord Music Society, Inc. to promote new works for harpsichord and award scholarships for the advanced study of harpsichord and its repertoire. Pine Top’s Boogie
Marian McPartland was an English born US jazz pianist and composer who was one of the major post-war jazz names and had her own piano jazz radio shows until 2011. In 1977, as a public advocate for women in jazz, she headlined the first Women’s Jazz Festival. I Got Rhythm
Melba Liston: Honoured at that first Women’s Jazz Festival in 1977 was Melba Liston…Jazz trombonist, musical arranger and composer. She was the first woman trombonist to play in big bands. She was a star writer and arranger – Stella by Starlight
Valaida Snow trumpeter and singer known as “Little Louis” and “Queen of the Trumpet,” She toured Europe & Asia in the late 1920s and became toast of London and Paris in the 1930s. this was her hit song, High Hat, Trumpet & Rhythm
Adele Girard: Swing harpist, the first woman to bring the concert harp to prominence in jazz. Solid Geometry For Squares
Betty Glamann: played harp from age of ten, harpist for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, played with Spike Jones, founded the Smith-Glamann Quintet in 1955, played with Duke Ellington and Marian McPartland and then with Oscar Pettiford during 1957–58 which we hear now. I Remember Clifford
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: singer and guitarist. She attained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar. Strange Things Happening Every Day
Mary Lou Williams jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records versions. She wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was a mentor and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie. She had her own radio show on one of the big NY radio staions in the 40s called Mary Lou’s Piano Workshop. Boogie Mysterioso
Lil Hardin Was a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, and launched his career. Her compositions include “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue”, “Doin’ the Suzie-Q”, “Just for a Thrill” (which was a hit when revived by Ray Charles in 1959), and “Bad Boy” (a hit for Ringo Starr in 1978) Original Boogie
International Sweethearts of Rhythm: was the first integrated all-women’s band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day. In the 1940s, their gigs broke box office records
Vi Burnside she was a saxophonist starred in the International Sweethearts of Rhythm until 1949 when formed her own group Vi Burnside’s All-Girl Band. She was also a Musicians’ union official. Vi Vigour
Pauline Braddy drummer with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, was hailed as the Queen of the Drums, as good as Gene Krupa & Buddy Rich. Her drumming would drive the crowds wild. After the Sweethearts disbanded she played in a number of all-women small groups, but ended up as a switchboard operator – Lady Be Good – you’ll also hear Lucille Dixon on double bass
Tiny Davis, the hottest female trumpeter in the universe. After the Sweethearts she formed the all female band, The Hell Divers and was playing into the 1980s – Gin Mill Special, Vi Burnside also solos.
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