This year's Jazzfest Bonn will once again present exciting female musicians - but jazz still remains very much a male domain. DW spoke to music experts to find out why, and whether there is change on the horizon.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Licovski
Advertisement
Influential women in jazz
Jazz is still a predominantly male domain, even today - but women have played their part. DW takes a look at some of the most influential female jazz musicians, from Ella Fitzgerald to Terri Lyne Carrington.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Licovski
Ella Fitzgerald
Launching her stellar career in 1935 in the Swing era, Ella Fitzgerald was one of the most influential jazz singers of the 20th century. Raised in a humble home in Virginia, she conquered the world with her impressive voice. She continued to perform until the age of 74, dying only a few years later in 1996 from diabetes complications.
Image: picture alliance/KEYSTONE
Billie Holiday
Rhythm and phrasing, the color and shade of her voice and a knack for infusing even the simplest melody with poignant depth - Billie Holiday was a jazz legend. Like many female jazz singers of her era, she did not have an easy life. She was raped at the age of 11, and in court more than once for drug possession. Ella Fitzgerald was an avowed fan of this grande dame of jazz.
Image: William P. Gottlieb Collection
Sarah Vaughan
Alongside Fitzgerald and Holiday, Sarah Vaughan was one of the most influential female jazz singers in history. She subbed for Fitzgerald at a nightclub back in 1943, which marked the beginning of her legendary career. Vaughan always disagreed with the description of herself as a jazz singer. Whether pop music or jazz - she excelled at both.
Image: picture alliance/Heritage Images
Nina Simone
Songs including "I Put A Spell On You" and hits from the musical "Hair" made Nina Simone popular outside of jazz circles. The singer and pianist, who wrote several songs for the US civil rights movement in the 1960s, is today regarded as a leading figure on the soul music scene.
Image: Imago
Toshiko Akiyoshi
Born in 1929 in the Manchurian region of China, Toshiko Akiyoshi emigrated to Japan with her parents when she was a child. The pianist, composer and Big Band leader mixes bebop with Japanese and classical music elements. Firmly established in the world of modern jazz, the 87-year-old performs concerts across the globe to this day.
Image: picture alliance/Everett Collection
Carla Bley
Jazz opera or an adaptation of "La Paloma" - in the 1960s, Carla Bley was known as an innovative, controversial composer. Born in Oakland, California in 1936, the 81-year-old is known for her shrill, orchestral interpretation of jazz, and is currently on tour in Europe.
Image: picture alliance/KEYSTONE
Irene Schweizer
A Swiss jazz pioneer and feminist, Irene Schweizer has always defied musical norms. She became known as the founder of free jazz in Europe. Schweizer, who turns 76 in June, started her career as a drummer in a rock band - but has found international success as a jazz pianist.
Image: Francesca Pfeffer
Terri Lyne Carrington
She embodies contemporary female jazz: Terri Lyne Carrington, drummer, composer and head of the Sonic Portraits Entertainment label, which she co-founded. The US musician is famous for her groove. Committed to helping women find their voice in music and beyond, she is also known for her strong opinions.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Licovski
8 images1 | 8
"Put on a sexy outfit, give us guys something to look at!" and "We were expecting a man." are quips Shannon Barnett has heard many times over the years. Very much at home in the jazz scene, the WDR Big Band trombonist will be on stage along with China Moses, Rebekka Bakken and many other female jazz greats at this year's Jazzfest Bonn.
Barnett is the youngest member of Germany's WDR Big BandImage: Desmond White
But for a long time, Barnett felt she was fighting against the image of the weak, naive woman, she told DW. The Australian-born musician and composer confirms that "women are hugely underrepresented in jazz, in particular as instrumentalists."
A 2016 survey on jazz musicians in Germany showed that four out of five are in fact men - in a genre that is widely regarded as being open and tolerant, said Peter Materna, a saxophone player and creative director of Jazzfest Bonn.
"Jazz is an attitude, a way of life. We are open to everything!" he said.
But, as is usually the case, it's the men who play the drums or electric guitars, while the cliche of the singing jazz lady seems to persist even today: 86 percent of the female interviewees in the German study said they were singers.
Black and male?
Peter Materna has been creative director of the Jazzfest Bonn since 2010Image: DW/C. Paul
Women have found it difficult to gain access to the world of fine arts, painting and music since the Middle Ages, jazz expert Annette Hauber wrote in an article on women in jazz in 1988.
While women finally replaced castrati in opera and concerts in the 17th century, they were still not allowed to play all instruments. Singing, the piano and the harp were deemed ladylike enough, but horns or kettledrums were not regarded as befitting the "fairer sex," according to the expert.
Hundreds of years later, jazz evolved in the US in the early 20th century as a predominantly black and male scene, a means of expression for America's lower classes. The music market was firmly in the hands of white men. Women, and black women in particular, found themselves at the bottom of the list where well-paid jobs or record deals were concerned.
A vicious circle
It would be wrong to say, however, that women played no role in the history of jazz.
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday are veritable figureheads. But how many music lovers know Lil Hardin, a prominent pianist and the wife of Louis Armstrong? Or trombonist Melba Liston, who shared the stage with jazz greats John Coltrane and Duke Ellington?
Few female musicians in the history of jazz were well-known to the public. Racial segregation and discrimination may have been to blame in 1950s America - but today?
"Young people often start playing jazz music in their teens," said Shannon Barnett, adding this can be a great challenge for girls. "Improvisation, solos, taking risks - that's something many girls avoid, as they don't want to stand out." They also lack role models that might encourage them to choose instruments like the trombone or the drums, added Barnett, who taught music for a long time.
German-Iranian actress and musician Jasmin Tabatabai will perform with the David Klein Quartett on May 12Image: Felix Broede
Bashfulness at a young age is one reason to hang back, and hard cash is another. According to the 2016 German jazz study, men are more likely to have an artistic profession than their wives or female partners. Sometimes, jazz musicians get only 50 to 100 euros for a gig, said Materna.
"That's why there are so few women in jazz. Women have children and they often feel more responsible for their families than men do," he said. "They simply can't spend their nights playing in clubs."
Here come the jazz ladies
But things are slowly changing. Among the younger generation, the number of female jazz artists is on the rise.
Today, more women teach and play an instrument and hold top positions in record companies, labels and festivals, Barnett said. "Girls are realizing there is a place for them."
It's a positive trend, but she cautions that it's no reason to sit back and relax because people in general are not very aware of the issue.
For his part, Materna has urged more state financial support for female musicians. "Women musicians are just as good as men - in certain areas, they are even more interesting," he said.
What needs to change is the public perception of women in jazz. The singer in the sequined gown is a jazz artist as much as the ecstatic female drummer with sweat beading on her forehead.
DW is the media partner for the 2017 edition of Jazzfest Bonn, which runs from May 12-27.
Ella Fitzgerald's career in pictures
Singer Ella Fitzgerald made different jazz styles her own. Her voice captivated millions of fans. Here are a few milestones that led her to write music history.
Image: picture alliance/KEYSTONE
The Queen of Jazz
Ella Fitzgerald was one of the great voices of jazz. Throughout her career spanning over five decades, she contributed to defining different styles, such as swing and bebop, and recorded over 100 albums. She was the first African-American singer to obtain a Grammy Award.
Image: picture-alliance/Globe-ZUMA
A natural talent
Her technique was exceptional: She could modulate her voice like a musical instrument. At the beginning of her career, Ella Fitzgerald's voice was still girlish and gentle, but she already demonstrated an impressive range. Critics, however, felt she didn't express enough passion. Her mentor therefore let her sing pop songs instead of ballads.
Ella Fitzgerald was described as a very shy, yet warm performer. She gladly fulfilled her fans' wishes. Ella's love life was passionate, but not very stable. Her first marriage ended after a year, her second one, with bassist Ray Brown, lasted six years. Together they adopted a son. She is said to have had a third husband for a brief period afterwards.
Image: Getty Images
A-Tisket, A-Tasket
In 1938, Americans were still affected by the Great Depression and direly needed some cheering up. Ella Fitzgerald's light song "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," inspired by a nursery rhyme, achieved this perfectly - and it became her first big hit. The summer single stayed in the US music charts for 17 weeks; one million albums were sold.
Image: picture-alliance/IMAGNO
The scat singers
Trumpet player and singer Louis Armstrong was one of Ella Fitzgerald's greatest role models. Already as a child, Ella used to imitate his deep, rough voice. She would later refine a vocal style he had popularized - scat singing, in which the singer improvises by aligning nonsense syllables. In the 1950s, Ella and Louis recorded three albums together as a duo.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Stopovers in Hollywood
Fitzgerald also occasionally appeared on the silver screen. In 1942, she was the singing housemaid in "Ride 'Em Cowboy." Her roles were, however, restricted to short appearances, as film studios feared censorship based on the racial politics of the southern states. In 1955, she played the singer Maggie Jackson in "Pete Kelly's Blues," starring Jack Webb (pictured).
Image: picture-alliance/United Archives/Impress
A famous fan: Marilyn Monroe
Discrimination due to the color of her skin was an undermining issue throughout Fitzgerald's career. Especially in the American South, restrictions were imposed on her tours. Racial segregation started to crumble in the 1950s thanks to the Civil Rights Movement. With the help of Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe, the Black jazz singer could also perform in the nightclubs of the rich.
Image: picture alliance /AP Photo/RHS
Two legends of jazz
Like Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington is one of the great names of jazz. Their long collaboration, including several albums and tours, was extremely successful. Their album "Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Duke Ellington Song Book" from 1957 is a milestone in music history. It also includes something unusual: a musical portrait of Ella Fitzgerald performed by Duke Ellington.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/empics
Nothing to stop her
The aging jazz diva kept returning to the stage despite health problems. In her later years, her voice became deeper and raspier, but it remained just as agile. She gave her last concert at the age of 74 and died in 1996.
