Interview With Judy Chaikin, director of The Girls in the Band

Director Judy Chaikin

Here's an excerpt from my recent interview with filmmaker Judy Chaikin, director of the award-winning documentary The Girls in the Band. Judy's film was an important source of inspiration and historical reference for me while writing my book Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz. You rent or buy Judy's film from iTunes or order the DVD from The Girls in the Band website. 

CHRIS BECKER: The initial spark for the film was your discovery of a female drummer who played in big bands during World War II, correct?

JUDY CHAIKIN: Yes: Jerrie Thill, the composer and producer. Alison Freebairn-Smith first told me about her. Jerrie was active in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and had an all-girl band. She ended up being a drummer out here in Los Angeles and played a regular gig at a place on Hollywood Boulevard for about 20 years. She died at 93, and had been playing up until the year before. She was pretty phenomenal.

Were you surprised to discover there was so little about women who played jazz?

It was totally surprising, and that was one of the things that really spurred me on. When I realized how many women there were, and that no one had paid any attention to them, that really got me going.

How did you start with your research for the film?

It started with learning about Jerrie Thill, and then talking to various musicians I knew who gave me a couple of other names like saxophonist Roz Cron, who lived out here in Los Angeles and had been in the International Sweethearts of Rhythm; contemporaries like the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, who were big in New York, and also the all-female big band, Maiden Voyage, that was here in Los Angeles. I just started contacting these women and talking to them and one by one they started giving me other names, like Clora Bryant. One person led to another, and the story started to unfold.

What was the initial audience reaction?

The reaction was so surprising to me, because it covered such a wide audience: a lot of young female musicians literally came up to me crying afterward saying, “I can’t thank you enough. I thought I was the only one!” Older people who were big band fans said, “This is phenomenal. I can’t believe this. I had never heard of these women!” And then professional musicians, a lot of them said, “Boy, this is shame that these women are not known, and that I don’t know about them. They were so fantastic.” So the sense of wonder was across the board.

One of your earliest screenings was in Dubai. What was the response there to these women musicians?

The screening in Dubai was a little strange. It was an outdoor screening on the beach, and people were just sort of wandering around like they were at a rock concert. [Laughs.] But people came up afterward and said they enjoyed it.

The greatest overseas screening that I attended was in Sweden. The film screens somewhere in Sweden almost every other week. They absolutely adore it. It’s playing on television as well, and we keep getting requests for it. When I was there, it played at a film festival, and it played at a college, and it played in a theater. The response was fantastic.

I think one of the reasons for that is because a lot of the women in the early years of jazz, who could not have careers in the United States, went to Europe and had careers there. In some of the places where the film showed, these women were known. Generally, there is such a big interest in jazz in Europe, so much more than there is here. You walk through public places and jazz is playing, in stores, in restaurants — it’s always jazz you hear.

Dr. Billy Taylor, the late musician and composer, and Woody Herman, who is also now deceased, are both in the film. These men, in different ways, were strong advocates for women in the bandstand and providing equal opportunities for women jazz.

Right.

Has your film helped to open any dialogue between jazz men and women — either performers or educators?

Not being a musician myself, and not being in the studios having face-to-face contact with the men in the business, I don’t know about that dialogue. What I know is from hearsay. The men I know have said to me how wonderful it was that I brought this to their attention. That’s the only thing I can go on.

Read the entire interview . . . 

Interview with Terri Lyne Carrington (Excerpted from "Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz")

Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz is a collection of inspiring and in-depth interviews with 37 women musicians of all ages, nationalities, and races and representing nearly every style of jazz one can imagine. The interviewees include Carmen Lundy, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Eliane Elias, Helen Sung, Anat Cohen, Diane Schuur, Sherrie Maricle, Sharel Cassity, Brandee Younger, Jane Ira Bloom and many other incredible artists. The 320-page book includes 42 photographs, and a 25-page introduction to the history of women in jazz.

Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz is available for purchase from Amazon. Here in Houston, TX, you find the book at Brazos Bookstore, The Jung Center of Houston Bookstore, and Casa Ramirez FOLKART Gallery.

What follows is an excerpt from the book: the introduction to and a portion of my interview with drummer, composer, and producer Terri Lyne Carrington.

Terri Lyne Carrington. Photo by Phil Farnsworth.

Drummer, composer, and producer Terri Lyne Carrington is one of the first musicians I interviewed for this book. In our conversation, she quotes composer Duke Ellington to help explain her relationship to jazz:
     “I don’t doubt my connection with it, because I don’t look at it as a certain thing. It’s creative music. Duke Ellington said jazz means ‘freedom of expression.’ And I think that everything that I do, for the most part, feels like jazz. As far as creative music and freedom of expression, like Duke Ellington said, there’s no ‘box’ for that.”
     Her reply provided me with the first three words to the title of this book. Her early participation as an interviewee also opened some doors for me as I contacted other musicians around the country about this project. There’s no question, Carrington commands a great deal of respect among the music community at large.
     Born in 1965 in Medford, Massachusetts, Terri Lyne Carrington is part of a multi-generational musical family that includes her father, saxophonist Sonny Carrington, and grandfather, drummer Matt Carrington, who played with Fats Waller and Duke Ellington. Carrington was a child prodigy and began taking classes at Berklee College of Music under a full scholarship at the age of 11. In 1983, she moved to New York and became an in-demand musician, drumming for jazz luminaries Lester Bowie, James Moody, Pharoah Sanders and many others. Her extensive résumé includes television gigs as the house drummer for the Arsenio Hall Show and Quincy Jones’ late-night show Vibe, hosted by the comedian Sinbad. She has also toured extensively with pianist and composer Herbie Hancock.
     In addition to being a virtuoso drummer, Carrington is a formidable producer, a role that allows her to bring together artists from all genres into her creative projects. I interviewed Carrington for this book not long after the release of her Grammy Award-winning album The Mosaic Project, a collection of tracks performed by some of the world’s most highly respected female instrumentalists and singers, including Dee Dee Bridgewater, Carmen Lundy, Helen Sung, and Anat Cohen, who are also interviewed in this book. In the liner notes to The Mosaic Project, Carrington says the album “comments on historical, current, and appropriately feminine themes,” and for listeners new to jazz, it is a wonderful, engaging, and profound introduction to this music.

When did you first begin studying music? 
My grandfather was a drummer. He passed away before I was born. I guess my father was my first teacher.
     At around age 9, I started taking private lessons at like a music shop. But I never, throughout my whole public-school time period, took music classes, except for violin, in third grade.

So at a young age, the drums were your main instrument? 
It was always just the drums! I took piano lessons, but I guess I never really felt I was going to play the piano. I wanted to know music theory and things like that. But for the most part, it was just the drums.

At that age, before you were even a teenager, what kind of music were you listening to? And what kind of stuff were you playing on the drums? 
Well, see my dad was a saxophone player too. I was into jazz because that was what he was into. But I was also listening to the popular music of the day because . . . I was young! [laughs] I had friends! So I listened to people in the jazz world, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Michael Jackson, and Earth Wind & Fire as well.

And your family, as things got more serious, they were 100 percent behind this career choice that was forming for you at such a young age? 
Oh, yeah! Yes, they were always supportive. Still are. My dad still plays a little bit, and my success was one of three generations.

So maybe it wasn’t that unusual to have a musical prodigy in the house? 

Well, not unusual for us! [laughs] I think you’re very fortunate when you have a family that understands it and doesn’t think music is something that should be a hobby. I wouldn’t be the musician I am today without my dad and all of his knowledge.

You began at Berklee at the age of 11? Is that correct? 

Yes. I was taking private lessons and jamming with ensembles. I didn’t really attend real classes, mainly just private lessons on drums and piano. 

Did you think back then, as a young woman, a young woman playing drums, you were cutting your path, doing something that had not necessarily been done before? 

I think as a young person, no. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been seeing myself more as a pioneer in a sense. 

As a trained jazz musician, with a lot of experience playing live and tour¬ing, was the transition to playing on television weird? 

No, because I always had respect for great artists in the R&B field and the pop field. And as a result of my television gigs, I ended up playing with a lot of those people, like James Brown, Whitney Houston, Rick James—all kinds of people. It was just fun for me. It wasn’t like I was playing down to that music or those artists at all! 

Did you end up shifting your focus as a musician as a result of the schedule demands of television? 

Yes, but I think your focus should shift every time you work in and play another style. It wasn’t about chops or anything like that. When I played jazz, which was a lot less during that time, I played better, because my approach was fresh. Because I had been away from it, I got better. 

Was playing for Rick James different from playing for Herbie Hancock? 

Yes. TV is a very different animal. You have to play in 30 seconds with such energy. It’s not about a building; it’s about getting to the point very quickly. When you’re coming in and out of commercials, you have to sound good from the moment you hit the first stroke and absolutely have to have a certain level of energy. 

     When I play certain styles of jazz, it’s more about telling a story, and starting something and building something into an experience for the listener. 

     But with TV shows, and maybe pop music in general, it’s a little different. It’s about really performing from that “one.” It’s entertainment. So, maybe it’s not as spontaneous. But I’m not saying it’s not creative; that music is creative too! 

Interview With Saxophonist Grace Kelly for the Los Angeles Review of Books

Saxophonist Grace Kelly

CHRIS BECKER: So much of how we get our information these days is through visual communication, be it on social media or in pop music — and you certainly have your own unique eye-catching style. As an artist, has that become an important component to get people to pay attention?

GRACE KELLY: That’s a great question. I have family friends who live in New York City, and one of their kids is four years old; he’s an amazing kid, so musical, and I remember they were playing him my new album. He kept saying, “Why can’t I see it?” It was kind of a light bulb moment for me.

One of the things that I’m working on for my new album is how it will be presented live as a multimedia show. The album is so visual. All of these songs I wrote I saw [them] visually beforehand.

We’ve done a couple of music videos for the album, the latest one for the track “Blues for Harry Bosch,” which includes Bosch in a trench coat, cigarette smoke, me, and the musicians in a club [with] cool lighting. Jazz, as an art form, is a little bit behind in the way pop music uses visuals. I think this is something jazz musicians are becoming aware of, and will come into play more in the future. In a live performance, people are there to hear you, but also to see you. I’ve always thought it was so important to dress well and to present a visually stimulating show.

Read the entire interview . . . 

Ah, New York . . .

Just wanted to save this somewhere where I could see it and share. (Dee Dee Bridgewater of course is one of the 37 musicians interviewed in my book!)

April 30 is Independent Bookstore Day!

April 30 is Independent Bookstore Day. Which means . . . your favorite independent bookstores will be (hopefully) packed with customers looking to stock up on new titles.

I am very pleased that my book Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz is available in several excellent independent bookstores here in Houston, TX as well as my former home, New York City. If you haven't picked up a copy, consider visiting one of these stores (see below). Most of them also offer online ordering, so if you prefer not to use Amazon, remember, you have other options!

My book on the shelves of McNally Jackson, New York City. (Third shelf from the bottom!)

Houston, TX:

You can pick up a copy of my book at Brazos Bookstore, the Jung Center of Houston Bookstore, and Casa Ramirez FOLKART Gallery.

New York City: 

My book is available at McNally Jackson Books (home of the Espresso Book Machine!) as well as Bluestockings, a 100% volunteer-powered and collectively-owned radical bookstore, fair trade cafe, and activist center in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Published in November 2015, Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz is a timely collection of inspiring and in-depth interviews with 37 women musicians of all ages, nationalities, and races, who represent nearly every style of jazz one can imagine. The interviewees include Carmen Lundy, Terri Lyne Carrington, Eliane Elias, Helen Sung, Anat Cohen, Diane Schuur, Sherrie Maricle, Sharel Cassity, Jane Monheit, Ellen Seeling, Cheryl Bentyne, Brandee Younger, Jane Ira Bloom, and many other incredible artists.

The 320-page book includes a 25-page history of jazz, as well as introductions to each interview, to provide helpful context for readers who are unaware of the contributions by women to the development of jazz.

Happy Birthday, Ella Fitzgerald! (b. 1917, d. 1996)

"Born just a few years after Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, known as the 'First Lady of Song,' turned scat singing into high art and enjoyed an extended career through the swing and later bebop years, and on into the 1970s and mid-1980s. She recorded over 200 albums, including several with trumpeter and fellow virtuoso of scat, Louis Armstrong, as well as several album-length programs of music by some of America's greatest composers, including Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, George and Ira Gershwin, Irvin Berlin, and Rogers and Hart."

Happy birthday, Ella!

(Excerpted from Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz by Chris Becker.)

Educators Discount for “Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz.”

Educators can now purchase one or several copies of Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz for $16.50 (25% off the $22.00 cover price) plus shipping and handling.

Published in November 2015, Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz is a timely collection of inspiring and in-depth interviews with 37 women musicians of all ages, nationalities, and races, who represent nearly every style of jazz one can imagine. The interviewees include Carmen Lundy, Terri Lyne Carrington, Eliane Elias, Helen Sung, Anat Cohen, Diane Schuur, Sherrie Maricle, Sharel Cassity, Jane Monheit, Ellen Seeling, Cheryl Bentyne, Brandee Younger, Jane Ira Bloom, and many other incredible artists.

The 320-page book includes a 25-page history of jazz, as well as introductions to each interview, to provide helpful context for readers who are unaware of the contributions by women to the development of jazz.

The interviews in the book can be used to help students develop and deepen their understanding of a wide range of classroom topics, including:

• Jazz 
• Improvisation
• Composition
• Music Education
• Pedagogy
• Music Business
• Women’s Studies
• Gender Studies
• Women’s Movement
• Sexism / Prejudice U.S. History
• World Music
• African American Studies
• Jewish Studies
• Latin American Studies

To place an order:

1.) Contact Chris Becker at beckeresque@gmail.com with the name of your institution and total number of books you’d like to order.
2.) We will then email you an order form to complete which will include the total cost of your order. Once you return the order form, we will place your order.

Educators can pay with a check or by using PayPal. We also accept purchase order numbers and will invoice you accordingly.

"At long last, an in-depth recognition of the female contributions to jazz.  As Dr. Billy Taylor said about the lack of awareness of female musicians: ‘If it isn't written down, it didn't happen.’ Now everyone will know that it did happen and continues to happen. What a great gift to the history of women and music." — Judy Chaikin, director of the award-winning documentary The Girls in the Band

“This is a truly welcomed work to be added to the annals of jazz’s oral histories. Chris Becker shows great care, respect and benevolence for women artists, too often ignored, who have contributed much to creation of this music and who continue to push the genre forward by all means necessary.” – Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn, journalist and director-producer of But Can She Play?: Blowin’ The Roof Off Women Horn Players and Jazz

"Finally, a comprehensive HERstory of jazz music! Each of the women interviewed in this book have created strong musical identities while operating under the radar for far too many years. Thanks to Chris Becker, the world can discover the inner workings and creative lives of these fine, deserving jazzwomen. This book is a riveting read . . . an exciting journey into the mind of female genius." — Rachel Z., composer, keyboardist (Steps Ahead, Larry Coryell, Wayne Shorter, Peter Gabriel)

"Surrounding this almost clinically-sound distribution of talent, Becker has raised succinctly-stated perimeter in which to place these musicians, more brightly illuminating their individual, group, cultural contributions. He begins with a brief history of jazz before veering into the contribution of women, and with his Texas-sized literary lasso, wrangles issues like rock and roll, the women's liberation movement, the growth of jazz education, and global influences." — C. Michael Bailey, AllAboutJazz

Freedom of Expression: Interviews With Women in Jazz
The interviewees:

Mindi Abair	Saxophones
Cheryl Bentyne	Voice
Jane Ira Bloom	Soprano Saxophone
Samantha Boshnack	Trumpet
Dee Dee Bridgewater	Voice
Terri Lyne Carrington	Drums
Sharel Cassity	Saxophones
Anat Cohen	Clarinet, Saxophones
Jean Cook	Violin
Connie  Crothers	Piano
Eliane Elias	Piano, Voice
Ayelet Rose Gottlieb	Voice
Lenae Harris	Cello
Val Jenty	Electronics
Jan Leder	Flute
Jennifer Leitham	Double Bass
Carmen Lundy	Voice
Sherrie Maricle	Drums
Jane Monheit	Voice
Jacqui Naylor	Voice
Aurora Nealand	Saxophones, Clarinet
Iris Ornig	Double Bass
Alisha Pattillo	Tenor Saxophone
Roberta Piket	Piano
Cheryl Pyle	Flute
Nichole Rampersaud	Trumpet
Sofia Rei	Voice
Patrizia Scascitelli	Piano
Diane Schuur	Voice
Ellen Seeling	Trumpet
Helen Sung	Piano
Jacqui Sutton	Voice
Mazz Swift	Violin, Voice
Nioka Workman	Cello
Pamela York	Piano
Brandee Younger	Harp
Malika Zarra	Voice