Why Aren’t There More Women In Jazz?

We all know that women are underrepresented in jazz. How are we going to fix it?

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[ornleifs]

I find it interesting that when I go to classical concerts, women and men are about equal in the audience but when I go to jazz concerts it's about 80% men.

[sergejbozinovic]

"Girls should make just as much noise as the boys"
So simple, yet so effective

[userhgjyj]

thanks for highlighting this issue, amy! this is a really important video. i’m a 20-year-old female guitarist, and in my jazz theory class freshman year of college, i was one of three girls in a class of 33. the professor didn’t discourage us - actually mostly the opposite - he’d call on us extra, say he wanted “a woman’s opinion, ” almost give our voices more worth. but it started to feel like i represented all girls in jazz and their potential, to the professor and the boys in the class - i began to feel like if i wasn’t good at something (and that happened a lot, since i had no experience playing in a combo before college) that the guys in the class would think that it was because i was a girl, not because my high school didn’t have a jazz program or any of the actual reasons. and the whole jazz culture of putting yourself out there, taking a solo, trying to one-up and compete with others’ skills, etc really seemed tinged with a kind of masculine competitiveness and aggression, at least at my school, that made me pretty uncomfortable even though i enjoyed the music. and this isn’t exactly a story of resilience, because i stopped taking jazz classes and stopped playing in combo after that year — and i am a bit disappointed in myself for that, but for me as a gal who didn’t have much jazz experience and was trying to learn (much later than middle school), breaking into that hyper masculine environment just didn’t seem worth all the stress it was causing. (because i was more anxious for combo each week than any of my normal classes.) i’m not really sure where i was going with this but i’m really happy you’re talking about this topic, since it is real and difficult, and your audience might actually have the potential to help the jazz environment be more hospitable to girls in the future!

[jessssnake]

i'm so glad this video exists, i really feel seen. it's so frustrating to have people assume things about me just because i'm a 5'0 girl. a guy assumed i didn't know how to play a pentatonic scale and on my first day in a concert band, the band leader assumed i played the flute even though i was holding a bass guitar. what's more annoying is that i can't bring it up because i worry people will treat me differently

thanks for talking about this, next time i won't be afraid to be as loud as the boys :D

[MarkusBHZ]

Thank you so much for sharing your personal story. You really help me as a musician and now you help me as a father. I can't thank you enough.

[gbC]

You speak 100% logic.
You speak 0%. “ political correctness for its own sake”.
Gender has nothing to do ability.
Shouldn’t have to be spelled out.
As a male who loves jazz, I am saddened I have missed out on the music of all those potential female musicians who never got to flourish because of social pressures.

[dsargeant]

Could you create a Spotify Playlist of your favorite women in jazz and share it to your followers?

[jojo]

Hi Aimee,
Female jazz guitarist here!
I definitely have some stories about being a female jazz guitarist. When I was 17 I went to my first jazz jam session. When I was called up they kept saying that I was going to sing (not a singer)
I was the only female at that jam session and the bass player kept hitting on me. It definitely turned me away from going to jam sessions. I went a few months after and the exact same thing happened! I am a little older now, and was just saying that I have to go to another jam session, this vidoe definitely inspired me🎸
In my city there are maybe only 7 female jazz instrumentalist who have gigs. And in the city's big jazz band there is only one female (the band is made up of 24 players)
It's easy to see why women would not want to be a part of this. We just have to work harder and ignore everything. Music should not be like that, but we need to be pioneers for future generations to keep Jazz alive

[luciodeftly]

Aimee, this really touches me. I am a first time father of a soon to be 2 year old little girl. One who's always banging on my upright or sitting on the bed strumming across the open strings of my guitar marvelling over the resonant quartal tone dissonance. It pains me to think of my little girl ever feeling pressure to deny herself of what's in her pure heart, but this video is helpful for me in terms of understanding what adolescence can mean for a young girl. Thank you!

[rontiemens]

It's been decades since I've played any jazz but I have a story that relates. I was asked to take over as a soccer coach of a co-ed soccer team composed of mainly middle schoolers. Turns out that one of the girls on the team was one of the fastest players on the team, and one of the best dribblers. She played right-side defender. Several times during a scrimmage, she would win the ball in the back and then fly up her flank toward midfield, leaving other players in the dust, with acres of space in front of her. When she reached the center line on the field, she would abruptly stop as if she had reached an invisible wall. She would then pass the ball to a teammate and retreat to her defensive position. I asked her why she did that. She said the boys had told her defenders need to stay in the back and not venture past midfield. I told her that that changes as of right now. I told her she can go anywhere on the field that she wants. I just told her that if we are in the attacking zone and we lose the ball, to get back and cover defensively. Her eyes lit up. She was all over the field from then on -- joining the attack and taking shots on goal, getting back and playing defense like a boss, and just playing with a joy and freedom I have rarely seen. Jazz, like soccer, is a place to express yourself no matter where you are at. Don't be pigeonholed.

[nkmc]

Older player here. If I had a dollar for every “you play good for a girl” comment I heard in the 70’s and 80’s. ..and It still happens. We will never be equal until we have auditions behind curtains. Lincoln center needs this. We’re starting a class for young women improv in our city-girls need confidence to learn in an environment with no distractions or harassment.

[MrGeek]

Such a great video. As a father of a 14 year old girl who started piano (after violin she decided, not for me & asked for piano after learning a couple short songs herself) this is GOLD. Speaking of solos, when recital time came, I had started piano too wanting to finally learn sightreading after years of singing by ear, I volunteered to perform because I won't ask her to do anything I wouldn't do. As the only 'adult' in the recital it was so great to see a huge variety of kids and so many encouraged ME and gave me compliments. They were all amazing musicians.

[TheAnetmusik]

Aimee! Thank you for this video!
I'm 57 (mmmm 58 next month) and I started learning jazz piano (tried in the 1990's but gave up quickly ) and thanks to YOU, after trapeziectomy hand surgery in February 2019. My left thumb CMC joint was in terrible shape. I used the piano as my hand therapy. You are such a superb teacher and role model to me and yes, as a female musician, I have been asked too many times when playing in a band if i am the singer. I'd say 95% of the time it is assumed that I must be the vocalist or a back up singer and not an intrumentalist. When I was about 12 years old, I begged my dad to let me take saxophone lessons and he flat out refused. My cousin of the same age was having a blast studying it and performed in a small orchestra in Quebec City at the time. He provided me with about the equivalent of 1 year of piano lessons. I was 33 years old before I came back to music. That is also the year I enrolled in the University of North Alabama in Florence where I completed a degree in music, initially piano performance ( with sheer stubbornness and piano practice obsession)but graduated with a Commercial Music degree. There were many young women in marching band but during W.C. Handy jazz camps held every June, there were pretty much no women! So yes, thank you for bringing up the subject. And yes Ken Burns is amazing but not only did he barely mention female musicians, he only mentioned Bill Evans in the context of his performances with Miles Davis AND made it sound like jazz died in the 1970's! Maybe you should produce a documentary on women in jazz. Appreciate you tremendously.

[marten]

Amy, you nailed it! Your "clarinet or flute"-example is soo true! Over here (Netherlands) the women sing, and don't play instruments either.
I consider myself lucky to be in a ts/tp horn section with an amazing female sax player who has this huge blues tone and sound, that works so well with trumpet.
Awesome video, love it!!

[ellielikesbikes]

You are doing so much for women in jazz and music in general. I wasted my youth really I gave up piano age 12 and swore I would never sing again after a bad experience age 7. Age 30 I picked up a guitar and started learning Amy Winehouse tunes and singing quietly to myself my husband encouraged me to keep going. Now I’m 37 I have sung and played my guitar at local open mic nights I’m not a very accomplished musician there’s so much to learn but it’s a significant achievement for me and brings me so much joy. I have two little daughters 3&5 they are already scatting away and asking for jazz standards! I’m so excited to be a to guide them in the right direction and I’ll be saying “Aimee Nolte says practice this or listen to this”. So your message here is brilliant and will filter through everyone watching and results will be coming as these little children grow up. It is cool male jazz musicians who have encouraged me in jazz I now am even learning double bass but I’ll be making sure to listen to your playlist so my daughters know about the female contributors! X

[CrisLin]

@Aimee Thank you for posting this up as a reminder that we do have some influence to help make things better. I am a father of two girls and this is something I am trying to do my part as well to help them appreciate all aspect with a breath of perspective. Thank you for doing what you do musically.

[patrickthames]

Awesome Video... I have been teaching music for 18 years and I have noticed some of the things you mention. I specialize in elementary music and I feel that this area of music education is ground zero. I believe that is really where it starts. I have focused on Mary Lou Williams, arrangements of Melba Liston, Ella Fitzgerald and other women in jazz. Since I teach general music I feel it is also important to show minorities playing classical music as well. My school is predominantly African-American so I love to show videos and demonstrate the fact that all contribute to classical music. Therefore I play for the students and show videos of Wynton Marsalis playing the Carnival of Venice or show Bradford playing with an Orchestra. I also demonstrate that men and women play whatever instrument that desire. I play flute, clarinet, sax, trombone so they see that those instruments can be played by any gender. I assist our Middle School director on our annual Band night and i have signed up quite a few females on trombone and euphonium. I also have helped encourage boys to play flute and clarinet... Anyway your video resonating with this music educator... Thanks for the encouragement!

[joannelauterjung]

I'm a convert now . . . I've been watching your videos this year, and have really appreciated your ability to break things down in a way that's not too basic, and not too advanced. And now, this video convinced me to subscribe. I'm 57 and just now returning to music after a long break, and was hungry for a female role model and champion to say, "It's all doable - just listen, learn and work at it." Watching this video reminded me of how much confidence I've lacked, and was overlooked time and time again. My junior high band teacher encouraged me to learn tenor sax (I was a flute player) and he did give me a solo. We rehearsed at lunch breaks for days. The big day came, and I stood up and could only play one note. I was terrified. I didn't have any support at home, and just drifted away from music after that. I'm happy to return to it, and grateful for your videos. Thank you!

[VeritasGames]

Sent this to my sister, who's a mother of a 4 year old girl. She doesn't listen to Jazz but I feel like there's a deeper theme here we can all benefit from hearing. 11/10 video as usual Aimee!

[SRWatcher]

There are many great female composers out there that I'm aware of that are in the Anime and Video Game fields primarily from Japan. Yoko Kanno (scored Cowboy Bebop a jazzy pop oriented soundtrack that many are familiar with), Soya Oka who scored Super Mario Kart for SNES (a jazzy pop oriented soundtrack as well). Yoko Shimomura (contributed greatly to the unforgettable Street Fighter 2 Soundtrack for SNES that has many Jazz elements contained within as well having participated in other well known projects). Michiru Ōshima is in my eyes, an incredible composer that has scored various Anime productions. I feel the biggest thing is, there are heavily talented female role models out there that have an extremely strong unforgettable musical voice, but they're not mentioned much in public discourse which causes them to never reach girls that may one day look into venturing into music themselves to become a future Jazz artist. I feel all the names I mentioned above would be great role models for anyone as their musical vocabularies are highly developed, unique, and sophisticated and I find their work to be among my favorites regardless of gender. To give a more concise answer, I feel there should be more attention given to or more interviews publicized with the great female composers out there that already exist and that may encourage more girls to get into the art.