The College of Arts and Communication will show the film The Girls in the Band at 7:30pm on Tues., Feb. 3, in the Greenhill Center of the Arts, room 30. The synopsis on the film’s web site says
THE GIRLS IN THE BAND tells the poignant, untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their fascinating, groundbreaking journeys from the late 30s to the present day. These incredibly talented women endured sexism, racism and diminished opportunities for decades, yet continued to persevere, inspire and elevate their talents in a field that seldom welcomed them.
Andersen Library has resources to learn more. If you can’t attend the screening, the DVD is available (currently on Reserve at the Circulation Desk for in-library viewing, ML3508 .G56 2014). There are books such as American women in jazz: 1900 to the present: Their words, lives, and music (3rd-floor Main Collection, ML3508 .P58 1982), Stormy weather: The music and lives of a century of jazzwomen (3rd-floor Main Collection, ML82 .D3 1984), Swing shift: “all-girl” bands of the 1940s (3rd-floor Main Collection, ML82 .T83 2000), and more. Articles that can be found include “Telling performances: Jazz history remembered and remade by the women in the band” (Oral History Review: Journal of the Oral History Association, 1999, vol.26:no.1, pp.67-84), “Nobody’s Sweethearts: Gender, race, jazz and the Darlings of Rhythm” (American Music, 1998, vol.16:no.3, pp.255-288), and “From the past: Viola Smith – high heels and hi-hats” (Modern Drummer, 2003, vol.27:no.4, pp.104-106).
Please ask a librarian for assistance in finding additional information.
