Women are relatively rare in the jazz world. They still constitute only a small minority of performers, compared with men, particularly if you exclude singers: a 2016 survey by saxophonist Issie Barrett found that just five percent of jazz instrumentalists are female, while a 2021 study by NPR discovered that the share of women-led jazz albums only topped 20 percent in 2019 (having languished below that since records began in 2007).
One might reasonably assume that women just aren’t that into jazz—but attending any swing dance event worldwide, where females almost always outnumber males, should put paid to that notion pretty quick. The problem, according to one double JUNO-winning Canadian artiste, could be that female players are put off performing jazz by an academic atmosphere in which they are “guilty until proven innocent” by their male peers. In her case, not even two top gongs could silence the critics.
Caity Gyorgy (pronounced George) is exceptional in more ways than one. Not only has she contributed several works to that meager 30 percent (as of 2019) of female-led jazz albums, but two of them won back-to-back JUNO Awards for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. To win one is to receive the highest accolade in Canadian music—winning two consecutively puts her in a club with only two members, the other being international jazz superstar Diana Krall.
[caption id="atta
