From the Back to the Front: ‘Sophisticated Lady’ Jeanette Kimball

If there’s one thing my Sherrie Tucker-inspired scribblings—to which I collectively refer as “my forgotten ladies”—have revealed, it’s that behind many of history’s greatest jazzmen sat an underappreciated woman equipped with formal training in music theory and an unmatched sight reading ability. These women held bands together from the piano stool, allowing their relatively uneducated male bandleaders to improvise up a storm. Far too often, these lady linchpins of male-fronted jazz bands never became famous in their own right. Sometimes they resigned from their musical careers to raise families—occasionally they were forced to do so by uncompromising husbands (see Dolly Adams for an example of this musical misogyny). Only a minority of female former accompanists would go on to lead their own outfits, with fewer of these becoming household names, even amongst jazz fans—Lil Hardin is the only example which springs to mind. (One might include Mary Lou Williams and Una Mae Carlisle, but they began their careers as soloists—and Carlisle was arguably as famous for her voice as for her playing.) Jeanette Kimball’s name has proved less enduring in the jazz canon even though her skill at the keyboard and contribution make her no less worthy. For the following summary I am once again indebted to Sherrie Tucker and her fascinating thesis A Feminist Perspective on New Or