Shake ’Em Up Jazz Band: le Donne Mangiano Zucchero & A Woman’s Place

I recently read a column Tex Wyndham wrote for our predecessor paper The West Coast Rag back in 1990 lamenting the lack of female instrumentalists playing traditional jazz. He speculated that the number of active trad musicians could be nearly doubled if women were encouraged to join the band, and weren't relegated to vocal only roles. (Read: Texas Shout #12 Women in Dixieland) He noted the lack of women instrumentalists wasn't unique to jazz; rock and popular music had the same gender disparity. The situation hasn’t improved in other genres, but I’m happy to report that the younger trad bands are rapidly integrating across the gender line. A wave of female performers have become star instrumentalists, enough of them to create an all-New Orleans supergroup of women who remain vital to their own musical projects. The Band Chloe Feoranzo has led and played with great trad groups all over the country in the last few years. She took her clarinet on tour with Pokey Lafarge and Postmodern Jukebox before finally landing in New Orleans. Haruka Kikuchi, originally from Japan, wowed the West Coast festivals before bringing her Kid Ory inspired trombone playing to the Crescent City—and it doesn’t seem like they’ll let her leave. Molly Reeves has been a mainstay of the Frenchman Street music scene, in demand for her guitar playing as much as her vocals. Marla Dixon lead