The Upbeat label has, under the guidance of its founder-producer Liz Biddle, been reissuing gems from the past in their “Great Jazz” series which is compiled and co-produced by John Petters. One of the most recent compilations is The First Ladies Of Jazz And Swing.
It is always a bit difficult tracing the great female jazz instrumentalists of the pre-1960 years because so many either never recorded or were only on a handful of sessions. This particular CD does not include every top female jazz musician to record during the early days, but it does contain plenty of memorable performances among its 26 selections which date from 1924-48. While some of the artists also sing, the focus is primarily on their instrumental skills.
Featured are pianists Lil Hardin Armstrong (“Hotter Than That” and “Willie The Weeper” with Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Seven), Lovie Austin, Martha Boswell (the soundtrack of “Crazy People” with the Boswell Sisters), the great Mary Lou Williams (one of her three songs also includes guitarist Mary Osborne), Hazel Scott, Una Mae Carlisle, Cleo Brown and Nellie Lutcher, harpist Adele Girard, blues singer-guitarist Memphis Minnie, guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe, trumpeters Billie Rogers and Valaida Snow, vibraphonist Marjie Hyams, and the International Sweethearts Of Rhythm (“Honeysuckle Rose”).
Even most veteran collectors will probably not already own all of these performances. While one could argue for this or that selection being included, on a whole this is a highly enjoyable release of mostly hot jazz and swing in which, due to the quality of the music, the sex of the main artist is largely irrelevant.
The First Ladies Of Jazz And Swing
Upbeat URCD 342
www.upbeatmailorder.co.uk
Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings.
Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.
