The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1937-49

A Brief History of the Premier All-Women Swing Orchestra The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was a racially mixed sixteen-piece all-women Swing orchestra.  The word ‘International’ denoted its diverse ethnic makeup, including African American, Latin, Asian, Jewish, Hawaiian, White and Native American women.  It was a formidable competitor to the all-male bands and the most skilled of about 100 all-women orchestras of WWII.   As the orchestra matured and toured nationally, the band attracted professionals.  It had excellent improvising musicians executing evocative solos, precision section-work and lively head arrangements.  This was the band that forced skeptics to admit that women could play hard-swinging Jazz and hot music, just like the guys.   In battles-of-the-bands they performed opposite Jimmy Dorsey and once bested the popular Erskine Hawkins Orchestra.  On tour they shattered box office records in Detroit, Chicago, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Atlantic City, Miami and once performed for 11,000 in Kansas City. This and other female orchestras were poorly covered by the mainstream music press -- Metronome and Down Beat magazines.  Their recordings went uncirculated for more than half a century.  Exclusion of