The presenter-author-jazzophile Stanley Péan has brought together in a collection portraits of musicians, composers and lyricists who are as exceptional as they are unfairly overlooked. Great work needed.
Who is Valaida Snow? The question is addressed to the general public, not to the certified jazzophile. Stanley Péan devotes an entire chapter of his new book to the musician, Satin black, a collection of portraits of “fifteen women who made jazz”: she was nothing less than the “trumpet queen” of her time – the 1930s and 1940s. And Melba Liston, for whom Péan does not have too much eleven tightly packed pages to make a good, amazing tour, do you know what she was doing so well? Paperclip. But still, you say? Not enough to make a fuss in 2024. Everything seems naturally within the reach of everyone, all genders combined. “We are living in an era of openness to difference, it is the right time, I think, to put things in context…”, explains on the telephone the radio host who has undoubtedly written the most since his mentor , Gilles Archambault.
Fortunately, in fact, there are researchers of the caliber of Katheryn Russell-Brown, who illustrated the monumental Little Melba and Her Big Trombone. And thank you to the efficient Péan for summarizing this for as many people as possible. “It’s my duty as a communicator. My mission and my passion. » Understanding the extraordinary character of these pioneering careers almost requires a caricature, as the injustice borders on the ridiculous. “Hey! These were not instruments for women, the trumpet, the trombone! » recalls Péan, still stunned by a “prejudice that has had a very hard life”. You can hear the arbiters of good taste choking from here. Haro about the lipstick on the mouthpieces, the cheeks deformed by the effort, the necessarily vulgar handling of these tubes as stiff as sexes, belching saliva and dirty notes… Péan quotes Lorraine Cugat, the wife of the famous Xavier: “ […] girls who want to be musicians must stick to instruments such as the piano, the violin, the harp or even the accordion — any instrument whose playing does not detract from feminine attractions.”
Creative against all odds
It wasn’t much better to be a jazz pianist and wife, we understand, from Lovie Austin to Mary Lou Williams. And not profitable either: Péan notes that their more than notable contribution earned them “no credit, no recognition and […] no royalties.” Even the harp, in the hands of Dorothy Ashby, is not the place for gentle accompanist arpeggios: it is bebop that she plays furiously alongside Miles Davis, John Coltrane and other champions celebrated. We know very little about her, to compare, despite her sparkling weapons and her activism symbolized, in the midst of the “emergence of black pride and the Black Panthers”, by a piece delivered on an electrified harp, the aptly named Afro-Harping.
Books and women
Stanley Péan’s collection appears at the same time as another work, Women musicians are dangerous, where Annie Coste composes a vast fresco of short portraits covering all musical genres from all periods. A section entitled “Forces vives du jazz” highlights at least four of the artists that we find — more fully — in Péan: Lovie Austin, Lil Hardin Armstrong, Mary Lou Williams and Melba Liston. “I don’t believe in chance,” our jazzophile readily concedes. “The light sparkles at the same time almost everywhere, and it makes the artists shine. I have been building this book for a long time, I have published several versions of my portraits in the magazine Disadvantagewith the construction of the collection in mind, in a form quite similar to my book Preferably at night, published by the same brand in 2019. It was already in tune with the times. »
“What distinguishes my work this time is that I have given myself a framework: it is the musicians, composers, lyricists, conductors who occupy it. The great performers have had their books, there have been two films about Billie Holiday. For Satin black, I wanted to talk about the others, these women in the garment industry, in the building industry, give them their place in the history of jazz, and say what time has done with them. What do we remember about Clora Bryant, why is it important to know her, or even discover her? Same principle for a Ma Rainey, a Bessie Smith: their names are known, there have been films about them, but what should we know about them to better understand what is happening on the screen? »
All the truths
Péan, a rigorous researcher, does not hesitate to scratch the surface of myths that are too well varnished. He needs the truth. Or, at the very least, the truths. A good example, much was made of the 18 months that Valaida Snow, arrested in Copenhagen while on tour, would have spent in a Nazi concentration camp. A 2007 biography “qualifies this story as a fabrication,” Péan tells us. We lean more towards a drug case and preventive custody of the trumpeter “for her own protection well before the German invasion”. Big. Péan does not decide, but submits reasoning that makes sense: “ […] the myth of his incarceration in one of the German death camps dies hard and eclipses the less heroic truth of his drug addiction.”
The great performers have had their books, there have been two films about Billie Holiday. For “Noir satin”, I wanted to talk about others, these women in the clothing industry, in the building industry, give them their place in the history of jazz, and say what time has done with them.
Anything but sensationalist, Péan stays away from the swelling of the fan who would block his arteries in the overflow of emotions. “I have often been told that my emotions are not felt enough. I have emotions, but they only concern me. I don’t do radio on jazz, I don’t write books on jazz to express myself. What matters are the historical facts, the creation and destiny of the works, the professional life of the artists and their personal life only when it sheds light on the subject. Pathos is not for me. It is up to listeners and readers to do their part, which is to react, to debate and, yes, to feel. »
“Me, if people want to know more from me a little about Hazel Scott, this pianist and singer who uniquely combined jazz and the classical repertoire, this woman who espoused important causes and who was summoned in the years 1950 by Senator McCarthy and his famous committee because of his supposed ties to communists, I am delighted. If I have contributed in the slightest to arousing interest and curiosity about this extraordinary woman, I have accomplished my mission. »