They say jazz to you and who do you think of? Miles Davis, surely. John Coltrane, probably. Maybe Duke Ellington. Only men. And for good reason. Apart from famous singers, like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, it is them that history has decided to remember.
Does this mean there have been no women musicians? Composers? Arrangers? On the contrary. And this is the injustice that jazz expert Stanley Péan wants to reestablish in his book Satin black.
A few years ago, the radio host was challenged by a friend to play pieces by pianist Hazel Scott on the show. When jazz is there, which he has presented since 2009 on ICI Musique. This challenge was the starting point for a series of columns on female jazz musicians in the cultural magazine disadvantagethen this new book, which brings together around fifteen portraits, from Ma Rainey to Mary Lou Williams via Dorothy Ashby, Shirley Scott and Ina Ray Hutton.
You should know that despite its revolutionary side, the jazz world has always been a very masculine world, leaving women with little chance to stand out, except in the expected role of singer in a long dress. This context largely explains why the musicians of the blue note are today largely forgotten.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Stanley Péan
” They [les jazzmen] were beholden to their society and therefore not necessarily ahead of their time, explains Stanley Péan. So when these women were no longer there to defend their own work, history tended to forget them… They were pushed down, to the point where we don’t know them. »
We will understand that the author did not go for the obvious when he made his selection. Aside from blueswoman Bessie Smith, most of the women revived Satin black are relatively little known. Which does not prevent them from having been gifted musicians and from equaling, if not surpassing, their colleagues in their respective fields.
PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Melba Liston
On this side, Stanley Péan immediately thinks of the trombonist Melba Liston, “admired by Quincy Jones”, or of the brilliant Mary Lou Williams, pianist and arranger, who worked with Ellington and served as a guide to Monk and Gillespie. “It is at the heart of modernity. He is a central character who should have been better known,” regrets Stanley Péan.
All these musicians had a particular destiny, underlines Stanley Péan. You had to have character to break through this world of men. But that doesn’t mean that these strong women had it easy, quite the contrary. Black Satin is therefore also a story of fights, lies, failures and falling by the wayside. Let us think of the German pianist Jutta Hip, who retrained in couture after being cowardly dumped by her godfather. Or to the flamboyant Ina Ray Hutton, a sort of Marilyn Monroe of jazz, who hid all her life that she was of African-American ancestry. “Such an emblematic story from those years,” underlines Stanley Péan.
We can console ourselves by saying that several of them are gradually emerging from oblivion, as if we wanted to repair this missed meeting with History. We reissue Jutta Hip and Ina Rayb Hutton, we rediscover Dorothy Ashby through hip-hop, R&B stars look into the case of Besse Smith, we pay tribute to Mary Lou Williams.
Satin black is certainly part of this rehabilitation movement.
Three women, three albums: the choices of Stanley Péan
PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Jutta Hipp
Hazel Scott, Relaxed Piano Mood (1955). “The record she made with Max Roach and Charlie Mingus, super soft, that’s not where she’s at her most virtuoso, but there’s a kind of relaxation. We can hear the elegance of his piano playing even better. »
Mary Lou Williams, Zodiac Suite (1945). “I’m a big admirer, I love everything she’s done. I should take the full version. For me, he’s the female Duke Ellington. A super rich and varied work from which many have drawn without always giving it due credit. She has passed through several eras, from jazz, swing to modern jazz. She also has an important sacred work. »
Jutta Hip, Jutta Hip with Zoot Sims (1956). “ The critic and producer Leonard Feather discovered her in Germany. He does everything to get her to come to the United States. She arrives here, he takes her in, finds her great contracts, signs her with Blue Note. But in return, he expects her to play his music and sleep with him. Since that won’t happen, he becomes his own worst detractor. She can no longer have gigs. She falls into depression and leaves music… Almost a case of #metoo before its time. »
Satin black
Boreal
203 pages