The second edition of http://musicwomanmagazine.com and http://musicmanmagazine.com are in production.
Our 8th CD of women’s music with 13 songs by our members is in production, also.
Stay tuned for more from Women in Jazz South Florida, Inc.
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I AM JAZZ
Of course Jazzmen are dynamic. So are Amazing Musicwomen!
Freddie Hubbard is an icon! He recorded my tune SWEET RETURN (1983) and put it in his Song Book making me historical (herstorical). I sat at the feet of Miles, Diz, Buhaina, Shepp, Yusef, Rahsaan, McCoy, and Ron Carter, learning all I could about the art of improvisation. I sat with Helen Morgan 3 years before she shot Lee. I AM JAZZ!
Joan Cartwright, Freddie Hubbard, Jerry (owner of Allotria in Munich, Germany) Jeff Chambers, lady, Ronnie Matthews circa 1993
I’ve been in conversations with Ella, Betty Carter, Irene Reid, Ruth Brown, Abbey Lincoln, and Dorothy Donegan. I was THERE at the Blue Note, Slugs in the Far East (Village) with Lee Morgan, Buhaina, Miles, Frank Foster, Charles McPherson, Bill Hardman and Joe Lee Wilson, Village Gate, at the Galleon (Bronx), and the Village Vanguard with Lou Donaldson, Dr. Lonnie Smith who recorded my first demo tape with me that got me gigs all over the European continent. Ellington’s bass player Aaron Bell first listened to my tune “Loneliblue” and said the musicians would love playing it.
Joe Lee Wilson and Joan Cartwright, Brighton, England
With Lou Donaldson at Jazz Inn, London, UK
Joan Cartwright and Dorothy Donegan, Marian’s Jazz Room, Bern, Switzerland (1996)
Abbey Lincoln and Joan Cartwright, Montreux Jazz Festival (1993)
Joan Cartwright and Betty Carter, IAJE Conference, El Paso, TX, 1993
In Philly, Gerald Price taught me composition and piano, and in New York, Barry Harris was my teacher on piano and vocals. Budd Johnson was my babysitter from 4-8 years old. Milt Hinton (The Judge) was my cousin’s Godfather and he got me my first gig in Berne, Switzerland, at Marion’s Jazz Room, in 1990. I sat on Jay McShann’s lap and asked him to marry me. I proposed marriage to Quincy Jones just before I interview him for my Master’s Thesis, The Cultural Politics of Commercial Jazz, in 1993, which explained why I had to go to Europe (1990-1998) to make a living. In July 2013, I gave my book A History of African American Jazz and Blues to Quincy with the interview I did of him in 1993, 20 years earlier, in the exact same building – Stravinsky Hall, in Montreux, Switzerland [photo].
I AM Jazz!
With Quincy Jones, Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, at Claude Nobs’ Chalet, 1993
I am the Chronicler of this music. While everyone else was PLAYING, I was documenting it. I met Quincy Troupe, co-writer of Miles’ biography. I penned lyrics to A NIGHT IN TUNISIA, TUNE UP, BLUE BOSSA, and BESSIE’S BLUES and sang them all over Europe, the East Coast of the USA, and in China and Japan. I Am the female Jazz Messenger, who sang on Jazzmobile with Buhaina, Frank Foster, Frank Wes, George Coleman, and Charles McPherson. The first person to take me on the road was Philly Joe Jones, who took me to Baltimore to perform with Shirley Scott, Arthur Harper (bass), and Sonny Stitt, in 1978. I AM the only woman in the world with a Jazz and Blues Song Book that I submitted to the Guinness Book of Records.
Google me – www.joancartwright.com. But, more importantly, I am the foremost authority on Women in Jazz and Blues and I will not be quieted about the role of women as the Mothers of the Blues and the innovators of Jazz. That’s why, in 2007, I founded www.wijsf.org to promote women musicians, globally! That’s why, since 2008, I’ve interviewed over 200 women composers at www.blogtalkradio.com/musicwoman
That’s why I created the Jazzwomen Directory that features 90 women musicians that most musicians, let alone people, do not know about and I put 40 of them in my book Amazing Musicwomen that I taught over 10,000 students (3-12 grade and college) in the U.S., Switzerland, Sicily, China, and Japan about.
I AM JAZZ!
Joan Cartwright and Dizzy Gillespie, Sunfest, West Palm Beach, FL 1985
READ my books:
Symposium on Women in Arts
These points people need to be aware of:
- Women benefit from 1-5% of public funding of the Arts. WIMUST Report
- Women pay 53% of the taxes on the planet but make 64-75 cents on the dollar men make
- Women contribute 93% of their income to their families. Men contribute 43% to their families.
- Of 134 NEA Jazz Master Awards since 1982 with a $25,000 honorarium, only 15 women received this award
- Lilly Ledbetter’s Fair Pay Restoration Act, signed by Pres. Obama in 2009 does not include women musicians
This is the interview that I talk about why I founded Women in Jazz South Florida, Inc.
- See my book Amazing Musicwomen and our Amazing Musicwomen Ensemble
- See our compilation CDs (I, II, III, IV)
- Read my paper: Conscious Inclusion of Women Musicians
Check out these women, also:
- Girls In The Band a film by Judy Chaikin interview on my show MUSICWOMAN Radio
- Ellen Seeling, Montclair Women’s Big Band (CA) See this video I made of interview on KCBS with Ellen Seeling:
- Dotti Anita Taylor former President of IWJ (NY)
- Nicki Mathis, founder of The Many Colors of Women (Conn.)
- Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn, filmmaker
- Patricia Adkins-Chiti, President of Fondazione Adkins-Chiti: Donne in Musica and photos of women composers in Europe last July 2014 at the WIMUST Conference
- See the WIMUST Report
On May 2, in Atlanta, I will be honored as the Lady Jazz Master @ www.bwijawards.com
(PLEASE VOTE FOR ME as composer and for our 4th Compilation CD at this link: http://www.bwijawards.com/final-voting.php)
JOIN US at www.wijsf.com/join.htm
Blues Women: First Civil Rights Workers
The African voice inspired instrumentalists. Vocalese was a dialogue between vocalists and instruments. Each person had an individual sound and instrumentalists imitated the voice’s cries, growls, moans, slurs, whispers, shouts and wails. Blues was the element of American subculture created by enslaved Africans, singing European music. Considered crude by classical listeners, Blues liberated singers from precise pitch and calculated rhythms of European music. Black singers emerged from Spirituals and Blues to develop Jazz. Their free-spirited songs delivered messages of liberation, signaling to Africans in America that they could be free. Blues women were the first civil rights workers because their songs symbolized liberty in its rawest form by tapping into the human spirit. Angela Davis recounted Marx and Engles’ observation that art as “a form of social consciousness [awakens] . . . those affected by it to . . . transform their oppressive environments” (Davis, 1999). Blues were popularized by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey (Columbus, GA, September, 1882 – December 22, 1939), The Mother of the Blues (Cartwright, 2008, p. 9). A spokesperson for black people, she was a hero to them. She recorded hundreds of songs on Paramount, putting that recording company on the map. The most popular Blues singers established a rapport and rhetoric with the crowd. Ma Rainey took Bessie Smith under her wing and Blues tradition developed as one followed another.
This book Amazing Musicwomen has lots of information about Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Marian McPartland, Peggy Lee, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Alberta Hunter, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, and other Musicwomen. Musicwoman Radio and Musicwoman Magazine tell the stories of Amazing Musicwomenwho paved the way for vocalists, song stylists, singers, composers, and instrumentalists. Their songs are from The American Song Book that includes original songs like Alberta Hunter’s “Downhearted Blues”, “Handy Man”, and “Rough & Ready Man” plus songs of Broadway composers of the early 1900s, Duke Ellington, Billie Strayhorn, Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Fats Waller, and Broadway composers Michel LeGrande, Stevie Wonder, Burt Bacharach and Isaac Hayes. [NOTE, after Alberta Hunter, the absence of women composers. Who were they? Does anybody know?] OK, Barbra Streisand, Carol King, Carly Simon, Roberta Flack, and who else? www.lulu.com/spotlight/divajc
References
Cartwright, J. (2008). Amazing Musicwomen. FYI Communications, Inc.
Davis, A.Y. (1999). Blues legacies and black feminism. New York: Random House.
©2014 Joan Cartwright, M.A.
Why are there no good jazz gigs?
Regarding an article posted on a UK Blog – THERE ARE NO GOOD JAZZ GIGS, I would like to address some of the comments in this article:
1. The huge increase in the number of jazz festivals over the last decade as proof that it’s not nearly as bad as some people would have you believe. D C Dowell of www.apassion4jazz.net says that the number of jazz festivals has increased tenfold over the last decade and www.jazzfests.net has over 1,000 jazz festivals listed for Europe alone. MOST OF THESE SO-CALLED JAZZ FESTIVALS USE THE WORD “JAZZ” TO KEEP THE COST OF INSURANCE LOW. THEN, THEY BOOK ARTISTS THAT ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO BEING JAZZ ARTISTS – THEY ARE R&B, ROCK, REGGAE ARTISTS – BUT THE WORD JAZZ IS USED TO ATTRACT A MATURE AUDIENCE. IF THEY SAID IT IS A R&B OR ROCK FEST, THE INSURANCE WOULD BE SKY HIGH.
2. Much of the jazz musician’s malaise probably stems from his own experiences – playing an endless round of background music gigs where he is largely ignored or at conservative venues where he feels obliged to play standards in a mainstream style. These gigs often form the majority of his performing life and venues that actively promote jazz seem to be depressingly few in number. THE MAJOR PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY AND IN EUROPE IS THAT JAZZ IS A “HE/HIS” GENRE – A GOOD OLE BOY CLUB. WOMEN PAY 53% OF THE TAXES ON THE PLANET BUT WOMEN’S MUSIC REAPS ONLY 1-5% OF THE $27.5 BILLION IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY AND FROM PUBLIC FUNDING. THIS IS A HUGE IMBALANCE. I SEE GREAT OPPORTUNITY IN THIS AS THE FOUNDER OF A NON-PROFIT THAT PROMOTES WOMEN MUSICIAN’S – www.wijsf.org
3. Going to jam sessions is the only ‘self-promotion’ that they do. They’re clinging to a hopelessly old-fashioned paradigm of the music business and are doomed to failure and frustration if they refuse to change. THE JAM SESSION IS WHAT HAS KILLED NOT ONLY THE JAZZ SCENE BUT THE MUSIC SCENE. OPEN MICS WITH HIP HOP AND RAP ARTISTS HAS MADE IT SO THAT ENTERTAINERS (I DO NOT CONSIDER HIP HOPPERS AND RAPPERS MUSICIANS) PERFORM FOR FREE. CLUB OWNERS HAVE GOTTEN USED TO THE PARADIGM THAT THEY DON’T HAVE TO PAY FOR ENTERTAINMENT BECAUSE OF THE DESPERATION AND EGO OF THESE AMATEURS WANTING TO GET UP ON A STAGE TO DISPLAY THEIR SO-CALLED TALENT, LEAVING PROFESSIONALLY TRAINED MUSICIANS OUT IN THE COLD. ORIGINALLY, JAM SESSIONS TOOK PLACE IN THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING, AT ONE OR TWO CLUBS, AFTER THE MUSICIANS GOT OFF FROM WORK. TODAY, THE JAM SESSION IS THE GIG, WITH THE BASSIST AND DRUMMER GETTING PAID (MAYBE) AND OTHER MUSICIANS AND VOCALISTS COMING UP ON STAGE TO DO A SONG OR TWO. IT’S PUT MOST MUSICIANS IN THE POVERTY CLASS.
500 Years A Slave Is Enough
This is so true. Why not have Hollywood donate some money to some Native Americans, who can produce some films about how they triumphed as well.
The whole scene in this country is detrimental to the health of all of us. Mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
Stop your frikken movies.
JC
END PATRIARCHY NOW: MESSAGES IN WOMEN’S MUSIC
WAKE UP WOMEN. Understand how you are controlled!
The main issue is that women who are not musicians do not consider this an important cause. It is very important because society gets its messages from cultural producers and, if women’s music is not being heard and received, then society-at-large is losing all the way around. While women in other professions make 75 cents to the dollar that a man makes, women musicians only make 64 cents. GET IT? This is how the patriarchy continues – by blocking the messages in women’s music. WAKE UP WOMEN. Understand how you are controlled.
Help us to promote the music of women composers and musicians, who are terribly marginalized in the $27.5 billion music industry.
Did you know that, although women pay 53% of the taxes on Earth, only 1-5% of public funding goes to women musicians and their musical projects?
This is UNACCEPTABLE and it is the MAIN reason why society is off kilter because the messages in women’s music are not being heard by the masses that thrive on disturbingly violent video games, TV, film, and cable programming, loud and womanizing popular music, and overall patriarchal ideas.
If we as women do not promote our endeavors, who will? Join us in our mission to promote women musicians, globally, www.wijsf.com/mission.htm – www.wijsf.com/join.htm –
WAKE UP WOMEN. Understand how you are controlled!
This article discusses why women will not support each other in an effort to end patriarchy.
Stealing the Blues
The account below about the origin of Memorial Day serves to support my contention that these books should be required reading in High School because they tell the truth about how Africans in America survived the horrors of slavery through music and how their music has been copied and commercialized by white producers and all but ignored by black people.
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One of the things that most black people know is that the public school system does a horrible job teaching black history. They will gladly tell you all the wonderful things that white people did and maybe even go back to Europe, but the contributions of African Americans are kept entirely on the back burner. [Source]
A fact that you should probably know is that African Americans are the reason that Memorial Day even exists in the first place. According to Professor David Blight of Yale University, the event began on May 1, 1865. A group of former slaves in Charleston, SC gave a proper burial to 257 Union soldiers who’d been put into a mass grave.
The black community of Charleston then consecrated the new cemetery with “an unforgettable parade of 10,000 people.” The event was initially called “Decoration Day” and was led by 3,000 black school children who started off by singing the song “John Brown’s Body.” They were then followed by hundreds of black women with baskets of flowers and crosses. After that, black men marched behind them in cadence, followed by Union infantry.
The Union soldiers lived in horrible conditions, and 257 of them died from exposure and disease. This was the reason for the creation of the mass grave site. A total of 28 black men went to the site an re-buried the men properly, largely as a “thank you” for helping fight for their freedom.
They also built a fence around the cemetery, and on the outside, put the words, “Martyrs of the Race Course.”
Dr. Boyce Watkins, who created an online course based on a forum held with Minister Louis Farrakhan last month, says that this is simply the tip of the iceberg. He says that misinformation is one of the most storied weapons used to perpetuate the oppression of black people.
“Black people must, as part of our healing, go back and rewrite history to ensure that we learn the truth,” said Dr. Watkins. “You’ve been lied to for your entire life, so it is up to all of us to use the Internet as a critical resource in helping us to learn who we truly are. We are great people and America would not be the country that it is today without our sacrifice.”
Now you know the rest of the story. Go tell this one to everyone you know and consider acquiring and reading the books posted above.
Joan Cartwright, Executive Director
Women in Jazz South Florida, Inc.
Singer
The Luxury of Being a Singer equates to being on the top of the food chain in most societies. The musician sits at the table of the Chief. In the court of Kings and Queens, singers are held in the highest esteem. The 10 greatest benefits of being a singer are:
Sleeping late- Invitations
- World travel
- Applause
- Recognition
- Appreciation
- Good pay
- Good treatment
- Financial surprises
- Spiritual upliftment
Sleeping late is, by far, the best benefit of being a singer. Although I’m a morning person, most of my colleagues who perform around the world revel in sleeping until noon. Since we work at night, usually between the hours of 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., we have the luxury of turning our phones off and sleeping well into the day, if we choose to.
Invitations are a large part of our relationship with other people, who love to introduce us as “Our Diva”. It’s very flattering to go to a party or event and have the host or hostess bring their friends over to us, while declaring, “And THIS is our internationally-known Diva of Jazz!” Happens to me all the time and I must admit, it’s a very good feeling to know that people think so highly of you.
World travel is not only a privilege but an eye-opener. I’ve always believed that travel educates people to the ways of others, worldwide. Having had the pleasure of living in Europe, South America, Mexico, China, Japan, and three African countries – Ghana, Gambia and South Africa, and around the U.S., while on tour, I know there is much more to life than going to work and coming home to watch television. I started my travel blog, in August 2006, while living in China. Since then, I’ve logged 29 cities and 8 countries.
Applause is the drug of musicians and singers get most of the fanfare. Actually, many musicians hate singers simply because they get more applause. That’s because singers bring the words to songs, connecting with the audience on a deeper level than most instrumentalists. It’s just logical that lyrics tell a story that gives people a reason to understand the music being performed. Even though American audiences tend to be a bit fickle about their artists and they talk during a performance, which can drive musicians nuts, you can get addicted to applause, when it comes. European audiences are far more polite and attentive, while Asian audiences will smoke you out of the club.
A manual for up-and-coming Divas, Musicians and Composers
Recognition as an artiste is most important for the continuation of the craft of music. Musicians thrive on recognition. They compete for recognition and, if you’ve got your marketing techniques honed, you can outrun another singer simply by getting good press or distributing shiny fliers. Of course, giving a good concert increases the recognition you get. It’s all in how you do your business. My book So, You Want To Be A Singer? spells out the steps necessary for a singer to take in order to be successful and recognized as a professional. What I learned in 20 years of being a professional, internationally-traveled singer is contained in this book available at this link.
I’ve had the pleasure of sharing the information with children in grades K-12, bringing them information necessary for them to know before they jump out into the world of musical performance.
Appreciation is all most people want from others and singers get it every time they perform. It’s so nice to have people walk up to you and say, “You have a beautiful voice,” or “I love the way you sing that song!” If each person in the world got this kind of appreciation just once a month, the world would be a happier place to live in. To be appreciated is to be seen and loved. We all need to be seen and loved and appreciated. But singers get more than their share of appreciation, especially if they are good at what they do.
Good pay comes with the territory. However, recently, people have been trying to trim the fat from the pay of musicians. Budget cuts and financial downturn dictates that musicians are becoming less necessary. Truth is music is what brought people back from the devastation of wars and financial crisis, since the beginning of time, and more recently in the 1920-1930s and in today’s volatile economic climate. Music is the universal language and healer and the voices of powerful singers have always made people forget their troubles, if only for a few moments. So, as Abbey Lincoln declared, “You Gotta Pay The Band!” and usually, the singer is the bandleader. She or he is the one who got the call, the contract and the check. Most musicians make in four hours what most people make in 8 hours. Problem is they may not work five days a week, so their salary has to stretch a little further. In the end, it all balances out – but it’s still nice to be offered $300 to $3,000 for one gig.
Good treatment is paramount to good performance. That’s why many contracts have riders stipulating that the musicians must have water, food and other comforts in their dressing room. People jump to provide musicians with what they need. The term “Diva” is applied to the female vocalist who is held in higher regard than musicians because she demands to be treated with respect and good treatment. Of course, being spoiled can be the downside but it’s all worth it once she steps out on that stage and opens her mouth to tame the beast among men. The envy of other women and most musicians, the Diva brings to life what only she can bring and being treated well is a perk of that ability to transform the audience.
Financial surprises ensue when a musician is on her or his job. Tips can almost double the pay received. I remember being in Zermatt, Switzerland, where I almost froze my buns off for four days. The pay was minimal, only CH900 for four nights per musicians, which is very low pay in Switzerland. We lived in the hotel that had no heat and this was at the top of the Alps. We ate very well, but the pay was still very low. However, one gentleman placed a CH1,000 bill in my hand, which I didn’t discover until he’d left, before I was able to thank him. I was so thrilled that I called my father in Florida on the hotel phone to tell him. He said, “How much is that in U.S. dollars?” I said, “About $750!” It was CH100 more than I was getting paid for the entire four days of performance. It definitely made up for the freezing nights and low pay. Another time, I had a man pay$75 for my CD because it was the last one I had. It was like an auction and the man gladly paid. Then, after singing a very sultry, sexy blues, a man handed me his American Express Gold Card and left, soon after. I was baffled. What should I do with this? My girlfriends said, “Go shopping!” But I just couldn’t see myself signing on the dotted line for anything with this card. I simply called him, got his address and mailed it back to him. It was the thought that counted. I was truly flattered and now have this wonderful story to tell.
Spiritual upliftment is the ultimate reward for being a singer. Not only does the ability to sing and bring music to the world life my spirits but it puts a light in the eyes of audience members. I can recall feeling very low on the morning of a performance and feeling totally elevated the same night. Music is the balm of ages that brings love, light and delight to millions, sometimes, all at one moment in time. Ask Pavarotti, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald, Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle how they feel about bringing such joy to other people. I’m sure they feel like me. I am delighted to have come into this life as a singer. I love what I do. I love who I am and there is no better position to be in. I’m convinced!
To book Joan Cartwright go to her official website.
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