BRATTLEBORO — The Girls in the Band is a beautifully constructed film that's both symmetrical and linear at the same time. It takes one on a chronological journey through jazz that is distinct from the regurgitated story we've heard a million times.
The movie's perspective is through the eyes of women who have persevered in a musical world that, at least initially, was explicitly unwelcoming. The movie explores women's contributions in jazz music and unveils many of the barriers that discouraged them.
Nonetheless, this movie focuses on the positive. After seeing it, one truly believes that the real reason any musician chooses jazz as a career has nothing to do with gender; it's all about love for the music.
The Girls in the Band poignantly illustrates this assertion through a masterfully edited collage based on the lives of a handful of featured artists, including Mary Lou Williams, Marion McPartland, Melba Liston, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Diva, Terri Lyne Carrington, Patrice Rushen, and Maria Schneider.
Interwoven throughout the stories and superbly chosen musical numbers, persistent questions arise: Why do we need to draw attention to a musician's gender? Why does a movie need to be created on female jazz musicians?
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The message is that musicians of all races and genders have been placed on the planet to create.
A younger generation jazz composer, Maria Schneider, states: “I never, ever thought of myself as being a woman doing what I'm doing.”
Trumpeter Ingrid Jensen adds “the only thing that I've done that has gotten me from point A to point B is being in love with music.”
Yet due to racism, misogyny, and prejudice, most - if not all - women in early jazz suffered greatly in their efforts to pursue their dreams.
By holding their shoulders to the wheel, by persisting even after they had been made light of and emotionally abused, these early women jazz artists continued to play under adverse conditions to the point where they eventually wore down the barriers. They paved the way to create an environment that is more accepting of female performers and composers.
We all are indebted to masters like Mary Lou Williams, who had to deal with consistent and flagrant sexism and racism. Now current female jazz artists, like Maria Schneider, can accept (but not take for granted) that their gender is not a barrier but a given truth that colors her experience and informs her decisions.
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Another beautiful aspect of this film is the extreme care taken by its writers and producers to structure the presentation in an intelligent, interesting format. It is bookended by sections reflecting the iconic 1958 photo taken by Art Kane that led to the movie A Great Day in Harlem.
In the original photo, only two women were included among 57 famous jazz musicians who congregated on a stoop in Harlem. To create a parallel image, the film's producers brought together many of the aging jazz artists who had been featured earlier in the film. They also invited the younger set of female jazz musicians.
In a manner respectful of the original 1958 gathering, they then set up a photo shoot on that same Harlem stoop. The reunion is moving and joyful, and it reflects the bond that so deeply connects women in jazz.
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In jazz history classes, we separate the music according to the era in which it was performed and then divide it again into specific styles, typified by classic recordings. In this model, the instrumentalists are traditionally male, whereas females appear almost exclusively as vocalists.
In The Girls in the Band, we find the same styles; in fact, we find the same outline, and what expands our view after seeing the film is that we have new information to complete the picture.
This movie gives us a fresh, deeper, more complex view of the culture in which jazz evolved. The Girls in the Band is a wonderful and welcome addition to jazz cinema.