The Sweethearts

I've always had a soft spot for jazz.  I remember the days of nighty-night rides when I was a young preschooler.  My parents would drive me through the hills of Hollywood in attempt to soothe me to sleep, jazz tunes filling the car.  And so, this month I've been following the Smithsonian's paying tribute to a variety of Jazz artists across several decades as part of its Jazz Appreciation Month.  The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, a group NPR calls "An All-Girl Band That Broke Racial Boundaries," was featured this week.

The band not only featured some of the best female musicians of their day, but, more importantly, was the first integrated all-woman's band in the United States.  During their peak in the 1940s, the band fought a two front war, against both gender and color discrimination.  The band did not only contain both white and African-American members, but had a rather "International" cast...Willie Mae Wong (saxophonist) is Chinese, Alma Cortez (clarinet) is from Mexico, Nina de La Cruz (saxophonist) is Indian, and Nova Lee McGee (trumpet) is Hawaiian.

While the band toured the world, playing in venues from New York City, to Paris, to Germany, they remained relatively ignored in popular jazz circles.  It wasn't until they were rediscovered by Feminist academics in the 70s that the impact their protest against both gender and race discrimination was fully realized.  Years after the Sweethearts broke up in 1949, Earl Hines, a notoriously great bandleader, called the group "the first freedom riders."  While their music wasn't overtly political, in this case, the group's actions spoke louder than their tunes.  Each time they stood up on stage next to women of numerous other races and performed to primarily white audiences, the Sweethearts took a swing at the racial and gender barriers imposed during their time.