Changing the tune : the Kansas City Women's Jazz Festival, 1978-1985 / Carolyn Glenn Brewer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brewer, Carolyn Glenn, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kansas City Women's Jazz Festival--History.

Kansas City Women's Jazz Festival.

Jazz festivals--Missouri--Kansas City--History.

Jazz festivals.

Women jazz musicians--United States--History.

Women jazz musicians.

History.

United States.

Missouri--Kansas City.

Physical Description:

ix, 308 pages, 34 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Denton, Texas : University of North Texas Press, [2017]

Summary:

Even though the potential passage of the Equal Rights Amendment had cracked glass ceilings across the country, in 1978 jazz remained a boys' club. Two Kansas City women, Carol Comer and Dianne Gregg, challenged that inequitable standard. With the support of jazz luminaries Marian McPartland and Leonard Feather, inaugural performances by Betty Carter, Mary Lou Williams, an unprecedented All-Star band of women, Toshiko Akiyoshi's band, plus dozens of Kansas City musicians and volunteers, a casual conversation between two friends evolved into the annual Kansas City Women's Jazz Festival (WJF). But with success came controversy. Anxious to satisfy fans of all jazz styles, WJF alienated some purists. The inclusion of male sidemen brought on protests. The egos of established, seasoned players unexpectedly clashed with those of newcomers. Undaunted, Comer, Gregg, and WJF's ensemble of supporters continued the cause for eight years. They fought for equality not with speeches but with swing, without protest signs but with bebop. For the first book about this groundbreaking festival, Carolyn Glenn Brewer interviewed dozens of people and dove deeply into the archives. This book is an important testament to the ability of two friends to emphatically prove jazz genderless, thereby changing the course of jazz history.

Contents:

Crazy little women

Everything's up to date in Kansas City

Now's the time

A beautiful friendship

The first year, March 17-19, 1978

Summertime

There's no business like show business

Sweet Georgia Brown

This could be the start of something big

Spring can really hang you up the most

Spring is here

The second year, March 23-25, 1979

All of me

Work song

Blues Melba

The more I see you

You and the night and the music

The third year, March 20-23, 1980

All the things you are

Swing is the thing

Confirmation

Come fly with me

Come Sunday

The fourth year, March 25-29, 1981

Stories to tell

The best is yet to come

Time after time

Dr. Jive

The fifth year, March 24-28, 1982

But not for me

At last

Close enough for love

I'm hip

I get a kick out of you

Guess who I saw today

All alone

The sixth year, March 23-27, 1983

Time and time again

The beat goes on

Teach me tonight

Tea for two

Straight no chaser

More than you know

Thanks for the boogie ride

Every time we say goodbye

I've got you under my skin

Let's call the whole thing off.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781574416664

1574416669

OCLC:

959666926