The Girls in the Band
I've got a lot of girls here. Maybe I could start myself an all-girl band.
Laurence Woods
There are many hidden gems in the jazz world - female composers, musicians, and bandleaders who mastered their craft, but just didn’t get the same recognition as their male counterparts. Here’s a look at a few early female collaborations to a band you can go and hear live today.
Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears
The first all-female band to be recorded and filmed was Ina Ray Hutton and her Melodears. They were formed in 1934, when Irving Mills met 18 year old Ina Ray Hutton, while she was performing on Broadway. He made her the bandleader, and to the role, she brought glamour and sex appeal, wearing slinky gowns and dancing with the band. She was the “Blonde Bombshell of Rhythm.” While the Melodears disbanded in 1939, Ina Ray Hutton went on as bandleader of all-male bands. Her heritage isn’t completely known, but as a child while her family was featured in the society pages of Black newspapers, she passed as white through most of her career.
Check out the Blonde Bombshell and her band performing “Truckin’.”
Phil Spitalny and His All-Girl Orchestra
During the same time as the Melodears, another all-female orchestra debuted in 1934, Phil Spitalny and His All-Girl Orchestra, or Hours of Charm Orchestra. Evelyn Kaye Klein “and her magic violin” inspired him, becoming the featured performer and concert mistress of the orchestra, and, later, Spitalny’s wife. This 32 member orchestra greatly differed from that of the Melodears in music selections and comportment; while Ina Ray Hutton radiated “blatant sex appeal,” the Hours of Charm Orchestra exuded class and decorum. Members wore long, white evening gowns; they played more “popular” and symphonic music; and each girl showed proficiency in at least two instruments.
International Sweethearts of Rhythm
A group inspired by both the Melodears and Phil Spitalny’s Orchestra was the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Laurence Woods started the first integrated all-women’s band in 1938, with students from the school where he was principal, including his daughter Helen Jones Woods. The original members were African-American, Mexican, Chinese, and Native American, and because there were no White members (at first), they could perform for Black and white audiences. They performed on the national swing and jazz circuit and were a huge hit, even while battling racial and gender inequality. In 1941 they became a professional band, parting from Woods, and settling in Arlington, Virginia. In 1944, DownBeat Magazine named them “America’s #1 All-Girl Orchestra.”
Here they are with “I Left My Man!”
DIVA Jazz Orchestra
The tradition of an all-female orchestra lives on today with the DIVA Jazz Orchestra. Started in 1992, the orchestra was the brainchild of drummer and Buddy Rich Band manager Stanley Kay, who put drummer Sherrie Maricle in place as bandleader to lead these extraordinary women. This 15 member ensemble performs all over the world, sharing big band sounds with an updated approach. They were featured in the 2011 documentary The Girls in the Band, which chronicles female jazz instrumentalists from the 1930’s to present day.
Here’s the DIVA Jazz Orchestra playing “Nocturne.”
Sherrie Maricle also co-leads the trio 3Divas with bassist Amy Shook and the CJO's pianist Jackie Warren! The three met in Cleveland in 2014 and have been recording and performing together ever since.
From 3D’s new 2022 album, 9 to 5, here’s the title track!