STATEMENT OF INTENT
This musical and theatrical show highlights the creativity and talent of women in jazz between 1922 and 1940 in the United States, more precisely in New York, in connection with the Cotton Club and Duke Ellington.
Aimed at young people, teenagers and adults who may or may not know this music, this show provides the historical and societal context of black women in the United States at that time. Through music and the relationship between the great male figures of jazz and an ordinary cigarette saleswoman, the audience takes part in the emotions that all these women, embodied by a single woman on stage, were able to experience in order to be heard and respected in a male-dominated and white society. How did they manage to (sur)vive from their passion? This is the answer this show tries to answer.
To go further, this story is also a desire to offer an echo to the questions that are raised today in the artistic and musical world, and more broadly in society as a whole: what visibility for women? Have we achieved a certain equality of opportunities? And men, how do they feel in this disrupted relationship? Where are the power relations located? Are women the only ones to suffer them? These are the questions that the show tackles, and invites the audience to reflect on them with it.
Duke Ellington (seated at the piano) and Ivie Anderson with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Photo credits: Unknown. Source: The Great American Songbook Foundation. Ivie Anderson became the first full-time vocalist in the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1931. Source: Wikipedia
Valaida Snow was a jazz musician and entertainer. In a Swedish advertisement when she toured Scandinavia. Source: Wikipedia
Lena Horne was a singer, actress, dancer, and civil rights activist.Source: Hub Pages. Lena Horne Biography by Coolmon2009.
Mary Lou Williams was a jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. Source: Wikipedia. Photo credits: William P. Gottlieb/ Adam Cuerden
King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. From left to right: Honoré Dutrey, Baby Dodds, King Oliver (standing trumpet), Louis Armstrong, Lilian Hardin, Bill Johnson, Johnny Dodds. Chicago, 1923. Photo credits: Gilles Petard Collection/Getty Images Lilian Hardin Armstrong was a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong. Source: Wikipedia
Duke Ellington, American pianist and composer.
Photo credits: Wikipedia
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American signee, guitar player and song writer. Photo credits: Unknown.
Jean Baptiste Perez and Clara Boffy. Company (Un)Sophisticated Ladies. Photo credits: Chateau de Goutelas
THE MEN OF JAZZ 1920-1940
Between 1920 and 1940, New York was marked by profound transformations and tensions. Blacks suffered segregation and racism, even if the Harlem Renaissance gave rise to a rich artistic culture. Religious diversity increased with waves of immigration, but led to intercommunal tensions. The mafia, led by figures such as Lucky Luciano, dominated organized crime, influencing the local economy and politics. The Great Depression of 1929 plunged the city into a severe recession, exacerbating poverty and inequality. Despite these challenges, jazz and swing became symbols of hope and cultural resilience.
New York then saw the emergence of great male figures in jazz. Duke Ellington, with his orchestra, revolutionized the Cotton Club scene. Louis Armstrong, jazz pioneer, brought his unique style of trumpet and singing. Count Basie, famous pianist and bandleader, influenced swing. Coleman Hawkins, saxophonist, set new standards for his instrument. Benny Goodman, "the King of Swing", popularized jazz with the general public. Others were inspired by Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, pianist and composer, Art Tatum, piano virtuoso, Charlie Parker, innovator of bebop, Dizzy Gillespie, influential trumpeter, and Jelly Roll Morton, jazz pioneer and prolific composer.
WOMEN OF JAZZ 1920-1940
But who are the female musicians and composers of the time who are cited in art magazines but very rarely in the great music conservatories? Often singers. What about these female composers and great musicians who shaped, in an equally significant way, the jazz music of the time but about whom we hear very little in France. Mary Lou Williams, pianist with perfect pitch and great composer, Valaida Snow, trumpeter and great businesswoman, Lilian Hardin Armstrong, pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, career manager for her husband, and who, in the eyes of the media, remains, above all, the second wife of Louis Armstrong... And Lena Horne, in addition to being a singer, actress and dancer, is a civil rights activist.
The historical anecdotes of these ladies feed the scenes of the show where our cigarette seller embodies the fights and traps set by the great male figures of the time. The spectator takes part in the decisions that the seller must make to achieve her ends: should she confront or yield? How can she get her messages, her works, across? How can she use her voice to break the prohibitions?
A SHOW ABOVE ALL
The historical anecdotes of these ladies feed the scenes of the show in a humorous, almost burlesque way where our cigarette seller embodies the fights and traps set by the great male figures of the time. The spectator then takes part in the decisions that the seller must make to achieve her ends: should she confront or comply? Seduce to demonstrate? How will she get her works across to the general public? How can she use her voice to break the prohibitions? Several attempts are necessary and above all a lot of patience and resilience, "Patience and Fortitude".