Women in Jazz

The Spelman Jazz Ensemble challenges the generalizations of women’s typical role in Jazz.  When one thinks of the famous women of Jazz, they think of vocalist such as Ella Fitzgerald and Lena Horn; while men have flexibility between singing and playing an instrument, for instance, the legendary Louis Armstrong, who is famous for his trumpet playing and singing. Men simply would not hire women as musicians with the perceived notion that men play better than women and the women who were hired were typically pianist. Though the above are historical accounts of gender barriers, members of the Spelman Jazz Ensemble expressed that discrimination and generalizations of female musicians are still present today.  Nevertheless it is visible that the young women of the jazz ensemble feel empowered by being a part of a female ensemble in a “man’s world.”

Drummer, Rikayyah Wilson who in high school served as drum line captain shares her experiences as a female percussionist below.

Rikayyah Wilson on drums

Being a female instrumentalist is fun. It's nice to be able to say I'm a female percussionist, however there are instruments that females are stereotyped to play. For example, on a couple of occasions guys have come up to me upon me saying I was in band, and stated something like, "what you play, clarinet? saxophone?". Never once did anyone assume drums. Prior to high school, I would get a hard time from my male peers in the percussion section because often I would be the most skilled instrumentalist in the section, and would receive the parts that were the most difficult and most popular, and lead to a lot of jealousy and side-eyes