The Girls in the Band

They wiggled, they jiggled, they wore low-cut gowns and short shorts, they kowtowed to the club owners and smiled at the customers. And they did it all, just to play the music they loved. In the 1930s and '40s, only men were truly accepted as jazz musicians, with women chiefly featured as vocalists. Yet hundreds of female instrumentalists toured the U.S. in glamorous all-girl bands or playing side by side with their male counterparts. Sadly, by the mid-1950s, female jazz musicians had virtually disappeared from the scene, their names and contributions to music forgotten.

THE GIRLS IN THE BAND tells the poignant and heroic untold stories of female jazz and big band instrumentalists and their fascinating journeys from the late 1930s to the present day. The women profiled include trumpeter Clora Bryant, saxophonist Peggy Gilbert and Billie Rogers, a trumpeter in Woody Herman's band. Also appearing in this tribute to immensely talented yet unsung players are such acclaimed modern-day musicians as Herbie Hancock, Esperanza Spalding, Geri Allen, Anat Cohen, Jane Ira Bloom and Terry Lynne Carrington.