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Jazz Patriarchy Research Paper

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The Jazz Patriarchy At my school, I am one of two women in the jazz program. In high school, I went to Birch Creek: one of the finest summer jazz academies in the country. In attendance, there were four girls and forty-eight boys. Even though I was outnumbered at the camp, I returned there three consecutive years, once earning their most-improved student award. In total, I attended twelve summer music camps between seventh grade and my enrollment at Northern Illinois University. Unfortunately, the boys always greatly outnumbered the girls. The jazz music scene in particular is male-dominated, and women need to fight for their place on stage. As a woman in jazz, I have, among others, been viewed as an outsider, a lesser musician, and an object. Women in jazz should feel welcome in this industry without facing discrimination. Women have been the "pretty faces" of the band since they started playing music. Women were …show more content…

Women in the 40's wore fitted dresses with low-cut tops, and not much has changed since then. Band-fronting women still wear tight, low-cut, and shorter outfits while men wear suits, button-down shirts, or even jeans with beanies in more relaxed venues. Like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday, women in jazz are still judged by their beauty as well as their musicianship. Female beauty standards in music can become discriminatory via sponsorship. For example, saxophonist Geof Bradfield, my professor at Northern Illinois University, has sponsorships with D'Addario Woodwinds and P.Mauriat, which are both music and saxophone related sponsorships. Saxophonist Candy Dulfer was at one time sponsored by Revlon, which does not relate to her career. Mindi Abair, another saxophonist, was once sponsored by Maybelline, a makeup company. All of these people are respected saxophonists; however, they seem to be supported for very different reasons. In this case, a woman's beauty seems to trump her hard work and

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