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Woodshed
PRO SESSION
by Marian McPartland
Gender Barriers?
Observations Of A
Working Pianist
And Bandleader
I started to play piano when I was three years
old. Listening to my mother play Chopin, I got
up on the piano bench and tried to pick out the
piece myself. It was Chopin’s “Waltz In A-flat.”
It seems to me that I have been playing piano
ever since then, picking up all sorts of music by
ear from the radio or from the music played in
school, which I would immediately learn and
play for the other kids. So the jazz I heard on the
BBC was absorbed into my mind.
I once heard jazz being described as a “male
language.” To me, that’s crazy! I never thought
about playing jazz in those terms. It so happened
that most of my heroes were black men, but
some were women, like Mary Lou Williams, Lil
Armstrong, Cleo Brown and an English pianist
named Rae DaCosta.
In 1946, when I came to America with my
husband, Jimmy McPartland, I just wanted to
meet all the people I had listened to, like Louis
Armstrong, Duke Ellington and all the others
I’ve mentioned. At that time, my only intention
was to play with Jimmy in his group. So we
went to Chicago, his hometown, and I did play
in his group. I learned a great deal during those
gigs, not only some of the jazz repertoire but
how to play behind a horn player.
When Jimmy and I went to New York, I
don’t remember thinking about any barriers that
might exist for women jazz players. I was one of
the lucky ones. Jimmy knew everybody and, in
fact, helped me to get started with my own trio.
He was always so proud of me and so helpful in
wanting me to have my own group. I started at
the Embers, one of the top clubs in New York,
with Don Lamond on drums and Eddie
Safranski on bass—two of the best musicians in
New York. I was able to employ fine players,
because I was the one doing the hiring. I have
heard stories from many women musicians
about how hard it was to get started, but I think
people with determination, and a desire to succeed,
just went ahead, ignoring all barriers.
Many of the women I talked to were very
highly motivated, and I think this is what
helped us all. I know Gloria Steinem was a
great inspiration to many women, but somehow
all this “consciousness raising” went right
past me. I was working and not thinking about
anything like that. The same is true of Mary
Lou Williams, Barbara Carroll, Toshiko
Akyioshi and many other women that I could
name. I think women must develop the qualities
of self-confidence, persistence, motivation
and a strong desire to perpetuate their talent in
Marian McPartland leads her Hickory House trio (with drummer Joe Morello and bassist Bill Crow) in the 1950s.
order to succeed.
Jimmy helped me immeasurably, but when I
started working at the Hickory House, I felt that
I was making it on my own. I learned by doing,
by hearing a great deal of music live, by listening
to hundreds of records, by playing every
night and by getting great moral support from
people like Ellington and Billy Strayhorn.
I don’t necessarily think that women married
to musicians have more chance of success. I can
only say that it might sometimes be true. For
instance, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth are a
wonderful team, and so are Carla Bley and Steve
Swallow.
I never thought about my gender working for
me or against me. I think there was, and still is,
the knowledge that a woman has to certainly
play as well as or better than a male musician. I
remember in the 1950s bassist Milt Hinton saying,
“I don’t mind playing with women musicians
as long as they can play.”
I don’t think I’ve developed any toughness;
in fact, a lot of the time I feel rather wimpy.
However, I think people find a kind of inner
strength to get through all the good and bad
things that happen in any business. You have to
be responsible and businesslike and never forget
that you will always have to be paying dues.
Being a leader, I feel the need to be diplomatic
with sidemen when trying to make a point, but
Mary Lou Williams was very tough and forthright
and could be downright mean! In fact,
when she rehearsed a band, a lot of the men
were afraid of her. She was really tough! I’m
sure everybody respected Mary Lou, but not all
of them felt comfortable working with her.
However, she was much admired, and her music
lives on.
If women seem to be in the minority in any
field, my answer is still the same—you have to
have talent and motivation, be dogged and persistent,
believe in yourself and not be deterred by
anything or anyone.
It’s funny how people use the word “masculine.”
I remember getting a writeup years ago in
which a critic said my playing was “masculine.”
What he really meant was that it had strength,
but in the early days, if you had strength and
depth in your playing they would say you were
“aggressive” or else sounded “just like a man.”
However, think of players like Bill Evans and
George Shearing—they had a certain delicacy in
their playing, but no critic would ever say they
sounded like women. Luckily these kinds of
stereotypes are not used anymore. Women are
written about with the same enthusiasm as the
men are.
I don’t know if there was a single success
factor for me. I can thank God for my talent and
being able to further it, and I think that’s what
everyone has to do. Don’t sit back and say,
“Now I’ve done it all,” because you never have.
I think I set more goals for myself now than I
did years ago. I’m always trying to compose
something or do something different on “Piano
Jazz.” Sometimes I have a dream about something
and then I try to put it into practice, to realize
the dream.
DB
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86 DOWNBEAT March 2010