Volume 23 Issue 7 - April 2018

where so much of what happens onstage is guided by performers’
offstage social relationships. In a 2013 article for NewMusicBox, Ellen
McSweeney talks about how women performers often pay a hidden
“likability tax” when they come off as too self-promoting, assertive,
or success-oriented. And in an ensemble situation, where performers
rely on having both a supportive fan base and a network of collaborators
to survive, being seen as unlikable can carry a high cost.
“I’m doing ‘bitch’ in quotations right now, because I understand
it’s a swear word as well,” says Homzy when she explains the project.
“But for us, it’s reclaiming that word – especially as a woman leader,
when women often get called that name for being too bossy.”
It’s a mentality that impacts how women musicians operate within
jazz culture – and one that extends to the way that they perform. In his
book Swingin’ the Dream, Lewis Erenberg writes about how during
the 1940s, women musicians were
often seen as temporary, annoying
replacements for the men who
went to war – and that the
prevailing opinion was that they
should either act like “good girls”
or “play like men.” Seventy-five
years later, Homzy still encounters
that attitude in the field.
“I think one reason why a lot
of women don’t show up to jam
sessions is because you feel like
you really have to prove yourself,”
she says. “Everyone feels intimidated
by that situation, but as a
woman, it’s like – doubly that.
And some people – some guys –
will see a woman come in and
on purpose count in the hardest
tune, really fast, because they
want to see you fail. It’s really
discouraging to witness.
“It becomes about [whether]
you’re able to, we say, ‘Hang with
the guys,’” she continues. “If you
can ‘keep up’ then it’s like you’re
considered ‘ok’ in the guys’ books.
I think that some women take that
position: ‘I’m like one of the guys.’
Clockwise from top left: Aline
Homzy (violin), Emma Smith (bass),
Anh Phung (flute), and Magdelys
Savigne (drums/percussion)
And I think it’s really dangerous. I’ve been in that situation too, where
I’ve been like ‘I feel like the guys are accepting me.’ You soon realize
that there are sometimes ulterior motives for that, which are quite
disturbing.”
Homzy says that it’s a particularly big problem for younger women
artists who are early-career or still in school, because it can make it
difficult for them to realize their worth. “It took a lot of work for me
to realize that wanting to be in the ‘boys club’ was a really toxic way to
think about myself,” she says. “I feel like it’s hard to know how good
you are, when you first come out of school. As a female instrumentalist,
you’re always told, ‘Play more like this,’ or relating to my instrument,
‘Play more like a saxophone, play more like a horn.’ [I had to]
come out of school and realize, no – that’s not what I’m doing. I’m a
violinist, this is my sound and this is my style.
“You [begin to] realize that sometimes you’re maybe even better
than some of your male colleagues – which is interesting, because a
lot of male colleagues tend to think that they’re better than you,” she
adds. “And it can be really uncomfortable, because [those colleagues]
really want to take over – in conversations, and in music.”
Being heard
For Homzy, that gendered feeling of being unheard has particular
amplifications within the jazz world as a whole. It’s a big part of why
she chose the Canadian Music Centre – a space not often seen as a jazz
venue, and a first for the TD Toronto Jazz Festival – for this show.
“Part of the reason that I applied for this project was that I wanted it
to be at a venue that wasn’t just a bar or a club,” she explains. “I wanted
it to be in a ‘listening room,’ where people listen and don’t talk – where
we’re all there to listen to the music. All four of us write original music
and we all consider ourselves artists. I wanted to provide a place to play
where people are going to listen, as opposed to talking over you.”
I ask if there are many spaces in Toronto like that for jazz; she says
there aren’t.
She mentions that she came to the violin from a classical background,
and that the feeling of being undervalued as an artist is a
chronic issue in the non-classical world. From her perspective, the
difference is night and day.
“We’re just not taken as seriously,” she says. “You see it with the way
we get paid. You see it with how people think it’s ok to talk over what
you’re doing [at any point]. I want to bridge that gap, and show people
that improvised music can be – and is – really awesome.”
‘Women’s music’
In December, The New York Times published an article claiming
that 2017 was a “year of reckoning”
for women in jazz – a time when we
saw a number of standout women
instrumentalists presenting projects
that were bold, musically inventive,
and squarely their own. It’s an idea
that shouldn’t be that shocking –
but Homzy talks about how even
today, people seem to have a hard
time coming around to the idea of
women authorship in music.
“The info about this project is
all there. But so many people have
seen it and asked me, ‘Wow, so
are you playing the whole Bitches
Brew Miles Davis album?’” she
laughs. “It’s funny, but also kind of
disappointing in some way. Because
they completely missed the point.”
Still, Homzy is dedicated to lifting
up the work of women creators. Not
because there’s anything inherently
distinctive about their music – far
from it – but because there’s a lot
of valid experience and perspective
there. And when our music doesn’t
represent the demographics of our communities, that perspective,
and the power and beauty that go along with it, is something we
miss out on.
“I realized, after so many years: I’d been doing these things, playing
or writing-wise – not specifically because I wanted to please other
musicians, but because I’d been influenced by that [oppression],”
she says. “And now, I’m writing music in a way that is influenced by
those experiences. We’ve experienced different challenges; I think that
makes a lot of women’s music sound unique and different.”
That 2017 New York Times article references the same thing.
“There’s nothing to suggest that these...musicians expressed themselves
in any particular way because of their gender,” it reads, “but
what we know is that until recently they might not have been in a
position to stand up onstage alone, addressing the audience with
generosity and informality, empowering the room.” As Homzy seems
to attest, that’s its own rare and powerful thing – and an experience
that, without question, is worth seeking.
“The Smith Sessions presents: Bitches Brew,” featuring Aline
Homzy, Emma Smith, Anh Phung and Magdelys Sevigne,
will be presented on April 28 at the Canadian Music Centre’s
Chalmers House in Toronto, as part of the 2018 TD Toronto Jazz
Festival Discovery Series. The event will also be livestreamed
by the Canadian Music Centre, at https://livestream.com/
accounts/13330169/events/8050734.
Sara Constant is a flutist and music writer based in Toronto,
and is digital media editor at The WholeNote.
She can be reached at editorial@thewholenote.com.
18 | April 2018 thewholenote.com