An All Female Jazz Camp – What Gives?
I wrote this article for Bass Musician Magazine in May 2015, in the wake of a great all female Jazz camp I have been teaching at since its inception, created and run by Jean Fineberg and Eileen Seeling, the Woman’s Jazz and Blues Camp at the California Jazz Conservatory. Interviewing some of the women attendees and faculty was a real eye opener…
AN ALL FEMALE JAZZ CAMP – WHAT GIVES?
It is 11.00AM on Monday, March 25th 2015, and the usual saxophone, trumpet and guitar cases are piled up in the hallways of Berkeley California’s Jazzschool. As on every Monday, you hear the muffled sounds of bands rehearsing, instructions shouted, occasional laughter. What is not business as usual, however, is that on this particular Monday the participants and instructors are all female. Were they all male with maybe an occasional female singer or pianist, it wouldn’t be worth extra mention. But for this week, The Jazzschool is exclusively dedicated to the underrepresented gender in Jazz. For five days, women instrumentalists and singers will hone their skills in ensembles and classes under the guidance of an all-female faculty. There will be a big concert at the end of camp.
Read the article here.
