Female Bands
Emma Peel Fan Club (Band)
Twelve women - The Emma Peel Fan Club has been described as the "biggest, loudest women's band currently on the club circuit" (Time Out).  It's a 60s extravaganza of minis, flares, psychedelia, op art, swinging London!  Not to mention the music: The Supremes, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Dusty Springfield, Jimi Hendrix... A fantastic band with superb rock and soul vocalists performing two sets of 60s classics live. The gigs always sell out, the atmosphere is awesome, and I don't believe you will find a better pre-Christmas party anywhere else! "If the thought of 12 fabulous women playing 60s soul and psychedelic rock doesn't grab you then nothing will!" (Hot Tickets)

The Electric Landladies
Landladies perform a personal selection of their favourite pop classics of the last four decades. From Abba to the Beatles, Scissor Sisters to Sister Sledge, - right through the musical alphabet, rock, pop, disco, funk - relive all your past relationships and dance at the same time!
Between them, the individual members of the band have been at the core of nearly every memorable women’s group in this country including Jam Today, Sisterhood of Spit, Hi Jinx, Di's New Outfit, The Guest Stars, Emma Peel Fan Club etc. They have the rare quality of combining impeccable musicianship with raw energy and great grooves.  Be prepared to sing along in your seats and dance in the aisles.
Lacka Daisical (Vocals/Keyboards)
Sarah Pritchard (Vocals/Percussion)
Deirdre Cartwright (Guitar)
Diane McLoughlin (Keyboard & Sax)
Alison Rayner (Bass)
Ann Day (Drums)

Instrumentalists - Sisters in Jazz

Kathy Stobart -One of the most respected figures in the history of jazz in Britain, Kathy Stobart - who celebrates 78 summers on 1st April - has been playing saxophone since she was 12 years old, joining Don Rico's Ladies' Swing Band at the impressively young age of 14. Moving to London in 1942, her facility and style on saxophone and outgoing personality brought invitations to join the front-line sections of many leading figures of the day - among them Eric Robinson, Vic Lewis, Geraldo, Lou Preager and Ted Heath. An intuitive soloist, and an inspirational leader, she deputised in the women's bands led by Blanche Coleman and Gracie Cole as well as forming her own smaller groups. A popular teacher at the City Literary Institute for 19 years, Kathy Stobart has been a shining example to a whole new generation of young players. A happy association with Humphrey Lyttelton's band, which began in 1959, continues to this day, and this first lady of jazz can still be found playing gigs and recording with Lyttelton.

Barbara Thompson - born in Oxford and educated at Queen's College, Harley Street, London and the Royal College of Music, where she studied clarinet, piano, flute and composition. Whilst retaining a strong interest in classical music, Barbara was captivated by the jazz work of Duke Ellington and John Coltrane and developed a consuming passion for the saxophone. She formed her own group Paraphernalia in 1977. The band , still touring and recording despite Barbara being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1997, became one of the major instrumental attractions on the European concert scene. Barbara's original and inventive compositions and soaring saxophone and flute improvisations, have earned her international acclaim, while the originality of the music has appealed to a wider audience than merely contemporary jazz buffs. Over the last 18 months Barbara was always telling Dick Heckstall Smith that she was keeping his seat warm by depping for him with Colosseum.  Now sadly he will never return, but by continuing to play saxophone with Colosseum, she will help keep his memory alive. Not by emulating him, because Dick was a true original –'a one off –' but paying tribute in her own way

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Janette Mason - Pianist/Composer
Originally training in classical piano and flute and attaining a Masters in Composition for Film and TV from the London College of Music,
Janette turned professional at nineteen and cut her teeth in theatre and TV, most memorably as keyboard player/MD for Jonathon Ross’ Saturday Zoo and Antoine De Caunes Le Show.
An ‘inspired and inspiring’ keyboard player and improviser, Janette has performed with a diversity of artists from legendary singer/songwriter Robert Wyatt, jazz artists Claire Martin, Ian Shaw, Lea DeLaria to top pop acts Suzanne Vega and Seal.

Josephine Davies
Josephine studied classical and jazz saxophone at the Guildhall school of Music and Drama, whilst there winning the 1999 Perrier Young Jazz Award with a quintet led by trumpeter Tom Allan. 
She has since performed and recorded with the London Jazz Orchestra, Ronnie Scott's Vanguard Band (led by Gerard Presencer), The Laurence Cottle Big Band, Sax Appeal, Vortex Foundation Band, Matt Wates sextet, Gareth Lockrane's GrooveYard as well as a two year stint in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra.

She also runs and composes for her own quintet.
– for band details, gig dates and tracks go to
www.myspace.com/josephinedaviesquintet or
 

Alyson Cawley from Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, studied at Leeds College of Music before gaining a postgraduate diploma in jazz studies from the Guildhall College of Music and Drama. From 1996 to 1999 she played lead tenor saxophone with NYJO and toured Europe with acid-jazz outfit the Herbaliser. She has appeared on TV with Incognito and the James Taylor Quartet, and played the part of the young Judi Dench's hands in Alan Plater's The Last Of The Blonde Bombshells. In 2000 she formed her own quintet, featuring alto saxophonist Allison Neale. Alyson's group plays original arrangements of jazz standards alongside her own compositions. Alyson Cawley has performed at Ronnie Scott's Club and various festivals with her own band and at the Swanage Festival as part of the Alan Barnes Nonet. She also often works with pianist husband Tom Cawley. Her musical influences include Getz, Rollins, Coltrane, Warne Marsh and Joe Lovano.

Deirdre Cartwright  performed, composed and recorded three albums with the acclaimed women's jazz group, Guest Stars, and with her own groups,   has toured extensively, playing with American guitar legend Tal Farlow, Giant Steppes and Marjorie Whylie. 
Deirdre Cartwright's jazz club, which she co-runs with Alison Rayner, Blow The Fuse, at The Vortex, has become a popular venue, added to which she is a regular presenter on the Radio 3 programme Jazz Notes.

Group includes Sarah P. (vocals), Alison Rayner (electric and double bass), Carola Grey (drums)
Blow the Fuse Jazz Club
 

Alison Rayner - Bass  grew up on a diet of 60's soul and rock music, played bass guitar and discovered jazz in the 70's. She toured the world in the 80's with the critically acclaimed jazz-latin group the Guest Stars, took up double bass in the 90's and formed her own jazz quartet. She currently records and performs both in Britain and internationally with, amongst others, the Deirdre Cartwright Group, the Emma Peel Fan Club and the Vortex Foundation Big Band. She plays with many of the great musicians on the London jazz scene where she runs Blow the Fuse club with her musical cohort Deirdre Cartwright. Her compositions are featured in the repertoire of the Deirdre Cartwright group, and the VFBB. She has also composed pieces for the Rockschool/Trinity graded exam series. She lectures in music in London and on summer schools both here and abroad.  She is an endorsee for Bridge Cetus electric upright basses and Picato Innovation double bass strings.
 

Andrea Vicari - Pianist and composer was born in Miami (Florida) and grew up in Birmingham (England). Educated at Cardiff University she won a scholarship to study at The Guildhall School of Music in London. Andrea was soon in demand as a 'side-man" working with bass guitar legend, Dill Katz in a band that included the then unknown guitarist Phil Robson. Soon after she formed her first important group with Julian Argüelles on saxophone & Stuart Hall, then of Django Bates' "Human Chain", on bass. Other employers included GRP recording artist, Phil Bent; jazz warrior David-Jean Baptiste with whom she recorded her first commercially released CD; and the all-women band "Birds" led by Kathy Stobart. She played a successful season at London's sadly defunct jazz club "The Bass Clef" with the late great American saxophone innovator, Eddie Harris, broadcasting live on JazzFM radio; and gigged with the US trumpet legend Art Farmer.  In 1994 Andrea was commissioned by The Arts Council and the Peter Whittingham Trust to write music for a new eleven piece jazz orchestra which became the Suburban Gorillas project. A CD and Jazz Services tour followed including a triumphant appearence at Brecon Jazz Festival and a live BBC broadcast from the Newcastle Playhouse.

Sarah Williams B Eng hons LGSM, LRAM
Education:
Royal Academy of Music 1993-95
Hull University 1989-1993
Orchestras; in London and Germany - Big Band/Jazz: N.Y.J.O. Syd Lawrence Orchestra, Kenny Wheeler, Stan Sulzman, Don Weller, Don Lusher, Hans Koller, Laurie Holloway etc - Shows: Done many West end shows: Guys and Dolls, Jesus Christ Superstar, Starlight Express, Saturday Night Fever etc - Studio work: Films Including Sleepy Hollow, Me and my Shadows etc TV. commercials and TV. shows, Parkinson show, Strictly Come Dancing and Barrymore - Instrument: Vincent Bach made beautiful by First Class Brass (Dunstable U.K.)
 

http://www.lornamcdonald.co.uk/

Angèle Veltmeijer born in Hilversum, the Netherlands. Came to London in 1972 and decided to play the saxophone in 1975.  A great variety of work was to follow. Name dropping a few: Ivy Benson, Sadista Sisters, Sisterhood of Spit, Orchestra Jazira, Funghetti Trio, Guest Stars, Carol Grimes, Brian Kennedy, Annie Whitehead, Jimmy Summerville, Zippo’s Circus and the Bessa Band and Bobbie Graham .has been teaching on a regular basis for quite a few years now and enjoy passing on the thrill of making music.
Teaching experience ranges from woodwind, keyboard skills, combo playing and music theory to midi technology, sequencing and composition

Karen Street  - Somerset based accordionist has worked with the cream of contemporary British jazz artists from Tim Garland's Lammas, numerous Mike Westbrook projects to Phil Robson's Octet. Her reputation as a jazz accordionist and composer is firmly established with 'Accordion Crimes', her second CD of original compositions and arrangements. The accordion is much-maligned, the butt of many a musicians' joke, however Karen, as one of the best of the latest generation of virtuoso accordionists will convert you to the particular charms of this most expressive of keyboard instruments. Her music is a characteristic blend of jazz, flavoured with folk, full of subtlety and passion. "Musicians who have given the accordion a genuine voice are rare, but Karen Street is undoubtedly one of them" -  John Fordham, Jazz UK.
Karen started the accordion at the age of eight only because her big brother was having lessons, however it quickly turned into a passion and the highlight of her week became playing with the local accordion band which ploughed relentlessly through pieces like Sibelius’ Finlandia, Leroy Anderson tunes and selections from the musicals. At the same time she took up the saxophone, playing in the local jazz band.
She followed the accepted path for any budding accordionist and worked the accordion competition circuit (a bit like Come Dancing with squeeze boxes) becoming the British Virtuoso Champion in 1981/2, and consequently competing in the Coupe Mondiale (World Championship) in Hamburg and Folkestone.

At that time the world of the classical contemporary accordion was very limited, so Karen turned to the saxophone and found herself in an all girl saxophone quartet 'The Fairer Sax' who appeared on television and radio and at festivals all over the world.

In 1992 she was invited to join Mike Westbrook’s big band on saxophone and accordion and has since been involved in many of his projects - the latest being “Chanson Irresponsable”. Further invitations from Tim Garland led to tours with “Lammas”, his project “Songs of Love and Liberty” and more recently in his "Made by Walking " tour playing alongside Geoff Keezer Joe Locke and Avishai Cohen .
Other credits include, Phil Robson Octet, Steve Arguelles, Martha Lewis - Café Aman, and Roy Nathanson

Karen has always been a composer and arranger and in particular has written many works for the saxophone. Her catalogue now extends from solos to large ensembles, many of which are published by Boosey & Hawkes, June Emerson and Saxtet Publications. Her pieces appear in virtually every music exam syllabus in the UK. Inevitably she turned her compositional skills to the accordion and finished up with her debut album - “Finally a Beginning”. This collection of compelling compositions range in style from contemporary jazz to folk and tango reflecting her diverse musical influences. One of the compositions on the CD "In the Ballroom with the Rope" took first prize at the London Accordion Festival, Composition Competition in 2001.
She has just recorded another CD again featuring Stan Sulzmann and Fred T Baker, with a guest appearance from Mike Outram on guitar.
She also co-runs Saxtet with Andy Tweed her husband. This contemporary saxophone quintet uniquely has five composer/performers. Karen's material is very much at the heart of the group.

Karen’s accordion is a free bass accordion in which the bass has a range of five octaves unlike the limited standard bass of the Stradella bass accordion.
This freedom allows her to play melody, harmony and bass lines that has not been widely explored on the instrument - her latest CD 'Accordion Crimes!

Issie Barratt is a composer, conductor, baritone sax player, and educator, who has performed throughout Britain at venues such as the Vorex, Ronnie Scotts, Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Birmingham Symphony Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, Glyndebourne and Dartington International Summer School.  Jazz Fellow at Trinity College of Music. Having set up the Jazz degree course at London’s Trinity College of Music (www.tcm.ac.uk) and headed the Faculty for 5 years, Issie now holds the position of Jazz Fellow, allowing her to dedicate more time to her compositional activities and PhD.
 

Diane McLoughlin, the stylish sax player is well known on the London jazz scene as a saxophone player and composer. She studied jazz performance and composition at The Guildhall School of Music. Following this she has written for and directed her own 17-piece jazz orchestra ‘Giant Steppes’. Giant Steppes has performed to critical acclaim at concerts and festivals throughout Britain, including several appearances in the London Jazz Festival, and regularly features leading British players such as Henry Lowther, Annie Whitehead, Steve Lodder and vocalist Ian Shaw. BBC Radio Three broadcasted a complete concert of the band as part of the ‘Impressions’ series.John Fordham (The Guardian) has written: "McLoughlin's soaring alto solo, vibrated with echoes of the late Cannonball Adderley"

On September 19, 1969, Candy Dulfer was born in a small village near Amsterdam (Netherlands). She grew up in a family involved in the Dutch jazz scene. Her father, Hans Dulfer, a respected tenor saxophonist, exposed her to the talents of Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins and Dexter Gordon. Her mother Inge is her manager. Candy Dulfer started playing the saxophone at seven, had her first gig with her father at eleven. She played first with brass bands, founded her first band aged forteen, began performing on the jazz club circuit and started fronting her current band Funky Stuff. They got invited to support Madonna on part of her 1987 European tour. A similar support slot with Prince was abruptly cancelled, but the star made amends by inviting Candy Dulfer onstage during one of his shows. The resulting recording sessions with Prince, and in particular the video mix of Party Man with a cry of when I want sax, I call for Candy, made her famous. This led to session work with Eurythmics guitarist, David Stewart, who gave Candy a joint credit on Lily Was Here, a UK number 6 hit in 1990. Further credits have found her working with Dave Gilmour, Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison and Pink Floyd. Her boyfriend is band member Thomas Bank (keyboards). They live in Amsterdam.
Candy Dulfer Website

Marjorie Hyams - Vibraphonist
If Margie Hyams had not retired prematurely, she would be much better-known today. A talented vibraphonist able to play in both bop and swing settings, Hyams was an important musician during the second half of the 1940's. She was featured with Woody Herman's First Herd (1944-45), led her own trio (1945-48) and was an original member of  the George Shearing Quintet (1949-50). In addition, she recorded with  Flip Phillips,   Mary Lou Williams and  Charlie Ventura. However in 1950 Margie Hyams (who never led her own recording session) married and decided to retire from music at the age of 27. Little has been heard from her since, a major loss to jazz.

Women in Music Website

Women in Tune Festival - Wales

The Ford USA Formula
Ford Motor Company has collaborated with The American Jazz Museum to create the Ford Motor Company Research Institute for Women in Jazz, a major education and cultural preservation initiative that will highlight the achievements and contributions of women in this important American art form. Through this new program, the museum will now be able to research, document, and exhibit the history of women in jazz and to showcase the talent of active female jazz and blues artists. The initiative encompasses several programming components, including the development of a "Women in Jazz Archive." This archive will:
Develop a body of information on the legacy of women in jazz through collaborative research
Publish scholarly documents and other materials from that research
Collect and archive artefacts that represent the history of women in jazz
Develop travelling exhibitions and educational programs that make accessible to a wide public the experiences and artistry of women in jazz.
In addition, the Women in Jazz Archive will be a centralized repository for oral histories, musical scores, performance audio and video, and other memorabilia and materials relating to women in jazz. Artist workshops will provide public school students with one-on-one musical instruction with notable jazz women, and the Women in Jazz Symposium will bring scholars and musicians together in roundtable discussions and performances.

Josephine Baker 1906-1975 International Jazz Age Star adopted twelve children from around the world whom she called her "Rainbow Tribe."
On arrival in Paris - quote - "It [the Eiffel Tower] looked very different from the Statue of Liberty, but what did that matter? What was the good of having the statue without the liberty?"

Jazz in Milton Keynes - New Women's Jazz Band
The call has gone out to all women jazz musicians of Milton Keynes to come and join up. The first session will be on February the 25th, it will run from 3 - 6pm and will cost £2. The band is open to any women musicians who can play their instrument reasonably well and who want to play and learn about jazz with other musicians. The instigator of this project that as yet has not been officially named, is Chris Mottram-Wooster who some people will recognize as the long serving bass player for the Milton Keynes Open Band. Playing in the Open Band for eleven years Chris had noticed that there were never more than a handful of women in the group, and wondered why. "Women learn to play instruments whilst at school, or have private lessons or teach themselves, often that is as far as they want to take it, but unlike the guys they rarely get to the point of thinking that they are good enough to play with other musicians in a band. Some of them don't want to play out there in the big world, but some of them do, and it can be a big scary first step that one takes into what was and still is a very male dominated scene. There are women out there looking for the chance to try so all they have to do is contact me and there will be a warm welcome for them."
Contact : Chris Mottram-Wooster Telephone : 01908 674174 More on Milton Keynes Jazz