Disassembling the gendered archetype of the male jazz impresario in the United States

Abstract

In the United States, jazz impresarios historically inhabited the quintessential cosmopolitan role of (white) male jazz critic and intrepid discoverer of Black musical creativity. This article explores the once entrenched and yet recently challenged gendered and cultural dynamics surrounding the powerful jazz impresario role in an era transitioning from a local individualized coterie of fans and critics with liberal socio-cultural politics to a more specialized, transnationally networked world of professionalized music agents and institutions. To trace this role, the seminal jazz impresarios John Hammond and George Wein are recollected, uncovering their particular embodied enactment of masculinity within the American jazz presentation and festival world. Through second-wave feminist initiatives, a critical counterpoint to this prominent role is explored, including the efforts of pioneering Black musicians and composers Melba Liston and Mary Lou Williams in the 1960s, the first Women in Jazz Festival programmers Carol Comer and Dianne Gregg during the 1970s and 1980s, and the tireless efforts of record label owner, critic, and concert promoter Rosetta Reitz during the 1980s and 1990s. These contrasting legacies set the stage for new avenues of curatorship and jazz presentation which take into account intersectional obstacles and experiences of both women in jazz as well as women behind the scenes in the American jazz music industry.