The Institutionalization of Inequality: Female Vocalists’ Struggles in the Chinese Jazz Scene

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite its importance to jazz’s origins, jazz singing has often been seen as secondary to the “higher” art of instrumental music largely dominated by male musicians (Pellegrinelli). Using interviews and ethnographic data from the Shanghai jazz scene, I show how the institutionalization of jazz programs without the inclusion of vocal training pathways has exacerbated gender inequality in the Chinese jazz field. The exclusion of vocal training in jazz programs in China further solidifies the idea of singing being “artless,” while the ideology of meritocracy leads to common discrimination against vocalists in the scene for their perceived lack of professional training.