When a friend told Judy Chaikin about a woman who claimed to be a big band drummer in the 1940s, the Los Angeles-based filmmaker at first didn’t believe her.
From that initial conversation six years grew Chaikin’s feature-length documentary “The Girls in The Band,” which screens at Filmfest DC Wednesday and Thursday.
“I found out that there was a whole world of women musicians that nobody knows anything about,” said Chaikin during a recent phone interview.
| If you go |
| Filmfest DC |
| Through April 22 at multiple venues in the District. Highlights include: The Lighter Side, a series of comedic films; Caribbean Journeys, focusing on the region; and Justice Matters, which addresses humanitarian and social justice issues. Tickets are $11 a screening, unless otherwise noted. For more information, visit filmfestdc.org. |
“The Girls in the Band” explores female jazz and big band musicians dating back decades. These include the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Peggy Gilbert, Mary Lou Williams and more.
Chaikin said that while there were talented women playing live music, they were looked at as novelty acts, freaks or wannabes not taken seriously. While female signers were common, unenlightened people in the business believed women didn’t have the physical stature to play instruments.
“Women have been systematically dismissed in endeavors into all male fields,” said Chaikin, who came from a family of musicians and played the trumpet growing up.
“The Girls in the Band” addresses race as well as gender, touching upon bigotry in the Jim Crow-era South.
Challenges in creating the film included finding footage and surviving members of acts that emerged decades ago.
Chaikin said musician friends of hers are surprised to learn about the number of accomplished female players from years past.
“They’ve just been shocked at what they’re seeing in the film,” Chaikin said.
More recent years have shown an emergence of talented female musicians. Jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding won the 2011 Grammy for Best New Artist and 2012 Grammy-winning drummer Terri Lyne Carrington has redefined the way women drummers play. Both appear in the film.
But while a gender balance in jazz has emerged in the last generation, this has coincided with fewer opportunities.
“I think that women are finding a lot more acceptance,” Chaikin said. “The problem is that as women are finding a lot more acceptance, the jobs are going away. It’s a really hard situation for both men and women jazz players.”
