Jazz big band – oops, not a single woman there

2023-10-17 22:22:32

It was a great concert, but still, after the evening with the hr big band in the Berlin Philharmonie recently, one question bothers me: Why are there 17 musicians playing there and not a single female musician? Only men on stage! This is usually the case when jazz bands perform in clubs across Berlin. Can only men do jazz?

It was THE astonished conversation between the three women in the audience, who had enthusiastically clapped during the classics “Sing, sing, sing” and “Take Five”. The lawyer among us stated, “That’s a legitimate question.” I, as the journalist among us, decided to find out.

Female musicians have long been established in classical orchestras

The next morning I typed an email to the press officer of the Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) big band saying that I couldn’t explain why a complete orchestra would perform without women these days. After all, female musicians have long since become established in classical orchestras.

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A few hours later I received a very long email from Isabel Schad in which she explained to me the reasons behind the lack of women and structural problems. “We naturally and rightly get asked the question about the female musicians more often,” she confirmed our discomfort. She added, “We are of course also very concerned about the fact that the HR Big Band is an all-male ensemble. The hr big band and their management regret this themselves, and they would very much like to be a more mixed ensemble.

Well, then nothing stands in the way of change, one might now conclude. But it’s not that simple, explains the press officer. The fact is that far too few female musicians have taken part in the application process so far. “For every 50 to 70 applications that the hr-Bigband receives for a position, there are usually only a few applications from women who have unfortunately not been able to win the auditions so far.” Such auditions are carried out anonymously.

The problem starts much earlier, in training. While there are still a lot of girls in the big bands in schools, only a few apply to universities. Deterred by the precarious earning potential in her career as a jazz musician and the prospect of only very few permanent positions in Germany’s ten jazz orchestras. Classical musicians have it easier; they can apply to around 130 publicly funded professional orchestras.

HR is trying to interest women in the profession through guest musicians and education programs. Isabel Schad is optimistic, “there is hope that the situation in jazz is also slowly changing.”