The last great musical paradigm, el Jazz, It is another of the fields of art where women have found –for more than 100 years– fertile ground to create, express, sublimate and even fight for causes. From a flood of exponents, today we select five to offer you to dive into digital music platforms and let yourself be carried away by the syncopes and improvisations of their work.
Nina Simone
Without a doubt, a goddess in the interpretation and performance of soul, R&B, blues and jazz. Nina Simone was a woman who, in the middle of the last century, prevailed in a world much more dominated by men than it is now to give free rein to her creative eclecticism.
Pianist and singer with a contralto vocal range, Simone was characterized by having vocal irruptions that went from whispering to vocal stridency. It was known as The Soul Priestess, and his talent and commitment were not limited solely to playing on the piano and his voice full of improvisations.
Simone was a strong activist defending the rights of women, particularly African-Americans, in the sectarian United States of the mid to late XNUMXth century.
Her biography inspired a documentary: What happened, Miss Simone?, by director Liz Garbus, who explores in various interviews, tracks and music videos the convulsed and syncopated life of the singer who fought for the freedom of her music and her identity as a woman and african american
Nina Simone, an artist who, in her day to day, created the very posterity of her work.
Aziza Mustafa Zadeh
Or we could simply call her: Jazziza. Pianist, composer and performer born in Azerbaijan. His passion for jazz and folklore from his native land have allowed him to give a very personal and unique imprint to his music and merge two worlds, not so far apart: the world Aziza's work is not far from jazz syncopated improvisation, from mugham, as the traditional musical style of Azerbaijan is called, characterized by vocal improvisation.
The vocal range and the ability to perform at a frantically fast tempo that she possesses make the experience of listening to her a comfortable place and one to which one wants to return as soon as one has just introduced herself, whether she is a music lover or a villamelon.
Hearing her a capella or chasing the sixteenths of her own playing on the piano is a treat not to be missed.
hiromi uehara
The anecdote of his overflowing talent goes, more or less, like this. Noted jazz player Chick Corea went to Japan to give a series of music clinics. One of the registrants could not make it to the appointment.
Very in tune with the solemnity and deep respect of the people in Japan, the young pianist felt the need to go find the musician to apologize for what she considered a lack of respect, and to ask him to listen to her.
The American musician nodded and they went to a piano. Insiders say that Chick Corea only had one thing to say to the student: “what do you have to do tomorrow?” She said that she had no specific plans, and asked why. “It just so happens that I have a concert, and I would like to play with you.” It was about Hiromi Uehara, who needs no further introduction or editorial descriptions, which will be lost in the porosity of her memory. Better listen to it here:
Hope Spalding
A young and talented face from the United States: double bassist Esperanza Spalding, who rose to fame with her Grammy for Best New Artist in 2010, leaving Justin Bieber behind. Today, she has four of those awards and has played at the Nobel Prizes.
He began playing the violin in his childhood, and for several years, as an autodidact, he immersed himself in the world of bass and guitar. His first album was 2006's Junjo, released on the Avya Musica label.
Her musical commitment is not only in interpretation and creation, but also in teaching, since she has been an instructor for new generations, even younger than her.
Melissa Aldana
In the top 5, the Latin American talent could not be missing: Melissa Aldana, a Chilean saxophonist who began her studies under her father's tutelage.
Melissa has been a pioneer in several ways. In 2020, before the impasse due to the pandemic, she was the only woman nominated for a Grammy for Best Jazz Solo, in whose shortlist was the renowned saxophonist Brandon Marsalis.
Her talent in the keys of that hypnotic snake that is the sax has put her on the map. A sample button: after her graduation from the prestigious Berklee College of Music, in Boston, Melissa had several performances in a corner of 3rd Street in New York, in Greenwich Village: the mythical Blue Note.
