Tribute to the Women in Jazz brings in top names to Word of South

For quite some time, people have bemoaned the fact that there are few women jazz artists. To some extent this claim has been true, amplified by the circumstance that many women jazz musicians have traditionally been singers, a role that allowed some to dismiss them as “entertainers” or not “serious artists.”

There have actually been wonderful historical women jazz musicians, from the piano player Lil Hardin Armstrong to the singers Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday to the songwriter Dorothy Fields.

But today women are getting their due across the complete jazz spectrum, and I’m proud to have put together a number of them to come to Tallahassee for a Word of South “Tribute to the Women in Jazz,” sponsored by AARP, Sunday, April 23, beginning at 1 p.m. on the Florida Jazz & Blues/Marriott AC Ballroom Stage at Tallahassee’s Cascades Park.

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I’ve heard and watched these women for years, and been on stage with several — I can attest to you that they’re among the finest in the world! Let’s start with Lauren Sevian, a Grammy award-winning baritone sax player who was the Jazz Journalists Baritone Sax Player of the Year in 2020.

She’s the co-director of the all-female group “Lioness” and has played with groups ranging from the Count Basie Orchestra to Steely Dan.

Add in the drummer Sylvia Cuenca, who has shared the bandstand with saxophone legend Joe Henderson for four years and trumpet legend Clark Terry for 17 years, and has performed with artists ranging from Billy Taylor to Charlie Haden to Alicia Keys.

Then there’s vocalist Carmen Bradford, nominated for a Grammy in 2022 and winner of the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s Jazz Vocalist Award, the daughter of legendary jazz cornetist/composer Bobby Bradford and world-renown jazz vocalist/composer/author Melba Joyce, and whose grandfather sang with Dizzy Gillespie’s band in the 1940’s.

In addition to Carmen’s many albums and appearances with artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to Wynton Marsalis, Carmen’s voice appears on the soundtrack to the movie of Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved.”

And there’s more! A native of Londrina, Brazil, guitarist and vocalist Téka Penteriche combines the rhythms and harmonies of her native country with sophisticated jazz to produce something she calls the “New Bossa.”

Multi-instrumentalist Gunhild Carling is from Sweden but performs all over the world, and though she’s the one you’ve seen on the Internet playing three trumpets at once, she can also play bagpipes and harmonica and leads her own orchestra.

FSU grad Amina Scott is an upright and electric bassist, composer and arranger who teaches at Loyola University, plays in festivals throughout the world and fronts her own six-piece fusion band, Phyra.

And Helen Sung is an acclaimed jazz pianist and composer and a 2021 Gugenheim fellow, whose newest album, “Quartet+”, was included in the Downbeat “Best of 2021 Albums” list and was featured in a Jazz Times cover story.

Add to all of this Tallahassee’s own star-in-her-own-right vocalist Avis Berry, a mix of other local national-level musicians (maybe including yours truly!), and a panel discussion led by the veteran jazz critic and NPR contributor Nate Chinen, and you have the makings of a wonderful afternoon of innovative, groundbreaking, nothing-like-you’ve ever seen jazz. I look forward to seeing you there on April 23.

Additional information can be found at wordofsouthfestival.com/

If you go

Florida Jazz & Blues – “A Tribute to the Women in Jazz” at the Marriott AC Ballroom, Sunday, April 23. Visit wordofsouthfestival.com/

1 p.m. - Gunhild Carling/Avis Berry/Helen Sung/Amina Scott

2:15 p.m. - Helen Sung/Téka Penteriche/Lauren Sevian/Sylvia Cuenca

3:30 p.m. Panel Discussion/Nate Chinen

4:45 p.m. - Ensemble tribute to the Women in Jazz

Scotty Barnhart is a jazz trumpeter and two-time Grammy winner who has played since 1993 as a featured soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 2013 became its director. A professor at FSU’s College of Music, he has arranged this year’s Tribute to the Women in Jazz at Word of South.  

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Top Women in Jazz take the stage April 23 at Word of South