Swing Shift: "All-Girl" Bands of the 1940s

A discussion of the "all-girl" big bands of the World War II era. American demand for swing skyrocketed with the onslaught of war as millions - isolated from loved ones - sought diversion, comfort and social contact through music and dance. Filled with firsthand accounts of more than 100 women who performed during this era and complemented by archival research, this work offers a history of this significant aspect of American society and culture, as well as examining how and why whole bands of dedicated and talented women musicians were dropped from - or never inducted into - our national memory. Sherrie Tucker's nuanced presentation reveals who these remarkable women were, where and when they began to play music, and how they navigated a sometimes wild and bumpy road - including their experiences with gas and rubber rationing, travel restrictions designed to prioritise transportation for military needs, and Jim Crow laws and other prejudices. The careers of such bands as the "International Sweethearts of Rhythm", "Phil Spitalny's Hours of Charm", "The Darlings of Rhythm", and the "Sharon Rogers All-Girl Band" are chronicled.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction: “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t in the History Books” I Playing the Changes of World War II 1. Working the Swing Shift: Effects of World War II on “All-Girl” Bands 2. “Hours of Charm” with Phil Spitalny 3. Extracurricular Activities with the Prairie View Co-eds II Road Hazards 4. Surveillance and Survival in the Jim Crow South 5. Internationalism and the Sweethearts of Rhythm 6. The Darlings of Rhythm: On the Road and Ready to Run III USO-Camp Shows 7. Female Big Bands, Male Mass Audiences: Gendered Performances in a Theater of War 8. Battles of a “Sophisticated Lady”: Ada Leonard and the USO 9. “And, Fellas, They’re American Girls,”: On the Road with the Sharon Rogers All-Girl Band Conclusion: Post-War Changes, Familiar Refrains Notes Bibliography

About the Author :
Sherrie Tucker is Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. A longtime jazz fan, she has conducted oral histories for the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program, writes a column called “Jazzwomen Jam” for Jazz Now Magazine, and was formerly a jazz radio announcer in San Francisco.

Review :
"It takes a while to assimilate this well-researched book about female musicians who took advantage of expanded opportunities induced by World War II... Tucker conducted nearly 60 interviews with former all-girl band members ... her accounts of these all-girl bands are noteworthy, especially when compared with major swing jazz histories by male authors who tend to diminish or dismiss contributions by female musicians."--Jazz Times, August 2000 Sherrie Tucker's beautifully written and meticulously researched book on women jazz bands introduces us to a generation of awesome musicians, whose stories raise provocative questions about the impact of race, class, gender, and sexuality on dominant conceptions of jazz history. In suggesting new ways of thinking about the place of women jazz musicians in recent U.S. history, Swing Shift boldly challenges our contemporary understandings of the unruly politics of culture. "--Angela Davis "Swing Shift is the most original, thought-provoking jazz book written in the last thirty years. Sherrie Tucker's virtuoso performance not only tears down the bars of silence that have kept women musicians invisible, but she reveals how this silence works to uphold the race and gender mythologies that we know as the history of the 'swing era.' After prying open our eyes and ears, Tucker takes us on a funky, surprising, inspiring musical journey that will drive all jazzheads back to the woodshed. And if that's not enough, as a writer this 'girl' can swing off the page!"--Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Yo' Mama's Disfunktional! Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America "Swing Shift is a long-overdue historical corrective and a compelling read--a thoroughly remarkable achievement."--David Hajdu, author of Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn - "Swing Shift is packed with entertaining anecdotes, instances of courage, good humour and endurance, and it is a tribute to a level of musicianship which exposes George T. Simon's put-down in The Big Bands -- that "only men can play good jazz" -- for the nonsense it is."-- Times Literary Supplement, 19 January 2001 "Sherrie Tucker has written a highly original history which shows the role played by black women in the popular music of the Second World War era. It is a history that has been totally erased from popular memory.This book relocates a black female presence in that milieu by using meticulous research and oral histories so that these women are given their rightful place as actual musicians and instrumentalists rather than mere appendages of some of the Big Bands. The powerful imagery in the book shows how these remarkable women used music as a tool for resistance... So who were these inspirational women? Tap your feet to the The Darlings of Rhythm, The International Sweethearts of Rhythm and The Lipstick Traces. Magnificent!"--Steve Higginson, Red Pepper, March 2001 "Sherrie Tucker has written a highly original history which shows the role played by black women in the popular music of the Second World War era. It is a history that has been totally erased from popular memory.This book relocates a black female presence in that milieu by using meticulous research and oral histories so that these women are given their rightful place as actual musicians and instrumentalists rather than mere appendages of some of the Big Bands. The powerful imagery in the book shows how these remarkable women used music as a tool for resistance... So who were these inspirational women? Tap your feet to the The Darlings of Rhythm, The International Sweethearts of Rhythm and The Lipstick Traces. Magnificent!"--Steve Higginson, Red Pepper, March 2001