The International Sweethearts of Rhythm; Its History and Impact on Jazz

In the chronological narrative of jazz history, the role of women within the development of jazz is largely limited to singers and, to a much lesser extent, pianists and composers. While much of this can be attributed to social conventions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries – namely the idea that a piano was a “woman’s instrument” meant for the home, or that playing instrumental music was considered “unlady-like” – there was also a discriminatory backlash towards female instrumentalists as well. (Fleet, 2008)

One such group that dared to defy this perception was the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. This group in particular not only defied the gender perceptions of women in music but also racial boundaries, integrating black and white musicians, as well as Asians and Latinas far earlier than their contemporaries. This, too, led to many struggles that the band would face during its run. (Handy 1)

At the onset of World War II, with many male musicians drafted to fight, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm were able to capitalize by providing much needed entertainment to keep spirits high as the war raged on, which led to the peak of their popularity in 1943. However, by the time the war ended, bebop began to take hold, and once again women were relegated to lesser roles in jazz as a whole with many of the stereotypical perceptions persisting as if the Sweethearts, and other all-women bands had never happened. (Handy 3)

By the time of the Feminist Movement, interest in the Sweethearts and their contemporaries had begun to grow, and in 1980 jazz pianist Marian McPartland organized a widely successful reunion of the band at the Women’s Jazz Festival in Kansas City (Handy 2). Since then, jazz historians and academics have begun to assess the impact of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm and its members on jazz and jazz history as a whole. What they have found is that they are a band that is every bit as relevant, and as skilled as any one of their male contemporaries.

The origin of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm is surprisingly similar to that of Louis Armstrong and other male jazz luminaries. Both stories begin at schools for troubled black children in the South. Where Louis Armstrong began his music lessons at the Colored Waifs Home in New Orleans, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm began at the Piney Woods Country Life School which was run by Dr. Laurence Jones. (Handy, 74)

The school, called the “Miracle in Mississippi,” was founded by Jones himself in 1909, according to the sign out front. (Handy 75) The actual charter of the school wasn’t formally established until 1913, however. (Handy 83) The objectives and purposes of the school as stated in the bylaws were “far over and beyond the mill run idea of a school. Piney Woods is not only a school in the usual sense of the word, but it is a spirit, a home, a way of life. It’s an opportunity school for boys and girls who have no money or financial backing but who are willing to work for an education. That, together with its being first of all a Christian school, is the only reason for its existence. Change or dissipates the above, and Piney Woods becomes a ‘mill-run’ school.” (Handy 83)

The curriculum from the school consisted of regular academic classes, “meaningful work” (labs, or other work related to a particular class), regular work (routine jobs that all students were required to work for fifteen hours a week, likely cleaning, kitchen serving, etc.), electives (of which arts, and music were a part), Christian/religious education, sports and recreation, and the attendance at special events such as assemblies, state competitions, and musical events. (Handy 84)

Jones had a particular passion for music and actually encouraged the music students to pursue jazz, and several jazz bands began to develop amongst the male students around 1935 and 1936. The best known of these was the Syncollegians led by Jones’s son who went under the name of “Don Clifton” (Handy 102). Jones was not opposed to the idea of the female students performing jazz, and, upon discovering several all-women jazz groups already in existence such as Ina Rey Hutton’s Melodears, pulled together the resources to put together a band made up of the female students at the school. (Handy 102)

The newly formed band began touring Mississippi and then nationally by 1938 under the management of Claude Phifer and Nellie Bass Jones, the sister of school founder Laurence Jones. (Handy 104) Like Jones’s son, his adopted daughter, Helen Jones, was also a musician – a trombonist who was a direct student of Consuela Carter, the main music instructor at the school and a trombonist in her own right. It was Consuela Carter who according to Helen Jones and Lily Sims who actually persuaded Dr. Laurence Jones to start an all-girl jazz band. (Hughes and Pilzer, 2011) Jones was the youngest member of this all-female band “The Swinging Rays of Rhythm,” as they were called. The band officially began touring in 1937, mostly in churches and other black establishments throughout Mississippi. Later that year they began expanding to places like Charlotte, Virginia Beach, and even Des Moines. At the time they had two busses, one for sleeping, and one for classes: “Eighteen bunks for eighteen virgins, most of whom have never left Mississippi.” (Bergman, 2011)

As they were still students, “Good Christian Conduct” was expected at all times for the Rays. (Hughes and Pilzer, 2011) Even though the musician stereotypes would suggest otherwise, this was the same with some of their male counterparts as well, including Jimmie Lunceford and the Casa Loma Orchestra. However, being almost entirely made up of schoolgirls, this conduct was also going to be well enforced. They even had a chaperone, Rae Lee Jones (no relation to the Jones family that founded the school) a “big old matron,” as described by Paul Quinichette, a tenor sax from Count Basie's band. (Bergman, 2011)

During the early years of touring, the band’s leadership was entirely comprised of officials from within Piney Woods. Aside from Rae Lee Jones, most of the operations were conducted by Nellie Bass, sister to Dr. Jones, and Claude Phifer, who became co-manager and booking agent for the group. “Dr. Jones’s sister and I served as booking agents for the Sweethearts of Rhythm, and the Rays of Rhythm. They were booked in clubs, dance halls, schools, theaters, etc. in practically every state in the Union. Some of these dates were made by mail, but we did lots of travel as advance agents, making personal contact with the various managers of halls.” (Handy 114) Piney Woods music instructor, Consuela Carter, served as the group’s musical director. (Handy 109)

By the end of the 1930s, the Swinging Rays were becoming a fairly well-established ensemble touring in all corners of the country. By this time they were touring under the name “Swinghearts of Rhythm.” Claude Phifer, an audio-visual specialist and alumnus of Piney Woods, spotted one of their advertisements in Mississippi and suggested “Sweethearts.” He then took over booking responsibilities during their 1938-39 tours. (Handy, 140) The school and the school’s name and reputation was still first and foremost, and the band was merely an extension of that. Any touring that the band did was also meant to be used to generate publicity, attract donors, and recruit potential students. However, as many of the girls preferred to stay involved with the band, they were not able to graduate from Piney Woods as the road life had supplanted their studies. Many of the members of the band were upset about this, as it was initially promised that they would obtain their degrees from the school. (Handy 142)

After threatening a strike, the band ended up taking their bus to Washington D.C. where they were ordered by Dr. Jones to return. He had reported the bus stolen as well, and this triggered a chase that ended with the girls finally returning the bus in Memphis, before quitting the school entirely. Jones had had much of their records erased in the years following, mainly to try and distance the school from the scandal that resulted from the course of their actions. (Handy 142)

In 1941, they relocated to Arlington, Virginia, using what became known as the “Sweetheart House” as their base of operations. This was also where they formally changed their name to the International Sweethearts of Rhythm due to the diverse makeup of the band. Several of the original Piney Woods students remained with the lineup including Jones on trombone, Pauline Braddy on drums, and Willie May “Rabbit” Wong on baritone sax. Wong in particular was instrumental in the choice of the name of the group as she is the earliest Asian-American name to be mentioned in the jazz historical narrative. (http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/helen-jones-woods-41, 2007) Also stressing the “International” part of the name were saxophonist Nina De La Cruz who was Native American, and trumpeters Nova Lee McGee and Alma Cortez who were Native Hawaiian and Mexican, respectively. (Handy, P. 134)

After the split with Piney Woods in 1941, others joined the band including white women. This is particularly significant as it led to the Sweethearts becoming one of the first racially integrated big bands. (Bergman, 2011) This would also lead to many issues, too, with having white women in the band, particularly in the South. “We had to slip them out the back door of the bus before the police came,” recalled Anna Mae Winburn. “We put them in a black cab. The driver was so frightened he didn’t want to drive them.” (Schiller and Weiss, 1986) Saxophonist Roz Cron was one of the white women in the band. She and the others believed that they needed to pass themselves off as black at all times, given that it wasn’t just the South where integration would cause a stir. “I tried using different makeup that turned my skin orange. I never came out right,” she recalled. (Schiller and Weiss, 1986)

Like Benny Moten, Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, and a number of other national touring acts, the International Sweethearts added to their ranks by “raiding” some of the territory bands from outside their region of origin. Anna Mae Winburn was once such musician, a singer originally from Indiana, having moved to North Omaha where she joined Red Perkins’ band. During this period she frequently collaborated with Lloyd Hunter’s Serenaders, and eventually led the Cotton Club Boys, whose roster at one point also included Charlie Christian. (http://www.gutenberg.us/articles/anna_mae_winburn, 2015) She eventually joined the territory band scene in Oklahoma City, joining the “All-Girl Orchestra” led by Eddie Durham. Her association with Eddie Durham was what eventually led to her joining the Sweethearts. (http://www.gutenberg.us/articles/anna_mae_winburn, 2015). Roz Cron, the first white woman to join the band (Hughes and Pilzer, 2011), was also initially invited to play with Eddie Durham’s second group, but was still in school and could not make the commitment. She initially played with Ada Leonard, which was a white all-girl band upon graduating high school in 1943, but found it to “not have enough soul.” (Hughes and Pilzer, 2011) After spending some time playing in a male band led by George Mead, she was recommended by Mead to the Sweethearts as a replacement lead alto player for Margi Pettiford, who was the sister of bassist Oscar Pettiford. (Hughes and Pilzer, 2011)

Guitarist and trombonist Eddie Durham never played with the band, but was certainly intrigued by the idea of the women musicians and offered to contribute musical arrangements as well as continuing to help establish the band as a popular entity. (Handy 162) “Then I got the girls’ band together. That was the only way I could stay out of the Army,” he said. I met with an old West Indian guy, a politician, who got me with the Treasury Department’s bond drives. So long as I kept the girls’ band, I’d be deferred from the army every six months for the duration. And so long as I gave some service to the USO, the Treasury Department cooperated with whatever agency I was with…….That’s how I got involved with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.” (Handy 162)

Even though Durham’s involvement with the band was limited following his decision to lead his “All-Girl Orchestra” instead, he nevertheless contributed a number of arrangements to the band that they performed. Jesse Stone became their next musical, arranger/manager after Durham’s departure. (Handy 164) Under Stone’s leadership, the band added several players who became prominent soloists in the ensemble, including Vi Burnside on tenor sax, and Ernestine “Tiny” Davis on trumpet. (Handy 165) Other composers that wrote for the band included Edna Williams, and also Maurice King, who succeeded Jesse Stone as the band’s manager. Under King, the band hit its peak, which was also during the height of World War II as many of the male bands had been decimated with the draft. The Sweethearts played many of the top venues throughout the country, and also toured Europe as part of USO shows that King had helped organize. (Fleet, 2008) There were still some male bands around, and “even had battles with them” (Hughes and Pilzer, 2011). In 1942, one such battle was billed as a “Battle of the Sexes”, which set the Sweethearts in a series of one-nighters against Fletcher Henderson’s big band. The competition ended with both bands playing a joint show together. (Handy 168)

One of King’s contributions was “Vi Vigor” (1943) which was a chart over the changes to “I’ve Got Rhythm” featuring Vi Burnside on tenor sax in an extended solo. From the beginning of the piece, it seems to have been intended to attempt to emulate “Lester Leaps In” which was recorded earlier by the Count Basie Band. Indeed, Vi Burnside channels a great deal of Lester Young’s playing including his linear approach to phrasing and his use of chromaticisms. The piece was attached to the film Harlem Jam Session, which was one of many that they shot between 1941 and 1949, and it is apparent from the film that there was significantly more emphasis on the visual rather than just simply the musical. Anna Mae Winburn is featured often in the film, even more so than Burnside, the featured soloist. (The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1946)

Another musical film of note was 1946’s Jump Children. The featured piece, which was also called “Jump Children,” was also written by King and categorized as a riff-based blues, featuring Anna Mae Winburn on vocals. It is also, again, very similar to the Count Basie style in its use of call and response, riffs, and the Lester Young-like tenor saxophone of Vi Burnside. (The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, 1946) Unlike the other film though, this film relies less on the visual but instead acts as an encouragement to dance. This would be considered certainly a bit of a late entry to the swing era, as it was already slowing down following the end of World War II. Both “Jump Children” and “Vi Vigor” were two of just four commercial recordings that were actually made by the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. (Fleet, 2008)

With the end of the War, the novelty of the women’s big bands was wearing off. As the idea of the women assuming men’s roles was only supposed to be temporary, the women were expected to begin marrying and having babies. The band itself disbanded in 1949, and the musicians went their separate ways. (Handy 2)

Helen Jones settled in Omaha, Nebraska where she became a nurse and married William Woods, the first African-American to graduate with an accounting degree from Creighton University. (http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/helen-jones-woods-41, 2007) Anna Mae Winburn continued touring, using the International Sweethearts of Rhythm name as her backup band. She performed for ten years but never achieved the same level of fame as she did when the band was in its prime. (http://www.gutenberg.us/articles/anna_mae_winburn, 2015) Some of the original members stayed with her, including drummer Pauline Braddy, who was one of the original girls from Piney Woods. Vi Burnside and Tiny Davis also continued to play as well. Vi Burnside was active in the Washington D.C. scene well into the 1960s, and Braddy would occasionally play with her band. (Fleet, 2008) Tiny Davis formed a band called “Tiny Davis and her Hell Drivers” which played often at the Apollo during the late 1940s, and in the 1950s, she and her partner Ruby Lucas relocated to Chicago and opened “Tiny and Ruby’s Gay Spot.” (Fleet, 2008)

In 1954, Jet magazine ran an article called “Why Girl Bands Don’t Click”, which featured many of the former Sweethearts, including Winburn, Vi Burnside, and Tiny Davis. The article attempted to explain why a female jazz group could never make it, arguing that they were often “long on looks and short on talent.” (Jet 1954) Drummer Pauline Braddy expressed frustration over the view that women “should stay home to learn to cook and all that kind of stuff. Even the musician’s union didn’t change their letters; it was always ‘Dear Brother’ or ‘Dear Sir’. Kind of insulting, I thought.” (Fleet, 2008)

By the dawn of the feminist movement in the 1970s, interest in the Sweethearts had begun to grow again as women were seeking to find their place in the jazz historical narrative. In 1980, pianist Marian McPartland organized a reunion performance of the surviving members of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm in Kansas City. (Handy 2) After that time, jazz historians, as well as feminist historians have been trying to piece together the story of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, and the other female bands to ensure that they are just as recognized as their male counterparts. In 1986, a documentary film on the Sweethearts was released directed by Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss. Two years later, they released a second film on Sweethearts’ trumpeter Ernestine “Tiny” Davis and her partner (and also former member of the band) Ruby Lucas. (Fleet, 2008)

To say that the International Sweethearts of Rhythm made an impact on jazz is an understatement. Prior to them, there were very few women who were that active as touring musicians, let alone even jazz musicians. “There was no one to look up to,” recalled Pauline Braddy. “I just wanted to play. I never thought there weren’t that many girls that played. In those days….you didn’t have any idea of what was a career or what you wanted to do.” (Fleet, 2008) If anything, she and the rest of the Sweethearts became the role models they aspired to find, and in doing so, inspired so many others that followed: Marian McPartland, who organized their 1980 reunion; Anat Cohen who is considered a top clarinetist and saxophonist; Ingrid Jensen, world renowned jazz trumpeter. The list goes on. They had the same experiences as their male counterparts. They played just as well, and they contributed to jazz development much in the same way. In doing so, they proved that women have just as much of a place in jazz, and as instrumentalists, as the men do.

Works Cited

Anna Mae Winburn. Project Gutenberg Self-Publishing Press, 2015. Web. 1 December, 2015.

Bergman, Megan Mayhew. “The International Sweethearts of Rhythm”. Oxford American. Web. 20 November, 2011.

Fleet. Susan. “The International Sweethearts of Rhythm”. In All-Women Bands. http://archives.susanfleet.com/documents/international_sweethearts_of_rhythm.html (Last consulted 3 December, 2015). 2008.

Handy, D. Antoinette. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Metuchen, N.J. and London; The Scarecrow Press, Inc. 1983.

Harlem Jam Session. Perf. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Associated Artists Productions. 1946. Film.

Hughes, Cathy and Leigh Pilzer. “The International Sweethearts of Rhythm.” Smithsonian Institute. Washington, D.C. 30, March 2011. Moderated discussion.

International Sweethearts of Rhythm. International Sweethearts of Rhythm: Hottest Women’s Band of the 1940s. Rosetta Records. RR 1312, 1946.

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Perf. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Associated Artists Productions. 1947. Film.

Jones-Woods, Helen. Interview by The HistoryMakers. http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/helen-jones-woods-41. The HistoryMakers, 2007. Web. 1 December, 2015.

Jump Children. Perf. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Alexander Productions. 1946. Film.

Schiller, Greta and Andrea Weiss. International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Jezebel Productions. 1986. Film.

Unknown. “Why Girl Bands Don’t Click”. Jet. 11 February, 1954: 60-62. Print.