Obviously it’s never been impossible: from pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong in the 1920s to trombonist and arranger Melba Liston in the 1960s, women instrumentalists have always been present.
How hard is it to be a woman in jazz, anchored as that music still is to late nights in clubs and long miles on the road? Obviously it’s never been impossible: from pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong in the 1920s to trombonist and arranger Melba Liston in the 1960s, women instrumentalists have always been present. Regina-born pianist Renee Rosnes was a fixture in a quartet led by saxophone legend Joe Henderson in the 1980s, in which Henderson was the only man.