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Section: Arts

Come and Dance to Ladies First
By Ed Adamczyk

The Ladies First Big Band performs.

After seven years of performing throughout Western New York as an ensemble, the Ladies First Big Band is no novelty act. It is an ambitious exercise in forward-thinking jazz and nostalgic swing music that just happens to be a 16-piece, all-female orchestra, organized and operated by Jennifer May, its bass player.

Its schedule has included dates at Tonawanda’s Canal Fest, Ontario’s Crystal Beach, Jamestown Community College, the Riviera Theater in North Tonawanda, UB’s Allen Hall and Center for the Arts, and an annual visit to downtown Buffalo’s Tralf nightclub for a gala “Women in Jazz” tribute.

“We don’t really adhere to the format of a ’30s-style band,” says May. “We mix it up more. We like different composers and styles, modern arrangers like Michael Brecker and Charles Mingus. Then we’ll do ‘Fly Me to the Moon,’ the Harold Arlen classic.”

It is a compelling scene when the Ladies First Big Band sets up in concert. Yes, they’re all adult women, from college age on up. (Until recently the musicians included 80-something alto saxophonist Fran Scharett, who played in World War II all-girl U.S.O. bands and in the celebrated Phil Spitlany Orchestra of the 1940s).

They definitely know what they’re doing, whether it’s an arrangement of a Dorsey Brothers tune, a hit from the Temptations, or a more exotic jazz treatment by Theolonius Monk. And yes, you can definitely dance to it.

“The dancers have told us we’re solid,” says May, using a word that evokes a high compliment in the jazz world, “and they love dancing to our band.”

Whether you’re dancing or listening, there is something about a big band that is unforgettable; unlike rock or modern pop music, it is the brass instruments that propel and share the melody, and it is done with an astonishing strength.

The Ladies First Band employs five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, three rhythm players (piano, bass and drums), a vocalist and often, a spoken-word artist who provides poetry and some historical context. According to drummer Peggy Scalzo, an ensemble such as that has a force of its own.

“It’s great to do those tunes, with all that horn power behind you,” she says. “A lot of people don’t hear that sound anymore, but when they hear it live, it comes as a surprise. It’s a kind of controlled chaos, and much more powerful than a recording.”

What began in the 1990s as a six-piece band was enlarged to orchestra status in 2002 for a one-night-only performance, a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. The results were so satisfying that bandleader May kept both the combo and the big band going.

The majority of the musicians have been a part of Ladies First since the beginning — with weekly rehearsals and year-round concert appearances — and that is no easy assignment in a genre of music that went out of style in part because of the difficulty in keeping bands intact.

These dedicated musicians travel from points that include Dunkirk and Rochester to rehearsals in Buffalo and gigs all over the area.

Beyond that uniqueness of “the all-girl group,” they perform with an astounding clout that comes from all those instruments pulling together, with a sense of uniting new frontiers in jazz to an homage of their predecessors from the 1930s and 1940s.

Hearing them is hearing yesterday and today, all at once, and remarkably, from sixteen women on a bandstand.

For more information on Ladies First Big Band, call 834-5899 or visit www.ladiesfirstjazz.com.


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