|
The music speaks for itself
[Publicity photo]
Formerly billed as a “No Man’s Band,” Diva now stands on its own as a first-rate big band that just happens to be made up of women. |
By PHILIP BOOTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 14, 2002
Once a novelty group, the all-female big band Diva has become something else - a band known for playing good music, from jazz classics to its own material.
|
 |
Here's the ironic thing about Diva, the all-female big band: Gender is the issue, and it isn't.
Diva, slated to play the three-day March of Jazz festival this weekend (which is sold out) and a benefit concert Monday for the Children's Dream Fund, debuted in 1993 as a "No Man's Band," as the group once was billed. The band's existence was, and is, a rarity. With the exception of pianists, the world of professional jazz is largely devoid of female instrumentalists.
But the novelty has gradually worn off, and the 15-piece group, led by drummer Sherrie Maricle, a protege of the late bandleader Mel Lewis, has come to be regarded simply as a first-rate big band.
For evidence, check out I Believe in You, released in 1999 on the Clearwater-based Arbors Jazz label (sponsor of the festival).
"Because there's so few touring concert jazz bands, when people look at Diva it really has transcended the gender issue, and it's more like, 'Wow, I love Diva because it's a great band, and I like the music they play,' which is great," Maricle says from her office at New York University, where she has worked as a jazz educator since 1986. The drummer, composer and arranger is director of percussion studies at NYU and a member of the New York Pops Orchestra.
Maricle, once a clarinet and cello player, was turned on to jazz as an adolescent, when she caught a concert by Buddy Rich. After moving to New York, she subbed for drummer Lewis during third sets at the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra's regular gigs on Monday nights.
Later, she played with Skitch Henderson's orchestra and met Stanley Kay, former manager and back-up drummer for Rich. Kay told her of his intentions to assemble an all-female jazz group.
"He said, 'Do you know any women who can play as well as you?' " she says. "That really knocked me out, because here was a guy who has 50 years in the business who wanted to do this project. Right away, I knew he had something in mind which wasn't a 'T and A' band. I thought this would be a great chance to put together all these great (female) players who were having a rough time in New York, and still not making it."
Kay and Maricle went to work auditioning musicians. The latest lineup, intact for about five years, boasts instrumentalists and rhythm-section players from Australia, Austria, Israel and Japan, as well as the United States.
Diva, headed back to Europe this summer for a string of festival performances, has played a variety of high-profile venues, including Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center and the Montreal Jazz Festival.
The band specializes in updated arrangements of classics played by the bands of Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton, as well as a sprinkling of original compositions.
"We have a little bit of funk in there, and Afro-Cuban and Brazilian things," Maricle says. "But most of it is centered around unique arrangements of standards. And our original material is still in that bag, of swinging hard. It's stuff that's gonna make you feel good."
PREVIEW
Diva performs in a benefit for the Children's Dream Fund, Monday at Sheraton Sand Key, 1160 Gulf Blvd., Clearwater. Cocktails at 6 p.m.; light dinner at 6:30 p.m.; concert follows. $50. (727) 892-6736.
Back to Weekend
© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111
|
