Women and Jazz

Our understanding of jazz isn’t complete without highlighting the influence and contributions of women. On Thursday, May 11, 7:00 p.m. on Zoom, Essex Library will host Galen Abdur-Razzaq, renowned flutist and lecturer from Flute Juice Productions. Combining performance with fact, Galen will speak about the women involved in jazz from the beginning of the art form as vocalists, instrumentalists, composers, and arrangers. We will learn how such legends as Bessie Smith, Valaida Snow, Mildred Bailey, Mary Lou Williams, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sara Vaughn survived and thrived in “a man’s world.”

Galen combines a love and encyclopedic knowledge of the history of jazz with a passion for educating to teach music appreciation and the history of jazz from the turn of the century to the present day. He picked up his first flute at age 10, and went on to study at the Berklee College of Music and earn a master’s degree in performing arts and education from Rutgers University. His performance style has been described as “big, like the rich powerful sound of a saxophone: smooth, melodic, passionate, and sensational.”

This one-of-a-kind program is FREE and open to the public. Essex Library is co-promoting this program with Goshen Public Library, Gunn Memorial Library and Museum, and Morris Public Library. Registration is required. For more information or to register, please call the Essex Library at 860-767-1560 or visit www.youressexlibrary.org.