Thankyou from all of us at MIJF – Take Note
Marking 109 years since the first International Women’s Day, we celebrate another year of achievements by women past, present and future!
Thankyou from all of us at MIJF – Take Note
With an amazing response so far to this year’s Take Note announcement, we wanted to thank everyone supporting young female leaders pursuing creative careers. This initiative in its second year was aims to address the underrepresentation of women in jazz and to foster greater diversity in jazz leadership by raising the profile of a young female jazz leader and to encourage the next generation with an education program visiting Victorian schools.
This International Women’s Day we wanted to highlight once again the importance of this project and its potential to positively impact the future of jazz in Australia.
Take Note still relies on the generous ongoing support of our community and with your help we can continue to champion young women leading the way in music. With every donation been matched dollar for dollar by the Kestin Family Foundation for a limited time* consider donating this weekend.
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Our Take Note winner – Holly Moore taking us through three of her favourite female jazz musicians in honour of International Women’s Day.
“Carla Bley is a truly prolific musician, composer and arranger whose work constantly inspires me. My first exposure to her was when I was in a record store and found one of Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra albums (the Ballad of the Fallen). I instantly fell in love with it and felt so engrossed listening to it, only later to find out that it was Carla Bley playing piano and who arranged the music. To me, Carla Bley is limitless in all that she creates. Seeing her play with her trio with Steve Swallow and Andy Sheppard in Melbourne a few years ago was such a special experience.
Nina Simone’s voice is so rich and powerful, it moves you when she sings just one note. She tells a story like no one else. I feel completely engaged when I listen to her, hanging off every word she sings. Listening to Nina Simone constantly reminds me not just of her musical prowess and genius, but the inherent political nature of this music. It is easy to be disengaged from the cultural and political history of jazz as a white Australian, so far away from the roots of the music. Listening to Nina Simone brings me back to reality about this music and I learn more about it every time I listen to her play.
I don’t think I would be able to talk about inspiring female musicians without mentioning Billie Holiday. The way that she was able to craft a melody is unbelievable. The twists and turns in one phrase transfix the listener and keep you there, almost holding your breath. No one else can play a melody like her. I listen to her and am in total awe. She can break your heart and mend it within a 3-minute recording.“