Top 6 Greatest Female Jazz Musicians the World Has Known

Swing Street Radio brings to you an endless and awesome collection of bigband and swing music that will make you feel happy and rejuvenated. The songs of these top 6 greatest female jazz musicians will leave you in awe and you are sure to wait to listen to more such musical wonders! However, here are a few snippets about these women who dared to go beyond the ordinary and create a niche for themselves.

 Top 6 Female Jazz Musicians

Women, who dared to achieve their dreams!

   1.     Toshiko Akiyoshi

Toshiko Akiyoshi, a Japanese American jazz pianist, started playing the piano at the tender age of only six years when she had already defined herself as Japan's one of the most budding jazz musicians. Toshiko moved to the USA in 1956 to study at the Berklee School of Music, and she was finally able to start a band in Los Angeles in 1972. She formed the band with Lew Tabackin, a prominent flutist and saxophonist, whom she married later on. In 1983, their band made its debut at the famous Carnegie Hall and was critically acclaimed. Toshiko Akiyoshi has received over 14 Grammy nominations and released 20+ music albums. She would go on to have a career spanning six decades.

 

2.     Alice Coltrane

Alice Coltrane was a jazz pianist, composer, and harpist. Her surname you may recognize due to her marriage to John Coltrane, the legendary saxophonist. She started her musical career in the late 1950s as a church organist and quickly drew the attention of some of jazz's biggest names. Coltrane started experimenting with religious jazz music in the 1970s, a style that was quite strongly influenced by her Indian religious beliefs. The later years of her life were, however, spent listening to Hindi devotional songs. Turiyasangitananda, her Sanskrit name, was eventually adopted owing to her inclination to the Hindu faith. Her album 'A Monastic Trio' is still regarded as one of the most significant albums in the history of the spiritual jazz genre.

 

3.     Blossom Dearie

Blossom Dearie was an American pianist and jazz singer. She is most renowned for her edgy yet girly vocal style in which she sang. She hailed from New York and got her middle name, Blossom, from the flowers that were delivered on the day she was born. She began playing the piano at the age of five and went on to publish over twelve solo albums during her entire career. Thus, becoming popular among all the jazz and cabaret lovers and fans. As one of the most celebrated jazz singers, she is still remembered for the wonders she had created.

 

4.     Lil Hardin Armstrong

Lil Hardin Armstrong was a jazz pianist and singer hailing from the United States of America. Like Alice Coltrane, you may recognize her surname because she was married to the legendary jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong. She began her career in jazz in the 1920s and quickly rose to fame, and became one of the most famous jazz singers of her era. She frequently collaborated with her husband and that led to several successful and memorable creations. Hardin Armstrong's rollicking and boogie-woogie piano playing collaborated to her defining the early jazz sound. Armstrong is to be remembered for more reasons than one!

 

5.     Melba Liston

Melba Liston is a well-known American jazz trombonist as well as a composer who was widely regarded as one of the most talented trombonists of her time. Liston began playing the trombone when she was nine years old and came to be noticed by the top names in the world of jazz. In the 1950s and 1960s, she largely collaborated with famous artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and others. She frequently served as a ghostwriter for other well-known jazz musicians as well.

 

6.     Eliane Elias

Eliane Elias is a Brazilian jazz pianist and singer who is widely regarded as one of the world's most gifted musicians. She began performing at the age of seventeen in her home country, Brazil. However, she shot to fame in the 1980s after winning the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. Since her victory, Elias has released nearly 30 albums and continues to collaborate with many of the jazz genre's biggest names. Herbie Hancock is one of her most notable collaborators from her 1995 album ‘Solos and Duets’.

 

Final words:

Swing Street Radio plays the most loved and cherished collection of bigband and swing music along with the all time famous jazz numbers. You can request or dedicate a song and the team will readily play it. This jazz music radio station has become a famous destination for all the jazz lovers. Fans of jazz stay glued to this music radio station so that they do not miss out on any of the songs that are played. You too must make the most out of this station and listen to different jazz songs daily.