GATHER Women in Jazz: Interview and Concert with Mimi Jones
Hartford Public Library Center for Contemporary Culture
Hartford
March 26, 2024
I’d never seen an all-women jazz performance before, but that was only one of the unique aspects about the GATHER Women in Jazz concert held at the Hartford Public Library’s Center for Contemporary Culture.
The other is that it featured an interview with the performers before the concert got underway. Audiences usually show up primarily for the music, but those in attendance seemed to greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn more about Arcoiris Sandoval, the pianist; Shirazette Tinnin on drums; and of course, Mimi Jones herself, who played the bass and provided vocals.
The three women are accomplished professionals with decades of musical training and experience between them, professorships at leading music programs, and fans and students all over the world. But as they spoke, they shared stories of frustration that they’d experienced as a result of being treated as lesser than for being women in a field that is dominated by men.
“It’s a problem to put people in a box when we all have the DNA of both men and women inside us,” Tinnin said. She shared how she has often been told by both men and women that drums are a “boy’s” instrument,. “People think that I’m setting up for my husband when I show up to gigs,” she explained. “I let them think that until I sit down and start performing, and I love the look on their faces.”
Sandoval spoke about how important it is to find community when trying to make it as a woman in the world of jazz. “It’s hard to overstate how hard it is to be alone,” she said. “But that’s why I’m so glad I found Mimi. We’ve been able to build a community right here.”
For her part, Jones shared the struggles she faced as well, where many wanted to assign her a role they felt suited women better, such as strictly performing vocals. She fiercely fought back against such stereotyping. “There’s an essential reason why you’re here, why you’re alive,” she said to the audience. “You can’t know what mine is any more than I can know what yours is, so how can either of us tell each other what we must do?”
Once the music began, it actually became clear what Jones’ essential reason for existing is, and that’s to play jazz. I have to admit that sometimes I feel like jazz goes over my head. I respect the skill involved, but the music sounds so esoteric that it feels like I’m listening to a theory of music instead of music itself.
The Mimi Jones Trio was about as far away from navel-gazing jazz as anyone I’ve ever heard. Their sound was rooted in music, the joy and passion that it elicits. Jones’ bass thrummed with the sound and urgency of a performer who has endured the slights of ignoramuses not to prove a point, but because the essential reason of her life compels her to do so. She looked like a woman possessed as she drew sweet, melodic sound out of an instrument that many consider a background instrument — a boy’s background instrument.
On piano, Sandoval commanded the multitude of tones from the instrument as her fingers danced across the keys. At times she seemed possessed by the same spirit moving Jones, standing as the songs reached their crescendo. Tinnin was on fire, switching between instruments and styles as the songs required, bringing the energy of three men to percussion.
But it was still Jones’ show. Her name headlines the band, and she showed the audience why.
The Mimi Jones Trio’s concert is easily my favorite jazz concert ever, and I think that’s in no small part due to the fact that the performers were all women. They brought a different kind of energy and perspective to the sound of jazz- not over-intellectualized ego or pompous technicality. It was a love of music that has endured treatment that no one should have to go through. A love that radiated out from the stage and has become one of my favorite musical performances.
NEXT
Hartford Public Library’s next concert is the Baby Grand Jazz series featuring Nino Ciampa and the Hartt Salsa All-Stars on April 7.
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