ABSTRACT
This chapter details historical issues of access to the places and spaces of jazz-making and the ways that women and LGBTQ musicians gained admittance to the male- and masculine-dominated communities of jazz. Women and queer musicians were dissuaded from participation by the overt masculinity of jazz’s performing spaces. Gendered musical instrument specialization meant that women often lacked the ability to participate in a musical community that dismissed the possibility of their performance on the simple basis of what instrument they played. Jazz’s musical practices often disadvantaged the non-male and non-heterosexual; cutting contests, for example, required both physical access to the nightclub stage as well as musical assertiveness that women were not socialized to perform. Later, some women and queer musicians found places in avant-garde jazz communities, which were perceived by both men and women as musically and socially open. Others found continued barriers to accessing these same spaces. Jazz’s connections with masculinity and men led women and queer musicians to create spaces of their own or participate in spaces created specifically for them.
