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It's A Woman's World: Six Jazz Trailblazers

The Kennedy Center honors Mary Lou Williams every year with the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, which showcases today's brightest female jazz artists.
The Kennedy Center honors Mary Lou Williams every year with the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, which showcases today's brightest female jazz artists.

Because March 8 is International Women's Day, this week's Take Five celebrates six important women in jazz. Three exemplify classic artists who paved the way for women's work in a jazz world once dominated by men, while three are modern innovators.

When you ask someone to name a few women in jazz, the first names that often come to mind are singers such as Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. Maybe singers are just easier to spot than those mastering non-vocal instruments.

These six women are accomplished composers and players who deserve just as much recognition as better-known jazz singers.

For more entries in the Take Five series, click here. And don't forget to subscribe to the Jazz Notes newsletter.

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Shaunna Morrison Machosky