Entertainment For Lively Minds
Lets hear it for the girls
I am really impressed with the new Dave Alvin cd with The Guilty Women which as the name implies is an all girl group. The level of musicianship is very high and Dave in his sleeve notes admits they are as good as any other bunch of musicians he has played with. Thinking about it there are not that many females who have a high level of proficiency in the musical instrument department. I have loads of cd's by ladies most are excellent singers, most are excellent writers but above strumming guitars how many are proficient musicians. From memory Alison Krauss is an excellent fiddle player, Tori Amos is an accomplished pianist and Bonnie raitt can play half decent Blues guitar. How many others are there in this field? Without being sexist in any way I would say not many. Which is strange because if you go to a wedding the harpist is usually female, the same with the String quartet playing at your latest corporate bash or the majority of the string section in any Orchestra.It is clearly not that there aren't any good female musicians they just seem to choose genres other than pop/rock.
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Talk to Jeff.
Mister Beck has a fine bass player.
Tal Wilkenfeld (for it is she) is a mere slip of 21 or something
She is insanely talented.
Karen Carpenter
...was a decent drummer.
Barbara Lynn
R’n’B guitar legend. I reckon Jimi Hendrix never existed. “He” was Barbara in disguise.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
This footage contains the best 'shape' thrown by any guitarist, ever. It's at about 1'46"
The playing's not bad either.
I can think of a couple...
Kristen Hersh of Throwing Muses is a big influence on me, her album Hips & Makers shows that she is not only a great singer but also a great guitarist and songwriter.
Elastica?
Alanis Morrissette?
Besides that, I might agree that most established decent female artists are singers. Anyone want to add to my list of good female instrumentalists, please do!
Rosetta
Fraser, what a great clip - I had no idea!!!
fing is yeah?
grant yer vey can do ver chords n all vat - but yeah? - where's all ver settin fire to it, smashin up ver amps n stuff - vat's wot i like to see - knowotImean? No bleedin idea vese birds
David Bowie with Gail Anne Dorsey - bass
G.A.D
is hugely talented - period. Fantastic musician, great singer and writer too.
Her solo albums "The Corporate World" and "I used to be" are just great
Not a bad career...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Kaye
And just a couple of months younger, I notice, than my dad, who doesn't play an instrument at all.
Which leaves me with the feeling that somebody just wasn't trying hard enough ;-)
(Sorry, Dad!)
heh heh heh
PJ Harvey?
Joanna Newsom??
PJ Harvey!
How could I forget her?!
Joanna Newsom – whatever you think of her voice –
is an incredible harpist. Also, back to Kim Deal – I think there are tons of fantastically proficient female musicians, but less of them feel the need to show off and wank on (if you pardon the term). gh!
This sounds terrible.....
...there must be loads, and we're just not trying.
[Thinks.]
Tina Weymouth, Talking Heads, bass genius.
Amanda Palmer of Dresden Dolls is a superb pianist.
Bangles!
This one's going to drive me mad.
Kathleen Edwards....
....plays guitar in her band but I believe she had 12 years training as a classical violinist. I've never heard her play a violin but I've seen pictures of her playing it.
John McVies wife in Fleetwood Mac is a fabulous pianist....why does her christian name escape me? Was it Christine?
Ravi Shankars daughter is obviously a genius on the sitar....as seen in The Concert For George.
Weren't Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell known as great guitarists? Maybe it was for having their own style rather than their virtuosity.
Christine Perfect was her
maiden and original recording name. She was in Chicken Shack in the 60's and also released a few solo albums as well as her Mac work.
Joni
A superb guitarist, best heard as a bastard rhythm player on Hejira. A wonderful pianist too, for example on The Last Time I Saw Richard.
Poison Ivy
A great rock & roll guitarist
How about..
Wendy and Lisa..be honest, Prince was never as good again without them! Does Sheila E pass as a percussionist?
Aimee Mann was a pretty mean bass player in 'Til Tuesday.
Cosey Fanni Tutti blew a mean horn! Candy Dulfer?
Imogen Heap's a pretty good programmer / vocalist/ instrumentalist.
Sara Lee as a bass player when she was in Fripp's League of Gents
The Roches singing or playing?
Suzanne Vega as a guitarist?
Does Sheila E *what*?? *cough, splutter*
Sorry Grant, not an attack on you as there's no reason you should know, but I have to say, You Have No Idea! Possibly the greatest gig I've ever seen was Prince on the Sign Of The Times Tour in 87, I think it was. It was the tour that never made it to the UK, and I got to see it as I was living in Germany at the time. Prince: extraordinary musician, hard taskmaster, generally chose shit-hot musicians to be in his band; the drummer in this band? Sheila E. One of the half dozen best drummers I've seen, male or female.
Laura Nyro
Just a genius. Not much footage of her but I love this. The repetition of "I've got fury" is up there with Van Morrison at his peak as far as I'm concerned...
And ...
Mo Tucker, as a drummer none more solid.
Kate Bush perhaps on piano and
Stevie Nicks on tambourine and top hat.
Add in Tina Weymouth on bass and Joni Mitchell on guitar as mentioned above and it's a ladies supergroup waiting to happen. The Traveling Housewives?
They wouldn't even need outside caterers for the tour.
(He joked)
Oh honestly ... I guess it's true what they say about 'the ladies' Steve - no sense of humour!
Moe Tucker?
Hmm, Great if you want a more primitive style; if you want a real powerhouse with clout, soul and technique to burn, may I suggest Michele Drees, whom you'll have seen if you ever saw Badmarsh and Shri, Freak Power or Kirsty MacColl play. There's a phenomenal clip of them performing on Later, which sadly I've lost, so this video will have to do instead...
No mention yet of
Chrissie Hynde. And am I alone in feeling a slightly condescending attitude towards women on this post? It's a sort of 'slightly surprised they can' attitude...
No ...
you are not alone.
up to a point
no edge in my recommendation above of Poison Ivy - seemed rather an odd idea for a post but I thought it was worth noting her greatness.
As a merely adequate guitarist
I delight in being impressed by any good musician, regardless of gender.
The only person I was guilty of being condescending to was my dear old dad.
And I really *am* sorry.
Steady...
...Can't speak for everyone else, of course, but I think you might be seeing condescension when it isn't there.
Notoriously difficult to pin down 'tone' in type, in any case.
I don't think the Massive are 'surprised' that there are excellent female musicians - surely more surprised (and possibly ashamed) that they can't think of more of them more quickly.
I think Jude absolutely nails it here - women in rock are every bit the equal of their male counterparts, but just aren't inclined to prove it with interminable soloing.
Good female musicians in pop and rock?
Well, all of them. They'd get crucified otherwise.
I remember Kim Deal demonstrating her bass parts for The Pixies' songs in a documentary - she had no interest in playing her bass the same way as all the other local bass-players because it was boring. She had other things she wanted to express. It makes such a difference to a band. The Fall was always better as a mixed-sex group.
Pram, Laika, Sidi Bou Said, Le Tigre, Sleater-Kinney, Solex, Chicks on Speed: I get the same out of these bands as I get from Sparks: invention, emotion, wit. And they sounded precisely the way they intended to. If you judge the worth of a band by how "tight" they are, you may not be impressed. But that seems a bit of a dead end to me.
I could mention Laurie Anderson, Ikue Mori, Alice Coltrane but these are art-rock, avant garde and jazz, not rock or pop. So says male music journalists, as a coded warning to Oasis fans. Pink Floyd make similar noises to those three ladies but they're definitely a rock band. Perhaps women have too much imagination to be great rock musicians?
I can direct you to a thousand, bog-standard, all-male guitar bands. I'm sure they all prided themselves on how proficient they were, whether they practised or not. You're welcome to them.
Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls
Plays a mean solo from time to time and is an excellent fingerpicker.
Jennifer Batten is a better tapper than most and has had the best 80s hairstyles in rock
"they just seem to choose genres other than pop/rock".
Less risk of crashing against the plywood ceiling?
Picking up on harp, however, apart from Alain Stivell and Derek Bell, have there ever been any other male harpists? I accept not the widest used instrument in rock and related, but.....
Harpo Marx
Gabriela
I'll chip in with
Charlotte Hatherley, Isobel Campbell plus Lauras Marling and Veirs. D'Arcy Wretsky (sp?) also springs to mind and I've seen Amy Winehouse be more than proficient with a guitar in her younger days.
Myra Melford
Ladies and gentlemen of the Word Massive, I give you...
Myra Melford on piano
Never heard her? Never even heard of her?
Then try this little beauty..
If you're not keen on free jazz, though - approach with care.
That woman drummer in the Honeycombs
...and Michele Shocked
Kathryn Tickell
Arguably THE maestra Northumbrian piper of our generation.
You got there before me (again)
So I'll add the fiddle playing of Eliza Carthy. And Kate Rusby's no bad guitarist either. Not really pop/rock though. Although Kate did duet with Ronan Keating (unfortunately).
And Mrs Mills was good on the piano.
Shiina Ringo
or Shena Ringo as her name can also be written in romaji is an excellent guitarist and pianist - try her solo work or more recent work as part of Tokyo Jihen from j-pop to punk rock to adult jazz tinged rock - it's all good.
I think I have the answer!!
I now recall an interview many many years ago with Suzi Quatro and remember her saying the reason she took up the bass was because of the throbbing vibration between her legs whenever she played. Perhaps in these more enlightened times all the aspiring lady musicians have popped off to Ann Summers instead. At least that way they can feel at home with Judes comments!!
The Be Good Tanyas
Aretha Franklin
can tickle the ivories a treat. I understand she has been known to sing too
Yolanda Charles
Played bass in Paul Weller's band for a few years in the mid 90's.
Think she then went onto tour with Robbie Williams and other people. Not hear from her for a while though
Kaki King - finger style
Kaki King - finger style guitarist
Grace Slick - Vocals, Keyboards and on earlier Airplane stuff woodwinds and flute
Kira Rossler - bass with Black Flag 1983 - 1985, sometimes now plays in a bass duo with Mike Watt
Ruth Underwood - percussion, specializing in the complex marimba parts on Zappa's mid 70's stuff
Lindy Morrison - drummer
Lindy Morrison - drummer with the Go-Betweens