Leading Ladies Little Big Band: helping change jazz through representation

In the cold Conference Centre at the Con Brio Music Festival gala concert, the warm lights shine on The Leading Ladies’ signature green outfits. They sit in front of schools from around the world. As their smooth tone echoes throughout the room, they inspire young musicians and spark confidence in future generations. 

Casey Thomas-Burns’s Leading Ladies Little Big Band is an all-women jazz band based in Vancouver. This band is helping make the jazz community more welcoming through representation and empowerment. In a genre where women aren’t commonly seen, The Leading Ladies stand out as a group of entirely women.  

According to The Leading Ladies’ official website, the group of 11 musicians “focus[es] on educational engagements and community outreach” through performances at schools and their monthly “Ladies Night” Jazz Jam series. 

The baritone saxophonist in The Leading Ladies, Sofia Avelino, told 8forty that this band’s journey started in 2018 in university. There “actually weren’t enough female jazz musicians in the program to make a full-size band,” she remembered, “so, it started as a little big band and kind of just kept going from there.” 

Avelino described the challenges of studying such a male dominated genre. “One of the things that for my university experience was really frustrating was that…there were maybe 40 to 45 people in my year…and only seven females,” she said, “it’s a rough start when there’s already not enough women in the space.” 

In the past, jazz was always a male dominated genre because of discrimination, societal norms, and gender roles that discouraged women from choosing to pursue jazz.  

For instance, during WWII when many men were off fighting in the war, opportunities opened for women to seek advancements in male dominated fields. However, when female musicians began challenging the gender norms, many faced discrimination which limited their opportunities and erased their contributions. They were shunned in the newspaper and described as prostitutes or maids.  

Female musicians from all around the world continue to experience discrimination today.  

Avelino reflected on her experiences being treated as less as a female musician. She explained some expectations that women are raised to fill. 

“There’s something so ingrained in…growing up as a woman to like take up less space,” she told 8forty.

“Being competitive doesn’t come as naturally to a lot of women so when you’re trying to create art in a competitive environment and you’re not necessarily raised to be competitive…it’s just like weird.”  

In society, there are many traditional gender roles that restrict women’s actions and occupations. Jazz is a genre that relies heavily on improvisation, which takes a lot of confidence. As Avelino mentioned, many women are not raised that way. As a result, many women are pushed to take on roles like singing rather than playing instruments, further reinforcing stereotyped roles.  

“People see a girl or woman and everyone’s like ‘Oh you must be a singer,’” Avelino says. “There’s this idea that women all sing… but it’s super annoying” 

The stereotyping isn’t limited to gender. Musicians also face racism. Avelino told 8forty that one of her best friends who is Chinese, has been approached and asked, “Let me guess what instrument you play? Do you play piano?” Avelino wondered why there are “these weird [assumptions] that people have culturally ingrained.” 

The Leading Ladies hopes to help change what it means to belong in jazz through representation and empowerment. Their community outreach program, the “Ladies Night” Jazz Jam series tries to counter this discrimination and bring the music community together. They focus on creating a safe space for femme and non-binary musicians to come together and make music without the judgement that they may feel with others.  

This outreach program runs almost every month, providing a safe place for musicians of all ages and levels to play with a real band.  

Many participants have commented on this program feeling safer and more supported than in a traditional jazz band.  

The “Ladies Night” outreach program spoke to high school saxophonist, Kassandra Chan, who attended the most recent Jazz Jam. (Chan’s name has been changed in order to protect her identity.) “I felt that when I was playing, I didn’t feel very nervous at all,” she said. “I didn’t feel like I was being judged, whereas when I play at school, I get so scared.” 

Chan says The Leading Ladies really helped her see the importance of “finding a good community that you really feel safe and accepted in and valued for any level of musical experience that you have.”  

Music, specifically jazz, is an important part of Chan’s life. “Jazz is cool,” she says. “And everyone should be able to play it and not feel intimidated” 

Despite the developments in the jazz industry since the 1990s, Avelino acknowledged that there are still many changes that need to be made. While there has been collaboration, especially in the current generation. 

“There’s still a lot of competition where there should be collaboration” Avelino said.  

“For there to be more representation, [jazz] needs to be a safe space for everyone to exist.” 

Cover Image: Ali June Photography