Jazz, the musical form born from the unique experience of Black Americans, will be celebrated during the 10th anniversary edition of the Palm Springs Women’s Jazz Festival, taking place Friday, Nov. 11, through Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Palm Springs Convention Center.
The Friday and Saturday concerts are packed with big names, including Nnenna Freelon, Cyrille Aimée, Lea DeLaria and Ledisi. On Sunday, some of the Coachella Valley’s best female jazz and R&B musicians will perform “Divas of the Desert” shows. The three-day event is hosted by California Jazz and Blues Museum Hall of Fame inductee Sweet Baby J’ai.
Initially part of Dinah Shore Weekend, the festival branched out on its own a few years ago, and though it’s primarily run by lesbians, the festival welcomes all. One of the few all-female jazz festivals in the country, it has grown by leaps and bounds since its 2013 inception. (Like many festivals, it went dark in 2020 and 2021.) This year, local women artisans have been invited to participate in the newly added daytime art faire, which is free and open to the public.
“We are a small but very mighty music festival,” said Sweet Baby J’ai, who is also a co-founder of the festival. “We have grown exponentially, and this is our biggest year to date.”
Unique to the festival is the Women in Jazz All-Stars, a rotating group of musicians who form the festival’s “house band.” Most singers have their own band, and convincing them to sing with musicians with whom they are unfamiliar can sometimes be a challenge.
“What happens with this setup is so incredible. We’ve had some major artists here such as Diane Schuur, Dee Dee Bridgewater—all these jazz legends,” said Ja’i. “What happens is everyone ends up loving this spontaneity. It’s amazing when you just meet someone and say, ‘1, 2, 3, let’s hit it.’”
Each year, festival organizers try to find a singer on the precipice—ready to become the next big thing—and introduce them to a new audience. This year, that singer is Cyrille Aimée, a past winner of the Montreux Jazz Festival Competition and the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Competition, and a finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition.
“I saw her and thought she was absolutely fabulous and that we had to introduce her to our audience,” J’ai said. “She is going to take the world by storm. Anyone who sees her will understand that immediately. … We must keep passing this music along to the younger generation. We have to support these young women who are coming up.”
To find the new generation of jazz and R&B stars, J’ai combs magazines and websites, and relies on word of mouth. Unlike pop singers who have taken to TikTok and YouTube to kick-start their careers, jazz musicians have to prove themselves in the clubs.
The festival’s mission statement states: “The Palm Springs Women’s Jazz and Blues Association exists to preserve and foster an appreciation of jazz and blues music and to support female jazz and blues musicians who traditionally struggle for recognition and employment.” Yes, female artists still struggle to get work alongside their male counterparts.
“Although female jazz singers tend to be at the forefront, female musicians are harder to find,” J’ai said. “You could go through a whole season at the Hollywood Bowl and not see a female jazz musician on that stage.”
This has nothing to do with talent; the jazz world tends to be a boy’s club.
“We are a 501(c)(3), so it is our mission to promote and support female musicians, because they are less likely to get those jobs in the jazz world,” J’ai said. “… We want young women to see themselves onstage so they can understand the possibilities for themselves.”
J’ai said that as a child, her musician father brought her to one of his gigs. She sat in the back but could see a woman, dressed in all black, on that stage, playing guitar with her father.
“I thought she was incredible. I saw someone who looked like me,” she said. “Anytime you see a woman in a position of power, little girls all over the country respond.”
Sweet Baby J’ai was inducted into the California Jazz and Blues Museum Hall of Fame in 2018.
“I’ve been singing for over three decades. I’ve worked very hard to get where I am, and I love my career,” she said. “I’m able to share my joy through my music, so to be able to be recognized for that is an honor.”
While J’ai is not a scheduled performer, as the evening’s host, attendees can expect her to sprinkle in her songs here and there.
As the festival grows and expands, J’ai hopes to engage more women jazz legends.
“We mark our lives by musical events,” said J’ai. “What was the first song you danced to at your wedding? What was playing when you kissed your first girlfriend or boyfriend?”
J’ai said the festival is destined to become one of those memory-creating events, in part because of the uniqueness created by the Women in Jazz All-Stars.
“Usually, you go to a festival and get Nnenna Freelon with her band, or Lea DeLaria with her band,” J’ai said. “If you have seen Ledisi perform before, you have never seen her in this scenario, and that goes for all of the artists on our stage. That’s what makes for such a wonderful experience.”
The Palm Springs Women’s Jazz Festival will take place Friday, Nov. 11, through Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, 277 N. Avenida Caballeros, in Palm Springs. Tickets for each show start at $50. For tickets and more information, visit www.palmspringswomensjazzfestival.org.
Kevin Mann is the Independent’s former editorial intern; his internship was funded by the Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation.
