View source for International Sweethearts of Rhythm

{{short description|American all-female jazz band}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name         = International Sweethearts of Rhythm
| image        =
| caption      =
| alias        = Sweethearts of Rhythm
| origin       = [[Piney Woods, Mississippi]], U.S.
| genre        = Jazz
| years_active = {{start date|1937}}–{{end date|1949}}
| label        = [[Rosetta Reitz|Rosetta]]
}}

'''The International Sweethearts of Rhythm''' was the first integrated [[all-female band|all-women's band]] in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sher |first=Liz|date=Spring 1987 |title=The International Sweethearts of Rhythm|journal=Sage: A Scholarly Journal on Black Women |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=59–60 |issn=0741-8639}}</ref> They played [[swing music|swing]] and [[jazz]] on a national circuit that included the [[Apollo Theater]] in New York City, the [[Regal Theater, South Side (Chicago)|Regal Theater]] in Chicago, and the [[Howard Theater]] in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.womanrock.com/features/international_sweethearts.html |title=Remembering the Sweethearts of Rhythm |last=Berger |first=Jon |year=2000 |website=www.womanrock.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307045144/http://www.womanrock.com/features/international_sweethearts.html|archive-date=March 7, 2008 |access-date=August 21, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Hickok |editor-first=Gloria Nando |year=1990 |chapter=Sweethearts on Parade |author-last=Reitz |author-first=Rosetta |title=The Helicon Nine Reader: A Celebration of Women in the Arts |location=Kansas City |publisher=Helicon Nine Editions |page=[https://archive.org/details/heliconninereade0000unse/page/325 325] |isbn=9780962746000 |oclc=24068468 |author-link=Rosetta Reitz |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/heliconninereade0000unse/page/325 }}</ref> After a performance in Chicago in 1943, the ''[[Chicago Defender]]'' announced the band was "one of the hottest stage shows that ever raised the roof of the theater!"<ref name=":1">{{cite book |last=Daniels |first=Douglas Henry |year=2006 |title=One O'clock Jump: The Unforgettable History of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils|location=Boston, MA |publisher=Beacon Press |page=197 |isbn=9780807071366 |oclc=55800901}}</ref> They have been labeled "the most prominent and probably best female aggregation of the [[Big band|Big Band era]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Albertson |first=Chris |date=November–December 2000 |title=The Girls Could Swing, Too|journal=The New Crisis |volume=107 |issue=6 |page=48 |issn=1559-1603}}</ref> During feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s in America, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm became popular with feminist writers and musicologists who made it their goal to change the discourse on the history of jazz to include both men and women musicians. Flutist Antoinette Handy was one scholar who documented the story of these female musicians of color.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bustard |first=Clarke |date=February 7, 2003|url=http://www.richmond.com/special-section/black-history/article_b9802ad1-128b-5888-a6ce-622eb8e895ab.html|title=D. Antoinette Handy|work=Richmond Times-Dispatch|location=Richmond, VA|access-date=August 17, 2019}}</ref>

==History==
===Early years===
The original members of the band had met in Mississippi in 1938 at the [[Piney Woods Country Life School]], a school for poor and [[African American]] children.<ref name="Feather, Leonard 1980 p. 64">Feather, Leonard (April 13, 1980). "The Memories of Sweethearts." ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', p. 64.</ref> The majority who attended Piney Woods were orphans, including band member [[Helen Jones Woods|Helen Jones]], who had been adopted by the school's principal and founder (also the Sweethearts' original bandleader), [[Laurence C. Jones]].<ref name="Feather, Leonard 1980 p. 64"/> During a 1980 Kansas City Women's Jazz Festival interview, band member Helen Jones said that the existence of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the result of Jones's vision. In the 1930s he was inspired by [[Ina Ray Hutton]]'s [[Melodears]] to create an [[All-female band|all-female jazz band]] at Piney Woods.<ref name="Feather, Leonard 1980 p. 64"/> Having been an entrepreneur when it came to fundraising, in the early 1920s Jones supported the school by sending an all-female vocal group called the Cotton Blossom Singers on the road.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|85–86}} Following the fundraising successes of the band and other Piney Woods musical groups, he formed the Swinging Rays of Rhythm led by Consuela Carter. The band toured throughout the eastern U.S. to raise money for the school. According to the saxophonist and bandleader Lou Holloway, the Swinging Rays of Rhythm became the resident all-female swing band at Piney Woods after April 1941 when the Sweethearts began traveling cross-country.<ref name="Handy">{{cite book |last=Handy |first=D. Antoinette |year=1998 |title=The International Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Ladies Jazz Band from Piney Woods Country Life School |edition=Rev. |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810831605|oclc=39024855}}</ref>{{rp|137}} Holloway said the Swinging Rays were understudies for the Sweethearts, performing for them when the Sweethearts had to attend school after missing too many classes.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|138}} In 1941 several girls in the band fled the school's bus when they found out that some of them would not graduate because they had been touring with the band instead of sitting in class.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|171}}

===Leaving Piney Woods===
In 1941 the International Sweethearts of Rhythm became a professional act and severed connections with Piney Woods.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|6}} The band settled in [[Arlington, Virginia]], where a wealthy Virginian supported them.<ref>{{cite book |last=Peretti |first=Burton W. |year=1994 |title=The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, and Culture in Urban America |location=Urbana, IL |publisher=University of Illinois Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/creationofjazzmu0000pere/page/148 148] |isbn=9780252064210 |oclc=32154404 |url=https://archive.org/details/creationofjazzmu0000pere/page/148 }}</ref> Members from different races, including Latina, Asian, Caucasian, Black, Indian and Puerto Rican,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2016-03-01|title=The Founders of All-Female Brass Bands|url=https://music.si.edu/story/founders-all-female-brass-bands|access-date=2020-09-27|website=Smithsonian Music|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/articles/womn0700.htm |title= Sweethearts |last=Harllee |first=Teri |date=July 2000 |website=www.allaboutjazz.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010306095441/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/articles/womn0700.htm|archive-date=March 6, 2001|access-date=August 21, 2019}}</ref> lent the band an "international" flavor, and the name International Sweethearts of Rhythm was given to the group. Composed of 14- to 19-year-olds, the band included Pauline Braddy (tutored on drums by [[Sid Catlett]] and [[Jo Jones]]), Willie Mae Wong (sax), Edna Williams and thirteen others, including [[Helen Jones Woods]], who was the daughter of the Piney Wood School's founder. [[Anna Mae Winburn]] became bandleader in 1941 after resigning from her position leading the [[Cotton Club Boys (territory band)|Cotton Club Boys]] in [[North Omaha, Nebraska]], which featured guitarist [[Charlie Christian]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/encyclopaedia/i/I10.HTM |title=International Sweethearts of Rhythm |last=Clarke |first=Donald |year=2005 |website=MusicWeb Encyclopaedia of Popular Music|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051020231231/http://www.musicweb-international.com/encyclopaedia/i/I10.HTM|archive-date=October 20, 2005|access-date=August 21, 2019}}</ref> and [[Fletcher Henderson]].<ref name="Feather, Leonard 1980 p. 64"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Goins |first1=Wayne E. |last2=McKinney |first2=Craig R. |year=2005 |title=A Biography of Charlie Christian, Jazz Guitar's King of Swing|location=Lewiston, NY |publisher=Edwin Mellen Press |isbn=9780773460911|oclc=60550731}}</ref> Winburn led the band until her retirement.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|154}}

The first composer for the band was [[Eddie Durham]], with [[Jesse Stone]] replacing him in 1941. Durham left the Sweethearts to form [[Eddie Durham's All-Star Girl Orchestra|Eddie Durham's All-Star Girls Orchestra]], taking some of the Sweethearts with him.<ref name=":1" /> Stone brought in professional musicians to help bridge the gap between experienced and inexperienced players.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|159}} Two of Stone's professionals were trumpeter [[Ernestine "Tiny" Davis]] and saxophonist [[Vi Burnside]]. Both were members of the all-black [[Harlem Playgirls]] during the 1930s.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|161}} The sixteen piece International Sweethearts of Rhythm included a brass section, heavy percussion, and a deep rhythmic sense, along with many of the best female musicians of the day.<ref name="Jezebel">{{cite web |url=http://www.jezebel.org/films/sweethearts.html |title=International Sweethearts of Rhythm |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=1986 |website=www.jezebel.org |publisher=Jezebel Productions|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060711171147/http://www.jezebel.org/films/sweethearts.html|archive-date=July 11, 2006 |access-date=August 21, 2019}}</ref> About the group's self-titled recording, [[Lewis Porter]] wrote, "The sixteen recordings here reveal the dynamic blues playing and driving riffs for which the band was noted, as captured in [[Armed Forces Radio Service]] broadcasts of 1945 and 1946."<ref name="Porter, Lewis 1987">{{cite journal |last=Porter |first=Lewis|date=Spring 1987 |title=Record Reviews: International Sweethearts of Rhythm ... |journal=The Black Perspective in Music |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=126–127 |doi=10.2307/1215120|jstor=1215120}}</ref>

The venues where they performed were predominantly, if not only, for black audiences. These included the [[Apollo Theatre]] in Harlem, the [[Howard Theatre]] in Washington, D.C., the [[Regal Theatre]] in Chicago, the [[Cotton Club]] in Cincinnati, the Riviera in St. Louis, the Dreamland in Omaha, the Club Plantation and [[Million Dollar Theater]] in Los Angeles.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|6}} Critic Leonard Feather wrote, "if you are white, whatever your age, chances are you have never heard of the Sweethearts[...]".<ref name="Feather, Leonard 1980 p. 64"/>

The Sweethearts swiftly rose to fame, as evidenced by one [[Howard Theater]] show in 1941 when the band set a box office record of 35,000 patrons in one week. In Hollywood they made short films to use as "filler" in movie theaters.<ref>{{cite book |last=McPartland |first=Marian |year=2003 |title=Marian McPartland's Jazz World: All in Good Time|location=Urbana, IL |publisher=University of Illinois Press |page=145 |isbn=9780252028014|oclc=49750925|author-link=Marian McPartland}}</ref>

Although the International Sweethearts of Rhythm were successful, as they made two coast-to-coast tours in their bus, a few impediments remained.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|157}} According to pianist Johnnie Mae Rice, because of the Jim Crow laws in the southern states of the former [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]], the band "practically lived on the bus, using it for music rehearsals and regular school classes, arithmetic and everything".<ref name="Feather, Leonard 1980 p. 64"/> Segregation laws prevented them from using certain restaurants and hotels.<ref name="Weiss doc">{{cite AV media |last1=Schiller|first1=Greta|author-link1=Greta Schiller|last2=Weiss|first2=Andrea|author-link2=Andrea Weiss (filmmaker) |date=1986|title=International Sweethearts of Rhythm: America's Hottest All Girl Band|type=DVD |minutes=12:20 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Jezebel Productions|edition=2007: newly restored|oclc=123905581}}</ref> During the 1980 Kansas City Women's Jazz Festival, saxophonist [[Roz Cron]] said, "We white girls were supposed to say 'My mother was black and my father was white' because that was the way it was in the South. Well, I swore to the sheriff in El Paso that that's what I was. But he went through my wallet and there was a photo of my mother and father sitting before our little house in New England with the picket fence, and it just didn't jell. So I spent my night in jail."<ref name="Feather, Leonard 1980 p. 64"/> Because of situations like this, the band members took precautions. For example, the white women in the band wore dark makeup on stage to avoid arrest.<ref name="Helen Jones"/><ref name="McGinty">{{cite journal |last=McGinty |first=Doris Evans|date=Spring 1984 |title=Book Reviews: ''The International Sweethearts of Rhythm''|journal=The Black Perspective in Music |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=133–135 |doi=10.2307/1214974|jstor=1214974}}</ref> They made relatively little money as a traveling band. According to saxophonist Willie Mae Wong Scott, "The original members received $1 a day for food plus $1 a week allowance, for a grand total of $8 a week. That went on for years, until we got a substantial raise—to $15 a week. By the time we broke up, we were making $15 a night, three nights a week."<ref name="Feather, Leonard 1980 p. 64"/>

===Popularity===
After Stone left in 1943 he was replaced by Maurice King, who continued the tradition of professionalism that Stone brought to the group.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|159}}  (King later arranged for [[Gladys Knight]] and the [[The Spinners (American R&B group)|Detroit Spinners]].) The band performed at the [[Apollo Theater]] in 1943.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|171}} In 1944 the band was named "America's No.&nbsp;1 All-Girl Orchestra" by ''[[DownBeat]]'' magazine.<ref name="Helen Jones">{{cite web |url=http://www.omahablackmusic.com/ |title=2005 Inductee Helen (Jones) Woods |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2007 |website=www.omahablackmusic.com |publisher=Omaha Black Music Hall of Fame|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050625033105/http://www.omahablackmusic.com/|archive-date=June 25, 2005 |access-date=August 21, 2019}}</ref> The band enjoyed a large following among African-American audiences. They played battle-of-the-bands concerts against bands led by [[Fletcher Henderson]] and [[Earl Hines]] and sold out large venues such as the [[Rhumboogie Café|Rhumboogie Club]] in Chicago. According to D. Antoinette Handy, the band received a larger vote than was given to [[Erskine Hawkins]] and his band!".<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|155}} According to bassist Vi Wilson, jam sessions sometimes turned into battle of the band sessions between the Sweethearts of Rhythm and the [[Darlings of Rhythm]]. "They said, 'Those girls play like men.'"<ref name="telling">{{cite journal |last=Tucker |first=Sherrie|date=Winter–Spring 1999 |title=Telling Performances: Jazz History Remembered and Remade by the Women in the Band |journal=The Oral History Review |volume=26 |issue=1|pages=67–84|jstor=3675691|doi=10.1093/ohr/26.1.67}}</ref>{{rp|70}} During [[World War II]], African American soldiers overseas wrote the band letters, asking them to come to Europe to perform. When the band toured France and Germany in 1945, the members became the first black women to travel with the [[USO]].<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|162}}

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm performed in 1948 with Dizzy Gillespie at the fourth annual [[Cavalcade of Jazz]] concert at [[Wrigley Field (Los Angeles)|Wrigley Field]] in Los Angeles on September 12.<ref>{{cite book|title=Los Angeles's Central Avenue Jazz|last=O'Connell|first=Sean J.|year=2014|location=Charleston, SC|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781467131308|oclc=866922945}}</ref> They also performed at the eighth Cavalcade of Jazz concert on June 1, 1952 when Anna Mae Winburn was leading.<ref>"Largest Jazz Cavalcade in History To Feature Nation's Top Entertainers", ''The California Eagle'', May 29, 1952.</ref> In 1980, jazz pianist [[Marian McPartland]] convinced the organizers of the third annual Women's Jazz Festival in [[Kansas City metropolitan area|Kansas City]] to reunite the Sweethearts.<ref name="Feather, Leonard 1980 p. 64"/> Included in this interview were nine of the original members as well as six of the band's later members (four were [[White people|Caucasian]]).<ref name="Feather, Leonard 1980 p. 64"/>

===Disbanding===
Among the reasons given for the band's breakup were aging, deaths of members, weariness of life on the road, marriage, career changes, problems with managers, and lack of funds.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|165–166}} [[Tiny Davis]] turned down the opportunity to tour with the band in 1946.<ref>{{cite book |last= Placksin |first=Sally |year=1982 |title=American Women in Jazz: 1900 to the Present: Their Words, Lives, and Music|url= https://archive.org/details/americanwomeninj00plac |url-access= registration |edition=1st|location=New York, NY |publisher=Seaview Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanwomeninj00plac/page/80 80] |isbn=9780872237568|oclc=8280679}}</ref> Rae Lee Jones continued to fight for the Sweethearts, but after 1946 the key instrumentalists had left and the band began to unravel with Jones's death in 1949. Guitarist Carline Ray Russell said musical tastes were changing.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|165}} Jazz writer Frank Tirro said that bebop musicians such as [[Dizzy Gillespie]], [[Charlie Parker]], [[Thelonious Monk]], and [[Kenny Clarke]] were trying to change jazz from dance music to a chamber music art form.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|167}}

==Legacy==
Despite the impact of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm being repeatedly ignored in popular histories of jazz, the band enjoyed a resurgence in popularity among [[feminist]]s in the 1960s and 1970s.  In fact, the band was among the first marketed as [[women's music]].  Several feminist writers, musicologists, and others have taken on the task of elevating women's contributions to and integral participation in the making of jazz history.  For example, [[Sherrie Tucker]], author of several articles on the subject matter as well as the book ''Swing Shift: "All-Girl" Bands of the 1940s'', states the importance of bringing women into the male-dominated construction of jazz history:

{{quote|text=[T]hrough serious study of jazzwomen's oral histories, scholars might learn new narrative strategies for imagining and telling jazz histories in which women and men are both present.  Because women who played instruments other than piano were seldom the 'favored artists' of the 'superior genres,' and because they were hardly ever recorded, they have had little access to the deceptive 'coherence' of mainstream histories.  Therefore, they are uniquely positioned to suggest new frameworks for telling and interpreting jazz history.<ref name="telling"/>{{rp|68}} }}

With this said, perhaps one of the greatest outcomes of the feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s, for the International Sweethearts of Rhythm and their devoted fans at least, is the record contribution of the producer [[Rosetta Reitz]], who has shared with the world a small but quintessential piece of aural history.  Her biographical liner notes for the ''International Sweethearts of Rhythm'' record, as well as top quality recordings, have been made available worldwide through her company, [[Rosetta Records]], whose focus is primarily to feature female and black jazz and blues musicians who are not usually recognized for their tremendous talents.<ref name="Porter, Lewis 1987"/> The ''International Sweethearts of Rhythm'' record compilation (1984) was followed two years later by a documentary short film directed and produced by [[Greta Schiller]] and [[Andrea Weiss (filmmaker)|Andrea Weiss]],<ref name="Jezebel"/> "at the onset of the third-wave feminist movement".<ref name="McGee">{{cite book |last=McGee |first=Kristin A. |year=2009 |title=Some Liked It Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928-1959|location=Middletown, CT |publisher=Wesleyan University Press|isbn=9780819569073|oclc=276339398}}</ref>{{rp|183}} ''[[International Sweethearts of Rhythm (film)|International Sweethearts of Rhythm: America's Hottest All-Girl Band]]'' premiered at the 1986 [[New York Film Festival]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |date=September 19, 1986 |title=Film Festival Vibrates With Musical Accents |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/19/movies/film-festival-vibrates-with-musical-accents.html?searchResultPosition=3 |work=The New York Times|access-date=October 3, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137025/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_ql_dt_2 |title=International Sweethearts of Rhythm (1986): Release Info |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2019 |website=IMDb.com|access-date=October 3, 2019}}</ref>

There has also been considerable scholarship conducted regarding the "International" aspect of their name and the effect it had on the band's acceptance among African Americans and whites in the South.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Sherrie |year=2000 |title=Swing Shift: All-Girl Bands of the 1940s|url=https://archive.org/details/swingshiftallgir0000tuck |url-access=registration |location=Durham, NC |publisher=Duke University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/swingshiftallgir0000tuck/page/163 163]|isbn=9780822324850|oclc=42397506|author-link=Sherrie Tucker}}</ref> According to one jazz historian the band membership included "Willie Mae Wong, Chinese saxophonist; Alma Cortez, Mexican clarinet player; Nina de LaCruz, Indian saxophonist; and Nova Lee McGee, Hawaiian trumpet player. They were all children of mixed parents; the rest were Afro-American."<ref name="RR">{{Cite AV media notes |title=International Sweethearts of Rhythm |year=1984 |first=Rosetta |last=Reitz |author-link=Rosetta Reitz |type=album liner notes |publisher=Rosetta Records |id=RR 1312 |location=New York, NY}}</ref> A publicity poster for the band's September 1940 performance in [[Emporia, Virginia]] included the text "America's Greatest Female Band, The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, In Whose Veins Flow the Blood of Many Races: Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Negro".<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|119}} The first white musicians joined in 1943.<ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|119}}

There were also several [[lesbian]]s in the band, including Tiny Davis, whose independent music career and partnership with Ruby Lucas were later the subject of Schiller and Weiss' documentary ''[https://jezebelproductions.org/tiny-ruby-hell-divin-women-store/ Tiny and Ruby: Hell Divin' Women].''<ref>{{cite book |last=Carby |first=Hazel V. |year=1999 |title=Cultures in Babylon: Black Britain and African America|location=London, England |publisher=Verso |page=61 |isbn=9781859848845|oclc=42035800|author-link=Hazel Carby}}</ref>

In 2004 the [[Kit McClure Band]] released ''The Sweethearts Project'' on Redhot Records. It is a tribute album recorded entirely with an all-female band using only songs the Sweethearts recorded.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cdbaby.com/cd/kitmcclureband |title=The Sweethearts Project |author=Kit McClure Band |date=2004 |website=CD Baby|access-date=September 12, 2019}}</ref>

In March 2011, six of the surviving members of the band donated memorabilia and artifacts from their touring years to the [[National Museum of American History]]. The ceremony marking the donations was the kick-off event of the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s [[Jazz Appreciation Month]], and the band members received a standing ovation from attendees.<ref name="Trescott">{{cite news |last=Trescott |first=Jacqueline|date=March 30, 2011 |title=The stories and artifacts of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm added to the Smithsonian collections |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/the-stories-and-artifacts-of-the-international-sweethearts-of-rhythm-added-to-the-smithsonian-collections/2011/03/29/AFS7P9wB_blog.html |work=The Washington Post |location=Washington, DC |access-date=October 27, 2019}}</ref> The International Sweethearts of Rhythm Collection at the Archives Center, National Museum of American History makes available to the public for research news clippings, photographs, correspondence, ephemera from USO travels, newsletters, books related to the group, and sound recordings.

In 2012, the compilation album ''International Sweethearts of Rhythm: Hottest Women’s Band of the 1940s'' was selected by the [[Library of Congress]] for preservation in the [[National Recording Registry]] for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{cite news |last=Richards |first=Chris |date=May 23, 2012 |title=Library of Congress's National Recording Registry adds new picks |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/2012/05/23/gIQAEU2ljU_story.html?_=ddid-3-1572206580|work=The Washington Post|access-date=October 27, 2019}}</ref>

In May 2021, the Urban One Honors ceremony recognized the band for their contributions as a symbol of success over adversity.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Pioneering Legacy Of The International Sweethearts of Rhythm|url=https://www.npr.org/2021/05/15/997204632/the-pioneering-legacy-of-the-international-sweethearts-of-rhythm|access-date=2021-05-16|website=NPR.org|language=en}}</ref>

==Personnel==
The lineup of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm changed throughout the band's career. The names listed below are how the members were billed at the time; names after marriage may be different.

<div style="float:left; width:50%;">
* Virginia Audley † – vocalist
* Grace Bayron – saxophone
* Judy Bayron – trombone
* [[Pauline Braddy]] † – drums
* Lorraine Brown – tenor and baritone saxophone
* Nancy Brown – trumpet
* [[Clora Bryant]] – trumpet and vocalist
* [[Vi Burnside]] – tenor saxophone
* Toby Butler – trumpet
* Ina Belle Byrd † – saxophone, trombone
* Ray Carter – trumpet
* Ester Louise Cooke – trumpet and trombone
* Alma Cortez † – clarinet and saxophone
* [[Roz Cron|Rosalind "Roz" Cron]] ‡ – alto saxophone
* [[Ernestine "Tiny" Davis]] – trumpet
* Nina de La Cruz † – saxophone
* [[Lucille Dixon Robertson|Lucille Dixon]] – bass
* Amy Garrison – saxophone
* Margaret "Trump" Gipson – bass
* Ione Grisham † – alto saxophone
* Irene Grisham † – tenor saxophone
* [[Helen Jones Woods|Helen Jones]] † – trombone
* [[Zena Latto]]<ref name="ljinterview">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/LinkedJazzZenaLattoInterview2015|title=Linked Jazz Interview with Zena Latto, 2015|author=Linked Jazz|publisher=Internet Archive|date=March 25, 2015|access-date=April 27, 2016}}</ref> – saxophone 
* Roxanna Lucas – guitar
* Evelyn McGee † – vocalist
* Nova Lee McGee † – trumpet
* Colleen Murray – tenor saxophone
</div><div style="float:right; width:50%;">
* Sadie Pankey † – trumpet
* Geneva Frances Perry – alto and tenor saxophone
* Marge Pettiford – saxophone
* Mim Polak – trumpet
* Corinne Posey – trombone
* Lena Posey – trombone
* [[Carline Ray]] – double bass
* Johnnie Mae Rice † – piano
* Bernice Rothchild † – bass
* Helen Saine – baritone and alto saxophone
* Edna Smith – bass
* Mabel Louise "[[Big Maybelle]]" Smith – vocalist
* Ernestine Snyder †
* Lucy Snyder †
* Johnnie Mae Stansbury – trumpet
* [[Jean Starr]] – trumpet
* Jean Travis – trombone
* Edna Williams † – trumpet, accordion, singer, arranger
* Selma Lee Williams – tenor saxophone
* [[Anna Mae Winburn]] – band leader, singer, piano, guitar
* Willie Mae Wong † – baritone saxophone 
* Myrtle Young – tenor saxophone

Arrangers/musical directors:
* [[Eddie Durham]]
* Maurice King
* [[Jesse Stone]]
</div>{{Clear}}

: † Members of the charter 1937 band:<ref name="downbeat">{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Honoring Jazz's Historic Sweethearts|magazine= DownBeat|location=Chicago, IL |date=April 2011|volume=78 |issue=4 |page=D8}}</ref><ref name="Handy"/>{{rp|112}}
: ‡ One of the first white Sweethearts

==Discography==
The band recorded four songs.<ref name="Yanow">{{cite book |last=Yanow |first=Scott |year=2004 |title=Jazz on Film: The Complete Story of the Musicians & Music Onscreen |url=https://archive.org/details/jazzonfilm00scot |url-access=registration |location=San Francisco, CA |publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=9780879307837|oclc=55886358 |author-link=Scott Yanow}}</ref>{{rp|19}}

*''International Sweethearts of Rhythm: Hottest Women's Band of the 1940s'' ([[Rosetta Records]])

===Track listing===
# "Galvanizing" (Maurice King)
# "Sweet Georgia Brown" (Bernie, Pinkard, Casey)
# "Central Avenue Boogie" ([[Buck Clayton]])
# "[[Bugle Call Rag]]" (Meyers, Pettis, Schoebel)
# "She's Crazy with the Heat" (Maurice King)
# "Jump Children" (Sweethearts and King)
# "Vi Vigor" (Maurice King)
# "Lady Be Good" ( [[George Gershwin|George]] and [[Ira Gershwin]])
# "Gin Mill Special" ([[Erskine Hawkins]])
# "[[Honeysuckle Rose (song)|Honeysuckle Rose]]" ([[Andy Razaf|Razaf]] and [[Fats Waller|Waller]])
# "That Man of Ine" (Maurice King)
# "Diggin' Dykes" (Vi Burnside)
# "Don't Get It Twisted" (Maurice King)
# "Tuxedo Junction" (Dash, Johnson, Hawkins, Feyne)
# "Slightly Frantic" (Maurice King)
# "One O'Clock Jump" ([[Count Basie]])

The following album is a compilation of live radio appearances:

* ''Hot Licks 1944–1946: Rare Recordings from One of the Best American All Girl Bands of the Swing Era''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/jazz/2006/Hot_Licks_DSOY692.htm |title=The International Sweethearts of Rhythm: Hot Licks 1944-1946 |last=Woolf |first=Jonathan |date=n.d. |website=musicweb-international.com |publisher=Music on the Web |access-date=September 13, 2019}}</ref>

==Filmography==
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were featured in several short films (including [[Soundies]]), one feature-length film,<ref name="Yanow"/>{{rp|90}} <ref name="McGee"/>{{rp|261}} and two documentary films. They were:
* ''Harlem Jam Session'' (1946 Associated Artists Productions - Soundie)
* ''How About That Jive'' (1947 Associated Artists Productions - Soundie)
* ''International Sweethearts of Rhythm'' (1946 Associated Artists Productions - Soundie)
* ''Jump Children'' (1946 Alexander Productions - Soundie)
* ''[[That Man of Mine]]'' (1946 Alexander Productions - feature film)
* ''That Man of Mine'' (1946 Alexander Productions - Soundie)
* ''Harlem Carnival'' (1949)
* ''[[International Sweethearts of Rhythm (film)|International Sweethearts of Rhythm]]'' (1986 documentary directed by [[Greta Schiller]] and [[Andrea Weiss (filmmaker)|Andrea Weiss]])
* ''[https://thegirlsintheband.com/ The Girls in the Band]'' (2011 documentary directed by Judy Chaikin; includes segments on the band)

A 2004 DVD called ''Swing Era: Sarah Vaughan'' features Vaughan, along with little-seen material from the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/swing-era-sarah-vaughan-v288203 |title=Swing Era: Sarah Vaughan (2004) |last=Deming |first=Mark |date=n.d. |website=AllMovie |access-date=September 13, 2019}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of all-female bands]]
* [[Music in Omaha]]

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Nelson|first=Marilyn|others=illustrated by Jerry Pinkney|title=Sweethearts of Rhythm: The Story of the Greatest All-Girl Swing Band in the World|url=https://archive.org/details/sweetheartsofrhy0000nels|url-access=registration|year=2009|location=New York, NY|publisher=Dial Books|isbn=9780803731875|oclc=269282146}} (young adult book)
* {{cite book|last=Deans|first=Karen|others=illustrated by Joe Cepeda|title=Swing Sisters: The Story of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm|year=2015|location=New York, NY|publisher=Holiday House|edition=First|isbn=9780823419708|oclc=843785531}} (juvenile book)

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.beautyinmusic.com/assets/artists_large_pics/international_sweethearts_rhythm_bwbw.jpg Promotional photo, c. 1946].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071019134132/http://www.sepiajazz.com/i/Women_band001a.jpg Band photo]
* [http://www.guitaristka.ru/zapad/sweethearts/sweetheart-film.jpg Concert poster]
* [http://www.guitaristka.ru/zapad/sweethearts/sweethearts_SusieQa.jpg Band promotional photo]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090809111359/http://www.jazz.com/features-and-interviews/2009/3/17/octojazzarian-profile-carline-ray Profile of Carline Ray (of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm)] by Arnold Jay Smith (www.jazz.com)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20010124085000/https://www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_women.htm "Women in Jazz" by Sherrie Tucker at PBS.org]

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[[Category:Swing ensembles]]
[[Category:Big bands]]
[[Category:Piney Woods Country Life School]]
[[Category:History of racial segregation in the United States]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1937]]
[[Category:All-female bands]]
[[Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings]]