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International Sweethearts of Rhythm

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Musicians

The Resume

    (1937-1945)
    Formed in Piney Woods, Mississippi, U.S.
    All-female Jazz and Swing band
    Thirty-seven members
    Conducted by Laurence C. Jones (1937-41) and Anna Mae Winburn (1941-49)
    Other members included Pauline Braddy, Willie Mae Wong, Edna Williams, Helen Jones Woods, Jesse Stone, Rosalind Cron, Anna Mae Winburn and Rae Lee Jones
    Performed at the Apollo Theater (New York), Regal Theater (Chicago) and Howard Theater (Washington)
    Recorded 'Bugle Call Rag,' 'Honeysuckle Rose,' and 'Jump Children'

Why they might be annoying:

    Tiny Davis turned down the opportunity to tour with the band in 1946.
    They added ‘International’ to the band name despite all of its members being American-born.
    Reasons given for the band's breakup have ranged from ‘[members] aging, deaths of members, weariness of life on the road, marriage, career changes, problems with managers, lack of funds,’ and the end of the Big Band era.
    They didn’t start getting any kind of mainstream coverage or attention in the history of Jazz until the start of the feminist movement in the 1970’s.

Why they might not be annoying:

    They performed with Dizzy Gillespie.
    It originated in the Piney Woods Country Life School to train black children in central Mississippi.
    It was one of the most diverse music groups in the country for the Big Band era; it included African American, Asian, Native American, and mixed race women.
    Their status as an interracial band, when two white women joined in 1943, violated both law and custom in Mississippi and across the Deep South.
    Members of the band faced constant harassment from law enforcement while touring throughout the region.
    They became the first black women to travel with the USO, including in occupied France and Germany during World War II.
    They were the subject of an acclaimed 1986 eponymous documentary that won numerous awards.
    Six of its surviving members of the band donated memorabilia and artifacts from their touring years to the National Museum of American History in 2011.

Credit: BoyWithTheGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 10 Votes: 10.0% Annoying