Sax Appeal: Ivy Benson and Her All-Girl Band

(Hardback)

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Ivy Benson was born to be a musician. A good pianist by the age of ten, she was influenced by the music of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and other jazz legends to become a professional instrumentalistand at age fifteen, having taught herself to play the clarinet and saxophone, Benson joined an all-girl band in Yorkshire, England. Sax Appeal chronicles Bensons lifebeginning with her childhood of relative poverty, exploring her time as a teenage musician playing in the seedy clubs of London, and highlighting her founding of a professional all-female jazz and swing band that would remain active for over forty years.

Benson started her band during the dark days of World War II in 1939 as an antidote to the lack of men, who were all serving in the military. Determined to produce music as good as the male bands, she was a tough coach as well as a mother figure to her young instrumentalists. She faced opposition from most male bandleaders and critics who claimed that women could not play jazz. There were also the dangers and privations of wartime touringand the constant loss of girls who were lured away by GIs. Nevertheless the band was successful and in great demand. Benson employed well over 250 performers over the years and influenced the careers of many aspiring female jazz musicians. Considered by some to be the instigator of girl power and by others an astute businesswoman with a knack for timing, Sax Appeal thoroughly examines the themes and brings the musical pioneer to vivid life.

Reviews

Drawing on interviews with many of Bensons former band members and other primary accounts, Tennant weaves an engaging, well-contextualized chronological account. The narrative is straightforward, and Tennant addresses gender discrimination and Bensons legacy. Recommended. * Choice Reviews *
A lively, carefully researched book that recounts the lives of Benson and her sister musicians in the 1930s and on into the pre- and postwar years in England. As in other fields during World War II, women musicians had more opportunities when their male counterparts left civilian life to serve their country. At first the group played only jazz and swing, but under Ivys leadership their repertoire grew to include current pop hits as well. Through the years the roster of musicians would change frequently as many of the players left to marry, often to American GIs. Benson once quipped, I sometimes thought it was not so much a band as a mobile marriage market. If this story strikes a chord with readers, theyll appreciate the recordings on YouTube. VERDICT A satisfying look at a trailblazer and noteworthy role model. * Library Journal *
From Yorkshire lass to Silver Lady, Sax Appeal is an insightful and engaging book, which vividly portrays Ivy Bensons ambition, spirit and musical integrity. -- Charlotte Harding, composer, saxophonist and co-founder of Over 100 Years of Women and the Saxophone

Author Bio

Janet Tennant is the author of Mistress and Muse, a critically acclaimed biography of Ursula, the poet, librettist, and lover of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. She lives in Lichfield, England.