DIE US-AMERIKANISCHE SCHLAGZEUG-PIONIERIN VIOLA SMITH IST IM ALTER VON 107 JAHREN GESTORBEN

Die im November 1929 in Mount Calvary (Wisconsin) geborene US-amerikanische Schlagzeug-Pionierin Viola Smith (geborene Schmitz) ist am 21. Oktober 2020 in Costa Mesa (Kalifornien) gestorben. Bis ins Jahr 1975 spielte sie regelmässig mit Orchestern, Swing Bands, vielen Formationen und Stars der Populärmusik, in Filmen, Fernsehshows und im Broadway-Musical «Cabaret».

Bild: © WFL Drum Co. Chicago, 1950

Pioneering drummer Viola Smith has died, aged 107

The original ‘hep girl‘ played a big part in the acceptance of female musicians

Stuart Williams

https://www.musicradar.com/news/pioneering-drummer-viola-smith-has-died-aged-107

Viola Smith, swing era’s ‘fastest girl drummer in the world,‘ dies at 107

With men away at war, she wrote, «Instead of replacing them with what may be mediocre talent, why not let some of the great girl musicians of the country take their places? . . . Girls work right along beside men in the factories, in the offices. . . . So why not in dance bands?»

Adam Bernstein

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/viola-smith-swing-eras-fastest-girl-drummer-in-the-world-dies-at-107/2020/10/23/770c3758-154a-11eb-bc10-40b25382f1be_story.html

Smith (…) has been credited with blazing a path for women in what had been a male preserve

Smith took up drumming as a teenager in Wisconsin, when her father assembled the Schmitz Sisters Family Orchestra with his eight daughters. Her showcase was The Snake Charmer, a jazzy arabesque with explosive drum-fills.

Edward Helmore

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/oct/24/viola-smith-swing-big-band-drummer-dies-aged-107

Schlagzeug-Pionierin Viola Smith ist tot

Weil sie in den Dreissigern extrem präzise und gut Schlagzeug spielte, galt sie nicht nur als die erste Frau in der Männerdomäne, sondern auch als die schnellste. Nun ist Viola Smith mit 107 Jahren gestorben.

evh

https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/viola-smith-schnellste-schlagzeugerin-der-welt-gestorben-a-99674c50-48df-48b2-8a73-64cff83ed6d2

Videos:

NAMM Oral History Program

https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/viola-smith

Viola Smith for the Women of Rock Oral History Project

https://vimeo.com/254614468

Viola Smith: America’s Original Hep Girl on Tom Tom TV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlzCWHw7ZW8&feature=emb_logo

Viola Smith on Drum Talk TV at 102 Years Young!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TP4SKSaGuxs&feature=emb_logo

Frances Carroll & Her Coquettes Featuring Drummer Viola Smith