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Viola Smith, "the world's fastest thresher", dies at 107

2020-10-26T17:02:46.734Z


Born Viola Schmitz on November 29, 1912 in Wisconsin, a pioneer of her art, this gifted musician is considered one of the most important female figures in jazz.


What fate!

She will have been both pioneer and venerable.

The first female drummer in jazz history, Viola Smith, passed away on October 21, at the age of 107.

She was born on November 29, 1912 in Wisconsin, two years before the outbreak of World War I.

Her frenzied rhythm with sticks in hand, her mastery of percussion, her sense of swing, made her, from the 1930s of the last century, one of the most important female figures in jazz.

To read also: Catherine Farhi: "Women are the roots of jazz"

"

The fastest thresher in the world

"

Viola Smith was nicknamed during her lifetime, with great accuracy, "

the fastest thresher in the world

".

As frenzied as she was playful behind her impressive percussion ensemble, on the advice of her father, who was the boss of a jazz club, she had her first steps in the 1920s in the family orchestra, The Schmidt Sisters.

This first group was composed, and it is certainly already a record, of her seven sisters and of course herself.

Read also: The new voices of jazz are feminine

Seasoned, a decade later, with her sister Mildred Bartasch, who plays the clarinet and saxophone, she joined The Coquettes, an orchestra composed exclusively of women.

In 1942, she worked for a time with the conductor Phil Spitany, who also directed a very popular female group at the time, The Hour of Charm.

Finally, and this is not a detail of the story, Viola Smith will be the drummer of the Kit Kat Band, a formation which according to legend inspired the famous musical Cabaret.

With this artistic kinship, Viola Smith paved the way for another diva ... Liza Minelli.

As a tribute to "the fastest drummer in the world",

Le Figaro

presents, below, a rhythmic tour de force by Viola Smith with her Coquettes in 1939.

Viola Smith in her works with The Coquettes, a jazz group exclusively composed of female musicians.

Source: lefigaro

All life articles on 2020-10-26

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