Swing Shift: All-Girl Bands of the 1940s

Contents: Playing the changes of World War 2 Working the swing shift: Effects of World War 2 on all-girl bands "Hours of charm" with Paul Spitalny Extracurricular activities with the prairie view co-eds Road hazards Surveillance and survival in the Jim Crow south Internationalism and the sweethearts of rhythm The darlings of rhythm: On the road and ready to run USO- camp shows Female big bands, male mass audiences: gendered performances in a theatre of war Battles of a "sophisticated lady": Ada Leonard and the USO "And, fellas, they're American girls!": on the road with the Sharon Rogers all-girl band Conclusion: postwar changes, familiar refrains

Sherrie Tucker is Assistant Professor of Women's Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. A longtime jazz fan, she has conducted oral histories for the Smithsonian Jazz Oral History Program, writes a column called "Jazzwomen Jam" for "Jazz Now Magazine," and was formerly a jazz radio announcer in San Francisco.

"Swing Shift is packed with entertaining anecdotes, instances of courage, good humour and endurance, and it is a tribute to a level of musicianship which exposes George T. Simon's put-down in The Big Bands (1967)-that 'only men can play good jazz'-for the nonsense it is." - John Mole, Times Literary Supplement "Armed with astounding archival research and firsthand accounts from more than 100 female musicians, Sherrie Tucker ... sets the record straight in Swing Shift, which chronicles the careers of such bands as the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Phil Spitalny's Hours of Charm, the Darlings of Rhythm, and the Prairie View Co-Eds... Tucker traces the experiences of these women-from loving the music and wowing the fellas to sexual harassment and travels of a racially mixed group through a Jim Crow South." - Publishers Weekly "[Tucker's] accounts of these all-girl bands are noteworthy, especially when compared with major swing jazz histories by male authors who tend to diminish or dismiss contributions of female musicians." - Nancy Ann Lee, America's Jazz Times "[P]recious little has been written about these women who were an integral part of early-1940s America - which is what makes Sherrie Tucker's Swing Shift so invaluable. In this entertaining, exhaustively researched book, Tucker restores to glory ... all the jumpin', jivin', and wailin' women who came to be known as 'Swing Shift Maisies.'" - Renee Graham, Boston Globe "Swing Shift provides a counter-narrative to jazz history as we know it... [Tucker] does a tremendous service in bringing the existence of these all-girl bands to light, adding an important chapter to both jazz and women's histories." - Kate Winslow, Thirsty Ear Magazine "[This] may be the most significant contribution to our understanding of jazz history to see print for some time... This book is an experience that no observer of the jazz scene should be without. Swing Shift is truly a wake-up call." - W. Royal Stokes, Jazz Notes "[A] valuable new book on the largely forgotten history of female jazz." - Nat Hentoff, Los Angeles Times "Sherrie Tucker has produced a MUST READ and very relevant book for all musicians... It's a great read and an eye-opener." - Rosalind Cron, Overture "Swing Shift offers engaging tales of many specific bands... [A] feast of facts about the lives, drive and courage of talented women who functioned only on the fringes, at best, of the music world in peacetime, and who brought joy to Americans in the 1940s." - Leslie Gourse, The Women's Review of Books