Vol. 16 No. 2 (2025): State of the Field: Jazz and Gender (issue 2)
Articles

Three Strikes As Well: Asian, Woman, and Jazz Musician

Theresa Chen
Bio

Published 2025-11-04

How to Cite

Chen, T. (2025). Three Strikes As Well: Asian, Woman, and Jazz Musician. Journal of Jazz Studies, 16(2), 226–242. Retrieved from https://jjs.libraries.rutgers.edu/index.php/jjs/article/view/291

Abstract

In a 1951 Downbeat Magazine, Leonard Feather identified the primary issue facing British jazz pianist Marian McPartland’s work as a musician: she had “three hopeless strikes against her: English, white, and a girl.”

This article explores how Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) women jazz musicians view a similar  “three strikes” related to their their cultural, gendered, and musical backgrounds. Following a review of relevant scholarship by Lina Y. S. Fong and Kevin Fellezs, this study consists of my analysis of semi-structured interviews with eleven AAPI women jazz musicians of different nationalities, instruments, and generations.