Jazzwomen: Marian McPartland's Unpublished Book on Women in Jazz

Abstract

In 1978, jazz pianist Marian McPartland signed a contract with Oxford University Press to write a survey history on women in jazz. By 1987, McPartland had given up on the project, instead releasing All In Good Time, a featured collection of previously published works. This case study examines and uncovers McPartland’s unpublished book titled Jazzwomen. Through a close examination of her grant proposals, research notes, transcribed interviews, book proposal, and extant drafts found in her archive, I trace how McPartland’s research attempted to reconfigure the historical narrative of jazz and recover the enduring role women played. Through the intersectional lens of advocacy, which involved collaboration across McPartland’s self-created network, I demonstrate how Jazzwomen represents the many difficulties McPartland and other women faced to produce scholarship on their history.