March 8 – International Women’s Day
There are moments when even the projects born from our deepest passions seem to lose their voice.
For a few months, Le Jazziste by Mary fell silent. Not because I had run out of inspiration, nor because I had stopped believing in its mission. Quite the opposite. It was precisely the weight of that mission that made me pause.
Every time I discovered another jazzwoman forgotten by history, every time I read yet another testimony of discrimination, or reflected on the challenges that women still face in the jazz world today, I found myself asking the same question:
Can a small project really make a difference?
I believe this is a question shared by anyone who decides to dedicate their time and energy to creating change. When inequalities seem so deeply rooted and progress feels painfully slow, it becomes easy to believe that your own contribution is simply too small to matter.
I went through exactly that feeling.
Is it the famous “Imposter Syndrome”?
One of the least visible aspects of independent cultural work is that behind every article and every post there is a person who sometimes doubts themselves.
During those months, I kept wondering whether I was truly the right person to tell the stories of jazzwomen. Whether I knew enough. Whether I had enough experience. Whether I was authoritative enough.
The famous imposter syndrome can be incredibly persuasive.
It convinces you that someone else could do a better job. That what you create is never enough. That your voice doesn’t really matter.
And then, somehow, something changes.
Perhaps it was simply the arrival of spring.
Or perhaps I simply remembered why this project had begun.
Le Jazziste by Mary was never meant to change the world on its own.
It was born because, throughout my university studies, my research journey, and my life as a jazz singer, I kept coming across extraordinary women whose names rarely appeared in history books, educational programmes, or conversations about music. Pianists, composers, drummers, arrangers, saxophonists, conductors, and singers who had played a fundamental role in shaping jazz, yet remained at the margins of its official narrative.
Every new discovery left me asking the same question:
Why is hardly anyone talking about them?
So I decided to start doing it myself: one article at a time, one biography at a time, one performance at a time, one listening recommendation at a time, believing that every small gesture has the power to build something meaningful.
There is an image that often comes to mind whenever I think about this project.
I imagine a theatre in complete silence. Suddenly, someone begins to applaud. At first, it almost seems pointless—a single pair of hands clapping into empty space. Then another person joins. Then another.
Until that solitary applause becomes the loudest sound in the room.
Perhaps this is how change really works.
Perhaps it doesn’t begin with one extraordinary gesture, but with thousands of seemingly invisible ones.
A student discovering, for the first time, that there was a great jazz pianist nobody had ever told her about.
A musician finally feeling represented.
A reader looking at jazz from a different perspective.
That, too, is change.
And that is precisely why, on International Women’s Day, I decided to reopen the doors of Le Jazziste by Mary.
Why Sarah Vaughan?
To celebrate this new beginning, I chose to pay tribute to one of the greatest voices in jazz history—and one of my personal favourites—Sarah Vaughan.
Not only because of her astonishing vocal technique—her remarkable range, extraordinary harmonic control, and fearless improvisational freedom—but also because of what she represents.
Sarah Vaughan did far more than sing jazz.
She redefined what a jazz singer could be.
At a time when vocalists were often considered secondary to instrumentalists, Vaughan demonstrated that the human voice could possess the same harmonic sophistication, virtuosity, and expressive depth as any instrument on stage.
For this reason, I chose to perform These Foolish Things (Strachey/Marvell, 1935), a standard that, in her hands, becomes an intimate emotional universe where every note breathes and every phrase tells a story.
But this tribute is also deeply personal.
Alongside being a researcher, I am also a jazz singer, and I firmly believe that one of the most authentic ways to understand the women who shaped this music is to engage directly with their artistry.
Singing the very notes that Sarah Vaughan transformed into art, exploring her phrasing, her sense of time, and her extraordinary expressive depth became, for me, a way of entering into dialogue with her artistic legacy.
I believe that listening, studying, and performing are inseparable acts. It is precisely where scholarly research meets musical practice that Le Jazziste by Mary comes to life: a project that seeks not only to tell the stories of jazzwomen, but also to keep their voices alive through performance.
🎥 Click on the image below to watch my interpretation of These Foolish Things, inspired by Sarah Vaughan’s unforgettable performance.
Every day is Women’s Day
International Women’s Day offers an important opportunity to celebrate achievements while reflecting on the challenges that still remain. Yet representation cannot be confined to a single day.
The stories of jazzwomen deserve to be heard every day of the year.
They deserve a place in universities, conservatories, festivals, concert halls, history books, playlists, and everyday conversations.
Because jazz was never built by men alone. It was also shaped by thousands of extraordinary women who composed, conducted, improvised, taught, experimented, and transformed this music.
Many of them are still waiting to be heard…
And that is exactly why Le Jazziste by Mary continues its journey, steadfastly and passionately.
One chapter at a time.
🌹 Listening recommendation
Sarah Vaughan – These Foolish Things
If you have never immersed yourself in Sarah Vaughan’s artistry, this recording is one of the most beautiful places to begin.
Listen carefully to the way she shapes every phrase, bends time, and transforms a familiar standard into something entirely her own.
Because, above all, jazz is about finding your own voice.
With kindness and swing. Always. 🌹
Mary
