L to R: Carmen McRae, Micah Barnes, Heather Bambrick, Billy Newton-Davis & Bessie Smith
Pride Month is a time to reflect and celebrate on the contributions of LGBTQ+ people while acknowledging the inequities that the community still faces today. In the world of jazz, queer artists have made significant contributions to the genre, from Ma Rainey to Cole Porter to Billy Strayhorn. While their contributions are celebrated and recognized, it’s still not a safe space for jazz artists to be out and proud today.
This list is an introduction to musicians who have and are currently making their mark in jazz today while celebrating all aspects of their identities.
Micah Barnes
Considered one of Canada’s premier vocalists, you might know Micah Barnes from his time as a member of the internationally acclaimed acappella group The Nylons or from his solo work as a cabaret jazz singer. Micah does all this and more while giving voice to the LGBTQ experience as a out and proud gay man.
Billie Holiday
One of the greatest vocalists of the 20th century, Billie Holiday’s artistry reflected the times from love to the lynching of Black people in the American South. During her short life, she was openly bisexual and had relationships with both men and women. Whether she sang about the beauty of love or the pain of life, she sang it with authenticity and grit.
Andy Bey
We recently lost Andy Bey back in April at the age of 85. Known as your favourite musician’s favourite musician, Bey came from a musical family in Newark, New Jersey and as a teenager started his career in jazz as one-third of Andy and the Bey Sisters along with his older sisters Salome and Geraldine. Bey launched his solo career in the mid-1960s and released his debut album in 1974. However, it was a career renaissance in the mid-1990s that brought Bey back in the spotlight. His 1996 album, Ballads, Blues & Bey, introduced audiences to Bey as an out, proud and HIV-positive man. He would go on to release eight albums with his final album, Pages from an Imaginary Life, released in 2014.
Patricia Barber
The daughter of a jazz saxophonist who played with Glenn Miller and Bud Freeman, Patricia Barber got her start playing classical piano at age 6 and later studied piano at the University of Iowa. She’s been described as a “dazzling and uncompromising jazz artist who blurs the lines between poetry, jazz, and art music.”
Fred Hersch
Acclaimed pianist and educator Fred Hersch was one of the first jazz musicians to come out as gay and HIV-positive over 35 years ago, during a time when it was unsafe for closeted jazz artists to come out. Since then, he has been an activist for AIDS services and education.
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was the most popular female blues singers of the 1930s and served as a major influence for future jazz vocalists, including Billie Holiday who was a close friend. Although she passed away tragically in a car crash at the age of 45, Smith’s influence as the “Empress of the Blues” continues to be recognized even to this day.
Ori Dagan
Ori Dagan is no stranger to jazz.fm91 or the Canadian Jazz Scene. For decades, he has been using his platform to amplify emerging and local jazz talent through his platform Jazz in Toronto. Outside of that, he’s known as “Canada’s Next Top Crooner”.
Carmen McRae
Considered one of the most influential jazz stylists of the 20th century, Carmen McRae was a vocalist, composer, pianist and actress who believed that one’s sexuality was a dynamic part of a continuum. Although married twice, McRae would have relationships with both men and women throughout her life.
Ian Shaw
Photo credit: James Christos
One of the leading voices in the UK Jazz Scene, Ian Shaw wears many hats as a vocalist, actor, comedian and host of Ronnie Scott’s Radio Show airing Thursday nights on jazz.fm91.
Adi Braun
Jazz and Cabaret vocalist Adi Braun’s most recent album, Night and Day: The Cole Porter Songbook, is a tribute to another queer icon in jazz, composer Cole Porter whose standards “Love For Sale”, “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” are among the canon of The Great American Songbook.
Heather Bambrick
When she’s not in the studio hosting our signature morning show Wake Up! with Heather Bambrick during the week at jazz.fm91, Heather Bambrick is touring around the world as one of Canada’s top jazz vocalists.
Billy Newton-Davis
Another former member of The Nylons, Billy Newton-Davis’ work spreads across many genres including R&B, Gospel, Dance, House and Jazz. Originally from Ohio, Newton-Davis has called Toronto home for over forty years and has worked with the likes of Celine Dion, Sammy Davis Jr. and Gloria Gaynor.
Dave Koz
Known for his smooth jazz melodies and for a storied career that spans three decades, saxophonist Dave Koz is also a humanitarian and advocate for the preservation of instrumental music. His latest album, Just Us, released this past February, is a collaboration with pianist Bob James where they re-imagine songs from the Great American Songbook.
