Musicians Women

The all-female rock band isn't such a novelty any more, but it still is sufficiently out of the ordinary to make people notice. Julee Dennis and Stacey Tyner, the lead singer and guitarist of Denim & Lace, have some perspective on that subject: They have been playing together in all-women bands for nine years now. "An all-girl band still makes people go, 'Wow!'

To the casual pop music observer, Maria Muldaur means "Midnight at the Oasis," the singer's sultry, million-selling hit from 1974. But reaching the pop charts was really a fluke for Muldaur, whose career more closely resembles an odyssey through the rich terrain of American roots music, including jazz, R&B, jug band, gospel, country blues and electric blues. Still, keeping track of her musical side trips over the years can be quite dizzying.

Picture a mariachi: Is he mustachioed, maybe a little grizzled? Does he wear boots and embroidered pants? Is he a he? How about sweet 16 and about to go shopping for dresses? You know, something to wear at the Kennedy Center in Washington? When it comes to mariachis, any stereotypes are old sombrero.

Like many teenagers, violinist Regina Carter had to keep a secret from her parents. No, it wasn't a boyfriend, a bad report card or an all-night party. In her case, the secret was an interest in jazz. "When it came to jazz, my mother said, 'Absolutely not!' " Carter said from New York City, where her neighbors are drummers Elvin Jones and Max Roach. "Mom was from the old school. She thought all jazz musicians were on drugs, that they had no money and no health insurance.

The Eroica Trio, one of the first all-female ensembles to reach the top echelon of the chamber-music field, plays Beethoven's Triple Concerto at a pair of concerts with the Pacific Symphony this week in Costa Mesa. More than one publication has pegged violinist Adela Pena, cellist Sara Sant'Ambrogio and pianist Erika Nickrenz as "classical babes" for their good looks, slinky gowns and public relations campaign that plays up both.

Women still need not apply. Ditto for people of color. Twelve months after reluctantly ending its 155-year ban against female musicians because of pressure from Austrian and American feminists, the renowned Vienna Philharmonic continues to thumb its nose at players who are not white males, its critics contend.

Staying fresh with Mozart, even in this year of wretched excess, is not difficult for clarinetist Michele Zukovsky. Her career, after all, ranges from doing period-instrument work to commissioning new music, from within the orchestra and fronting the orchestra, as well as with various chamber ensembles. But Mozart's Clarinet Quintet is her current assignment, in performances with the Angeles Quartet tonight at the Irvine Barclay Theatre and Wednesday at Occidental College in Eagle Rock.

Laura Sobrino will not allow herself to be late. Too many kids at an East Los Angeles music school are depending on her master violin lessons. So, from behind the wheel of her Dodge Caravan, she zigzags across three lanes of traffic and eases onto another freeway interchange, clocking 72 m.p.h. Sobrino drives the way she plays her violin: con mucho gusto . That's the way of El Mariachi--or in her case-- La Mujer Mariachi.

Ask Stephanie Haynes about the state of jazz singing these days, and she responds with a pause, a noncommittal murmur and a couple more hesitations before answering. "Well, it's not exactly what I'd like to hear," she says. "And when Teri Thornton died, it took away a good part of the quality singing that was left." Haynes typically doesn't elect to mention that her singing, highly praised by critics for years, continues to be one of the great pleasures of the genre.

Lilith has left the building. But her three rewarding and influential years advancing the careers of scores of female pop and rock musicians opened a door of opportunity that four of her younger sisters are about to walk through. In fact, a new tour dubbed the Girls Room, which features a rotating lineup of singer-songwriters Tara MacLean, Shannon McNally, Amy Correia and Kendall Payne, was born at a Lilith Fair show last summer outside Boston.

Back in rock 'n' roll's dim, dark past, "girls and guitars" were as commonplace as fish on bicycles. Just how long ago and far away that time now seems was evident Thursday at "Women Rock! Girls & Guitars," a concert taped at the Wiltern Theatre for airing Oct. 22 as a two-hour TV special on Lifetime, part of the cable channel's ongoing breast cancer awareness efforts.

Ask Stephanie Haynes about the state of jazz singing these days, and she responds with a pause, a noncommittal murmur and a couple more hesitations before answering. "Well, it's not exactly what I'd like to hear," she says. "And when Teri Thornton died, it took away a good part of the quality singing that was left." Haynes typically doesn't elect to mention that her singing, highly praised by critics for years, continues to be one of the great pleasures of the genre.

Lenora Zenzalai Helm is an exciting, cutting-edge vocalist and composer, profoundly committed to her art and deadly serious about being an advocate for women's equality in the male-dominated jazz world. So when a horny male club owner hits on the strikingly beautiful singer, offering a gig for sex, she's appalled and speaks her mind right away. It's little wonder that she's the president of International Women in Jazz, an organization dedicated to improving the welfare of women in jazz.

There were some tough decisions to make at last week's feminist art festival, Lady Fest. The six-day event, which ended Sunday, gave its 2,000 predominantly teen and twentysomething female attendees the opportunity to learn how to knit, play the guitar, start a grass-roots revolution, cook vegan, sing, sew, defend themselves, fix their cars, create alternative menstrual products, travel solo, launch businesses and swing dance. It was like one-stop shopping for the aspiring renaissance woman.

When Bratmobile singer Allison Wolfe yelled during the band's performance here, "I'd like to dedicate this next song to all the dumb boys in the world," her fans screamed in agreement. The Riot Grrrl movement may have long ago been declared dead by the media, but a revival looked to be afoot judging from the couple thousand teen and twentysomething women who swept into town last week for the first-ever Lady Fest.

Lilith has left the building. But her three rewarding and influential years advancing the careers of scores of female pop and rock musicians opened a door of opportunity that four of her younger sisters are about to walk through. In fact, a new tour dubbed the Girls Room, which features a rotating lineup of singer-songwriters Tara MacLean, Shannon McNally, Amy Correia and Kendall Payne, was born at a Lilith Fair show last summer outside of Boston.

Bob Dylan could fall to his knees begging and Sarah McLachlan wouldn't give him a gig at Lilith Fair. The same goes for Paul McCartney or any other pop hero not lucky enough to be a pop heroine. During the early stages of last year's inaugural Lilith Fair, McLachlan wavered on whether the festival would remain exclusively a showcase for female artists. But she has since made up her mind. Even if a Dylan or a McCartney should plead for an exception, Lilith is for the ladies.

It was an entirely unfair fight last night. The protesters, with simple fiddle and flute, petitioning the Vienna Philharmonic to hire women, were a small and motley crew. And they were kept far enough away from patrons entering the Orange County Performing Arts Center for the most prestigious concert engagement in its 10-year history that few would even have noticed them were there not the lights of television cameras. Then onto the Segerstrom Hall stage a horde of white men entered en masse.

Lilith has left the building. But her three rewarding and influential years advancing the careers of scores of female pop and rock musicians opened a door of opportunity that four of her younger sisters are about to walk through. In fact, a new tour dubbed the Girls Room, which features a rotating lineup of singer-songwriters Tara MacLean, Shannon McNally, Amy Correia and Kendall Payne, was born at a Lilith Fair show last summer outside Boston.

Violinist Isabella Lippi was 21 when we first saw her, making her Orange County debut with the Pacific Symphony led by Kate Tamarkin at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in 1990. Since then, her local appearances have been few. She served as a guest concertmaster for the Pacific in 1996 when the orchestra was engaged in a search to fill the job (later taken by Kevin Connolly, who resigned after one season). She also played that year with the Glendale Symphony.