Vi Redd Elvira – An Early Pioneer Of Female Jazz Musicianship

“Vi” Redd is a saxophonist, vocalist, and teacher active in the 1950s and throughout the 1960s. She was born September 20th, 1928 in Los Angeles and is still alive at the age of 90. Despite being active for over two decades she only officially released two recordings (as a bandleader) during that time; Bird Call and Lady Soul. She performed alongside other Jazz Greats such as Dizzy Gilespie, Max Roach, and Earl Hines. She spent a lot of time as a Jazz teacher in her life, originally working for the board of education, before embarking on a more performance-based career for some time.

At the age of five she was singing in church choirs, and at the age of twelve she picked up the alto saxophone. She graduated from California State University: Los Angeles and received her teaching certification from the University of Southern California. She has received the lifetime achievement award from the Los Angeles Jazz Society as well as the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award from the Kennedy Center. The attitude towards women during the time did affect her career, at one concert playing alongside Dizzy Gillespie, he introduced her a “Woman who has been enjoyed many times. ” much to the audience’s amusement. Many publications described her as being a great player, but often punctuated the statement with “for a woman”. She has a curious lack of recordings during her peak as a performer, and her two records released during this time were both taken out of publishing, resulting in them becoming collector's items.

Her proficiency at the saxophone was often ignored by peers, in favor of her singing voice. Dave Bailey while discussing her said "She could have made it either way. She could play as good as the guys. And she was an awesome singer. " Which reflected a big part of the reason many female Jazz instrumentalists are obscured in history, the instruments were more associated with men, while women were generally expected to be vocalists if they performed at all. Her music was often described as being bird-influenced, which she reflected in her album being titled Bird Call.

Many often compared her playing style to Charlie Parker citing her saxophone playing as “. . . mellow with a bright, effortless swing”. Her first album was more instrumentally focused showcasing her skills on the sax, while her later works were more vocal focused, which she was also very talented at. Only two of her albums were recorded because of the distrust of the industry in a woman instrumentalist. In the 1970s Vi Redd started teaching and working with the National Endowment for the Arts.