Peggy Gilbert

b. Margaret Fern Knechtges, 17 January 1905, Sioux Town, Iowa, USA, d. 12 Feb 2007, LA, California, USA. Gilbert’s mom was a vocalist, her dad a violinist. She researched piano as a kid, then used clarinet and tenor saxophone. She led the all-woman Melody Women at local resorts from 1923 and in 1928 shifted to California, of which period she followed her mom’s maiden name. Gilbert performed in various rings, including one led by virtuoso saxophonist Rudy Wiedoeft. She led all-female rings, like the Early Women, the house music group at place KMPC, and in addition toured. Gilbert after that quit to come back home to get a ‘regular’ lifestyle and a sweetheart; a concept that lasted until she got from the teach. As she informed article writer Sally Placksin in American LADIES IN Jazz, ‘I viewed Sioux Town and I stated, “Wow, boyfriend become damned! That is it! I can’t stand it.” THEREFORE I borrowed his horn and joined up with Shoes and her Buddies’. She toured with this music group for some time, then created another music group that she led through the past due 30s. Hers was the just all-female band to try out at a 1937 golf swing concert at Hollywood’s Palomar Ballroom, posting the stage with rings led by Benny Goodman, Les Hite, Louis Prima, Stuff Smith as well as others. When DownBeat publication blared inside a 1938 content that a woman musician ‘by no means was born with the capacity of sending anyone beyond the nearest leave’ which women had been, ‘as a complete, emotionally unpredictable’ (among minimal offensive feedback), Gilbert published a strenuous response, and then have the publication impose the headline, ‘How IS IT POSSIBLE TO Play a Horn having a Brassiere’. The headline didn’t stop female music artists from vociferously assisting Gilbert’s placement and she was later on essential in the lengthy battle ladies undertook to accomplish respect in the music business generally and in jazz specifically. During the battle years, Gilbert led the CBS radio music group, the Triumph Belles, toured US military camps, and following the battle continued to business lead her band in to the modern day. Another music group she led was the Jacks And Jills, where her sibling, Orval Gilbert, performed drums. She also led her music group in some movies. Gilbert created her last music group, the Dixie Belles, in 1974, which lasted until 1998.