Jane Sager (1914–2012) was an American big band trumpeter and bandleader.[1] Throughout her career, she played in the bands of Rita Rio, Ada Leonard, Katherine Dunham, Charlie Barnet, and Johnny Richards.[2]

Biography

Early life

Sager was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 5, 1914.[3] She began playing violin at the age of six, and by the age of 14, she began performing in local venues.[2][4] She attended college for violin, and continued her studies at the American Conservatory of Music.[3] She switched to playing trumpet after a car ran over her hand.[2]

Orchestral career

In the 1930s, Sager began touring with all-female bands, such as the Traveling All-Woman Band led by One-Arm Miller.[4] At this time, she also performed with the Chicago Women's Symphony. In 1940, Sager was a founding member of the All-American Girl Orchestra led by Ada Leonard. Advertisements claimed the band featured the “World’s Greatest Girl Trumpeter Jane Sager”.[5] During World War II, the United Service Organizations contracted the orchestra to perform for enlisted troops.[4]

In 1942, Sager left the All-American Girl Orchestra and earned a spot in a band led by Johnny Richards. She left before they began touring and decided to remain in Los Angeles. She then joined The Victory Belles, a band led by Peggy Gilbert on a radio show geared toward servicemen.[5] She was also briefly in the International Sweethearts Of Rhythm.[3] In 1950, Sager joined the all-female band of Ina Ray Hutton that performed on The Ina Ray Hutton Show.[4]

While with the All-American Girl Orchestra, Sager met Mary Sawyer. Sager and Sawyer partnered to open a trumpet studio in Hollywood, California in the 1950s. The two also organized the Frivolous Five,[5] a musical comedy troupe which Sager led until the late 60s.[3][6]

Later life

Later in her life, Sager primarily worked as a teacher in her studio. Her students included Roger Tillison, Chet Baker, and Herb Alpert.[7] Flea, another student of Sager, posited in his memoir Acid for the Children that "if Jane had been a man she'd be acclaimed as a great trumpeter, but sexism is a bitch, and she lived in that little apartment on Selma teaching the likes of me..."[8]

In 1997, Sager was granted the Pioneer Award by the International Women's Brass Conference.[2] In 2002, she was given a Lil Hardin Armstrong Jazz Heritage Award by the International Association for Jazz Education.[9]

She spent her final years in Morro Bay, California. Sager died in 2012.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Petersen, Norma (May 2012). "Jane Sager (Life Member. 1914 – 2012)". The Overture. AFM47: 13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Pioneer Award". International Women's Brass Conference. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Larkin, Colin (1 January 2009). "Sager Jane". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Radlauer, David (30 April 2022). "Ada Leonard and the All-American Girl Orchestra, Part One 1940-43". The Syncopated Times. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 Tucker, Sherrie (6 June 2000). Swing Shift: "All-Girl" Bands of the 1940s (PDF). Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-8090-0. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  6. ↑ Garvin, Allen (19 February 1967). "Senior Swingers". Suffolk News-Herald. Vol. 45, no. 43. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
  7. ↑ Cordtz, Kay. "Roger Tillison, Oklahoma Jukebox Poet : 1941-2013". Roll Magazine. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  8. ↑ Flea (20 September 2022). Acid for the Children: A Memoir. Grand Central Publishing. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-4555-3054-0. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  9. ↑ The Overture. AFM47: 24. February 2002.
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