The Lady Swings: Memoirs of a Jazz Drummer

Dottie Dodgion is a jazz drummer who played with the best. A survivor, she lived an entire lifetime before she was seventeen. Undeterred by hardships she defied the odds and earned a seat as a woman in the exclusive men's club of jazz. Her dues-paying path as a musician took her from early work with Charles Mingus to being hired by Benny Goodman at Basin Street East on her first day in New York. From there she broke new ground as a woman who played a "man's instrument" in first-string, all-male New York City jazz bands. Her inspiring memoir talks frankly about her music and the challenges she faced, and shines a light into the jazz world of the 1960s and 1970s.

Vivid and always entertaining, The Lady Swings tells Dottie Dodgion's story with the same verve and straight-ahead honesty that powered her playing.

A Variety Best Music Book of 2021

Author: Dottie Dodgion, Wayne Enstice
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 03/29/2021
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 1.10d
ISBN13: 9780252085512
ISBN10: 0252085515
BISAC Categories:
- Music | Genres & Styles | Jazz
- Biography & Autobiography | Music
- Music | Musical Instruments | Percussion

About the Author
Dottie Dodgion is a trailblazing American jazz drummer. Wayne Enstice is a coauthor of Jazzwomen: Conversations with Twenty-One Musicians and Jazz Spoken Here: Conversations with Twenty-Two Musicians.