Ellen Seeling & Jean Fineberg Lead The Montclair Women’s Big Band The Montclair Women's Big Band was formed in 1997, with the help of my long-time partner, saxophonist and composer Jean Fineberg. I could not have done it without Jean. While celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band in 2017, I reflected on why we put the band together, what we accomplished, and what we want the future to look like. It is exciting. Jean and I met on an ISIS recording date in 1975. ISIS was the first women's "progressive rock" band with a horn section like Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago. The band was based in New York City, but we were in New Orleans to do the second album produced by the legendary Allen Toussaint, who contributed compositions and played the piano. This was a life changing experience for me, as a graduating student at Indiana University. Jean and I became the horn section, and, over the next 10 years, we were featured in the bands and recordings of ISIS, Laura Nyro, Chic, Sister Sledge, Cornell Dupree, Latin Fever, and other groups. In 1980, we started a jazz fusion band, DEUCE, featuring Jean's compositions. DEUCE played all over the country for 15 years and released two recordings. We lived in Hell's Kitchen, until we moved to an easier life in California. We loved New York, but it was intense, and we wanted a change. After working together as a horn section for over 20 years and founding a successful jazz ensemble, I wanted something more community-oriented. DEUCE was not an allwomen's band. As I grew older, I became more radicalized about the status of women instrumentalists in commercial music. Having performed with jazz, pop, disco, rock and salsa bands, I was deeply concerned with gender discrimination that I experienced in genres and how it affected women as we aged. I wanted to find a Basie-style jazz big band for women only with 17 pieces to accomplish more than playing gigs. I wanted to showcase the large community of outstanding women jazz players in the San Francisco Bay Area. I wanted to have a great big band that provided visibility, employment, networking opportunities, and a training ground for younger women coming up on the music business. Also, I wanted to showcase the original compositions of women composers and arrangers, locally and nationally.
Spring 2019 - 26
