| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 107.3

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 107.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Sherrie Tucker. Swing Shift: "All-Girl" Bands of the 1940s. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. 2000. Pp. ix, 413. $29.95.

To restore the "all-girl" bands of the 1940s to their proper place in jazz history, Sherrie Tucker tells fascinating stories about women's musical training, entry into professional work, performing styles, travel experiences, and working conditions. The history of all-girl swing bands shares much with that of other female workers in the World War II era. In the void created by men's military service, hundreds of female bands entertained civilians, and a few played for military audiences. Most performers had worked as musicians before the war, their experience, like that of other female workers, defying the popular image of the middle-class housewife who took a job for the duration. After the war, women band members faced competition from returning veterans and had to find jobs in the margins of the musical industry—as teachers, in churches, in combos, and in cocktail lounges. 1

Tucker relies heavily on interviews with and questionnaires from more than 120 individuals. Treating oral history "as events in themselves rather than as clear channels to the 'true story'" (p. 26) and listening carefully to how these performers shaped their stories in the 1990s enabled Tucker better to understand the environment in which they performed. For example, guarded responses to her questions about sexuality suggested how strongly the stigma of lesbianism hovered around musicians in all-girl bands. . . .

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