Jazz Story No. 3: Terry Pollard

2023 FRINGIE AWARD WINNER!

In 2023, I received a commission from Creative Philadelphia to make a new piece for Philly’s Jazz Appreciation Month celebration. Since the theme was centered on women in jazz, I decided to tackle the story of Terry Pollard. As I researched Terry, I also researched the stories of Charlie Parker, Hazel Scott and Bunny Briggs, who all have ancillary parts in the story. This is a piece about bebop, influence, how opportunity knocks across genders, the jazz and tap dance scene in the 1950s, communication, what’s said and unsaid, and really, nothing new. While I can only imagine how much Terry had to persevere as a black female jazz musician and mom in the 1950s, the experience of surviving in the competitive forum of jazz music and art-making, alongside the experience of bearing children, having that divided body experience of needing to be at home when one’s work demands you be seen, out, at all hours, and taking care of a family while making one’s art,  in any male-dominated field, hasn’t changed much. Terry Pollard’s story is just one of countless untold jazz stories, scattered like obelisks, where a woman’s prodigious lifetime contributions are simply described in one or two words:  “overlooked,” ”unappreciated,”  or “underrated.” This piece premiered in April 2023 and was re-mounted for the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. 2023 Fringie Award for Best Music Performance!

This is a jazz story about bebop, influence, how opportunity knocks across genders, the jazz and tap dance scene in the 1950s, modes of communication, motherhood, telegrams, what’s said and unsaid, and really, nothing new.

The history of jazz is the history of tap dance and is the history of America. What is passed on and talked about, ultimately, is about what our American society pays attention to and values, what we are made to hear, literally, and  most importantly, the communication platforms that have been built upon which names are spoken, or not.

This piece was originally commissioned by Creative Philadelphia for Philadelphia’s Jazz Appreciation Month celebration.

Ongoing operational support provided by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund and New Music USA’s Organizational Development Fund in 2022-23.

(Take 1: April 2023); (Take 2: September 2023)

Choreography, text, and arrangements: Pamela Hetherington with improvisation by the dancers

Music: Terry Pollard, Charlie Parker, Irving Berlin, Frank Perkins/Mitchell Parish, Avishai Cohen

Artists: Destiny Bugg, (1) Richard Hill (1), Jim Holton (1), Conner Kelly (1,2), Bethlehem Roberson (1,2), Kathryn Schweingruber, (1,2), Mike Bond (2), Nia Hammond (2), Madison Rast, (2), Nimrod Speaks (2)

Transcription and additional music direction: Tim Brey

Dramaturgy: Dianne Montgomery

  1. A Mental Telegram to Charlie Parker

  2. Fedj / Moose the Mooche

  3. A Message for the Woman Who Lives In the Mirror

  4. Same Old Story 

  5. A Singing Telegram to Hazel Scott

  6. Stride and Groove and

7. My Body, My Work