Artists:Miss Brown To You

Miss Brown To You, a jazz band that refuses to accept the walls that separate jazz from other strains of music, formed in 1990, an all-female band. But it was sometime in 1989 that the first spark appeared. I was reading, probably for the third or fourth time, Joyce Johnson's memoir, Minor Characters. In the sixth chapter she relates the story of an English professor at Barnard delivering a thinly veiled put-down to his all-female class, of which she is a part. The anecdote ends with a paraphrase of Alan Ginsberg:

" 'The social organization most true of itself to the artist is the girl gang.' "

To which Joyce Johnson ironically responds:

"Why, everyone would agree, that's absolutely absurd!"

The incident, dripping with sexism, came off the pages and sparkled in my mind for a moment. It stung me the way it did the author, I think. And then I had a vision: of my own girl gang, a country-blues band, all women. I talked to drummer Elyse Angelo, my frequent collaborator, and we came up with our dream line-up:

Louise Goldberg, piano (she was playing with a reggae group then, The Whale & the Flea, teaching middle school science and music, and accepting casual gigs.)

Mo Gibson, fiddle (Mo was with a country band that had been playing the Holiday Inn circuit and ended up settling in Oklahoma City.)

Terri Hoersch, bass (Terri was in the same band as Mo.)

Elyse Angelo, percussion (She was doing duo dates with me at the time, plus was the drummer with the Sisters of Swing, a five-part vocal group that I'd had for six years at that point.)

and me, Mary Reynolds, on vocals, guitar & sax. I was no great shakes on guitar or sax at that point (and I ain't no world-beater, now!) but I figured I could practice a lot.

Well, all we could do was talk. At that point I wasn't anywhere near starting another band. I had a job driving clients in a van for a mental health center, and just trying to keep my head above water and stay in the music "business." I indentured the Sisters of Swing to work for a big band that shall here remain unnamed. One December night in 1989 we drove in a light snowstorm to sing with that band at a country club in Chickasha, Oklahoma. Louise had also been called to sub for the regular piano player.

I won't go into the particulars of the event, but let's just say that Louise and I left with the same thought: Why are we both working for this - um - let's say (the leader of the big band) when we could be working with each other?

The next Monday, Louise called me. And I wondered if dreams could come true.

It was never to be a country-blues band. Miss Brown was a jazz band from the git-go, but we always had an eye on material we liked from country, folk, blues, reggae and rock'n'roll. So we put together a somewhat eclectic list, and played a few benefits and gigs.

Sometime in the spring of 1990, I got another phone call, this time from Terri Hoersch. The country band had broken up and she was looking for a playing situation. Look no further, I said.

We never heard from Mo, but it was sure phenomenal the way the band almost exactly matched my vision. We continued to play together even after I moved to Austin, and when I moved back to Oklahoma City we re-formed, although without Terri Hoersch, who was headed in a different direction. We still play a style of jazz informed by other strains of music. Ray Van Hooser is the capable musician in the drummer's seat now, and we love how inventive and colorful and surprising he can be. Elyse stills subs for us sometimes. On bass we have Christyn Raincrow, also a fine musician and a great collaborator. [1]