Voices That Shaped a Genre: Celebrating Influential Women in Jazz Music

Women have long played a vital role in shaping jazz music across its many eras and evolutions. Here at Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul Festival, we’re celebrating not only the pioneers who helped define the genre, but also the artists who continue to transform it today.

In the 1910s and 1920s, the women’s suffrage movement was gaining momentum, and women in the UK and the United States were beginning to experience new social freedoms. Alongside this cultural shift, the First World War saw more women enter the workforce than ever before. Together, these changes helped inspire a generation of female artists who would go on to leave a lasting mark on jazz.

Despite this progress, women in 1920s America were still largely underrepresented in jazz, particularly as musicians and composers. One notable exception was Mary Lou Williams. Often referred to as “the mother of jazz” and “the first lady of the jazz keyboard”, Williams was a jazz pianist, arranger and composer, who made headlines at the time for singing and playing piano simultaneously. Williams broke boundaries by writing and arranging for some of her infamous male counterparts, including Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, as well as mentoring the likes of Miles Davies and Dizzy Gillespie. 

It was not until the 1930s onwards that women started to gain recognition as successful artists in their own right. Among them was Billie Holiday, one of the genre’s most powerful and recognisable voices. Rising to prominence during the Great Depression, Holiday helped shape the sound of swing with her distinctive phrasing and emotional depth. In 1939, she released Strange Fruit, a haunting and deeply political song confronting the lynching of Black Americans during the Jim Crow era – an early example of jazz as a vehicle for social commentary.

A peer of Holiday’s was the legendary Ella Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald first took to the stage in 1930s Harlem, New York, where she was discovered by Chick Webb, quickly joining his orchestra and gaining acclaim. Following Webb’s death in 1939, the orchestra was renamed Ella Fitzgerald and Her Famous Orchestra, a testament to her star power. While she recorded extensively with the orchestra, it was her groundbreaking approach to scat singing that cemented her legacy. Described by The New York Times as “where other singers had tried similar improvisation, no one before Miss Fitzgerald employed the technique with such dazzling inventiveness”, earning widespread acclaim and influencing generations of vocalists.

Having touched on just a few of the women who helped shape jazz, we turn to the present day, particularly the UK, where a new wave of artists are fusing jazz with R&B, funk, soul, hip-hop, and beyond.

At the forefront of this movement is Emma-Jean Thackray. A key figure in the UK’s jazz renaissance, Thackray is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer known for her fiercely independent, DIY ethos. She writes, performs, records, and produces her music largely on her own, blending jazz with funk, soul, and electronic textures. Her work is vibrant and experimental, often incorporating spiritual jazz and funk and even Detroit house and techno. Open about her neurodivergence, her work often explores themes of loss, recovery, and gratitude, particularly in her album Weirdo, on which she played every instrument.

Two further artists pushing jazz in new directions are Olive Jones and Jamz Supernova. Jones represents a new generation; embracing jazz’s fluidity, blending it with neo-soul and alternative R&B while carving out her own artistic identity. Meanwhile, Jamz Supernova plays a crucial role behind the scenes as a DJ and broadcaster, championing the UK’s contemporary jazz and soul scene. She spotlights emerging artists through her radio shows and live events, helping bring underground jazz to wider recognition, and is a key figure in shaping how modern jazz is discovered and appreciated. 

But new, genre-pushing, blended jazz sounds aren’t just limited to the UK. ​​Sampa the Great, who was born in Zambia and raised between Botswana and Australia, has emerged as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary global music. Her work blends jazz, hip-hop, soul, and African musical traditions, often featuring live instrumentation and rich, layered arrangements. She describes her sound as “Nu Zamrock” and explores themes of identity, migration, and cultural pride in her music, using her platform to reconnect with her African roots and challenge Western narratives.

Back in the US, Annie & The Caldwells are a family-led group rooted in gospel, soul, and blues traditions. Fronted by Annie Caldwell, their music is deeply spiritual and communal, often performed with an infectious energy that echoes jazz’s improvisational spirit. Hailing from Mississippi, their expressive vocals, call-and-response structures, and emotional intensity connect strongly to the foundations of jazz performance and Black American musical heritage.

Alongside the artists themselves, it’s important to recognise the promoters and organisers who keep jazz alive and accessible. Two Birmingham promoters doing just this are Variations and Love Affair. Born from a desire to bring more female jazz headliners to the city, Variations and Love Affair create spaces that spotlight diverse and fresh talent, bringing the finest in jazz, disco, afro, soul and electronica to our city. They are hosting the official Mostly Jazz Saturday night afterparty – tickets available here. 

You can catch Sampa The Great, Annie & The Caldwells, Emma-Jean Thackray, Jamz Supernova, Olive Jones, Konyikeh and Olympia Vitalis alongside the rest of our star-studded lineup at Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul Festival, 10-12 July 2026 in Moseley Park, Birmingham.