Big Band Drummer Viola Smith
If you ever wondered who is the oldest big band musician alive, you probably wouldn't have guessed that professional musican would have turned 105 years old yesterday.
She is Viola Smith, one of the first female drummers, and she was born on November 29, 1912.
After the "Jitterbug Jump" intro, Viola Smith is featured in "The Snake Charmer," composed in 1937 by Teddy Powell (1905-1993) -- a jazz guitarist who was born as Theodoro Paollella, and lyricist Leonard Whitup (1903-1979), who later became director of the National Academy of Popular Music.
This Warner brother's film, in which singer Francis Carroll is conducting The Coquettes, was recorded in 1939 and released in 1940.
You can see that Viola Smith used 13 drums, including two 16 inch tom-toms at shoulder hight, an idea which was never copied.
Viola had a very thorough musical training at home. Her cornet playing father had two pianos and an organ in the house, so Viola and her seven sisters could practise a lot and in time they developed an interest in other instruments.
They started out with a family orchestra called Schmitz Sisters Family Orchestra, later renamed The Smith Sisters Orchestra.
In 1938 drummer Viola Smith and her saxophonist sister Mildred Bartash formed an all-woman orchestra called The Coquettes, which existed until 1941.
During the war Viola Smith also made an appeal in a Downbeat magazine article to replace the musicians drafted for the war with professional female musicians, instead of mediocre male instrumentalists.
In 1942 Viola had moved to New York where she joined the 32-piece all-female orchestra of Phil Spitalny. With this orchestra Viola Smith also went to Hollywood where they appeared in two movies.
In the late Sixties Viola Smith was part of the on stage Kit Cat Band in the Broadway production of "Cabaret."
When she celebrated her 100th birthday Viola Smith looked back on her extraordinary career in this interview "Viola Smith: America's Original Hep Girl on Tom Tom TV": https://youtu.be/jlzCWHw7ZW8
