Artist: Viola Smith
Viola Clara Smith was an American drummer best known for her work in orchestras, swing bands, and popular music from the 1920s until 1975.
She was one of the first professional female drummers. She played five times on The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as in two films and the Broadway musical Cabaret.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Smith played in the Schmitz Sisters Family Orchestra (later, Smith Sisters Orchestra) that her father founded in Wisconsin. They toured the Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO) circuit of vaudeville and movie theaters on weekends and summer vacation while some of the sisters were still in school. In 1938, Viola and her sister Mildred started the Coquettes, an all-female orchestra, which existed until 1942.
Smith penned an article in 1942 for Down Beat magazine titled "Give Girl Musicians a Break!" in which she argued that woman musicians could play just as well as men. She argued, "In these times of national emergency, many of the star instrumentalists of the big name bands are being drafted. Instead of replacing them with what may be mediocre talent, why not let some of the great girl musicians of the country take their place?''
In 1942, after Mildred got married, Smith moved to New York, was given handmade snare drums from one of her teachers, Billy Gladstone, received a summer scholarship to Juilliard, and joined Phil Spitalny's Hour of Charm Orchestra, a commercially-successful all-girl orchestra. Later, she would play with the NBC Symphony Orchestra.
Her signature style of 13 drums, particularly, two 16 inch tom-toms at shoulder height, was never copied; however, Smith noted Louis Bellson using 2 bass drums after meeting and observing Smith with the tom-toms.
After Hour of Charm disbanded, Smith led her own band, Viola and her Seventeen Drums. From 1966 to 1970, she played with the Kit Kat Band, which was part of the original 1960s Broadway production of Cabaret. Allegro Magazine Volume 113 Number 10, from November 10, 2013, featured Smith in the article "A Century of Swing 'Never lose your groove!'"
Further information about Viola Smith is found here.
This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, Viola Smith - Wikipedia, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
Frances Carroll & Her Coquettes Featuring Drummer Viola Smith
Viola Smith: Videos
Viola Smith pioneering swing big band drummer dies at 107! She performs in 1951 with Ada Leonard
Viola Smith talks about drum tricks