Pauline Braddy Williams (February 14, 1922 – January 28, 1996) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

drummer. She drummed with the

International Sweethearts of Rhythm The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all-women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day. They played swing and jazz on a national circuit that incl ...

, an integrated, all-female swing band, from 1939 to 1955; Braddy herself was

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

. Braddy was known as "Queen of the Drums".

Biography

The

Mendenhall, Mississippi Mendenhall is a city in Simpson County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,504 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Simpson County. Mendenhall is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area. Mendenhall has one of the h ...

-born Braddy attended the

Piney Woods Country Life School The Piney Woods Country Life School (or The Piney Woods School) is a co-educational independent historically African-American boarding school for grades 9–12 in Piney Woods, unincorporated Rankin County, Mississippi. It is south of Jackson.C ...

.Feather, Leonard (April 13, 1980) In school, Braddy played clarinet, and says she got into playing drums "by accident." When the school band went to Memphis to play, the drummer dropped out and Braddy was chosen to take up the drums because of her good sense of rhythm. Braddy joined the

in 1939. She was not only a drummer for the group, but also sang. In 1944, she was named "Wallet Gal" by soldiers stationed in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. Braddy participated in the bands USO tour of Europe in 1945, and remained a member until 1955. In the USO tour,

Sherrie Tucker Sherrie Jean Tucker (born 18 March 1957 Modesto, California) is a musicologist, music historian, book author, professor, and journal editor. Tucker is co-editor-in-chief of ''American Studies'', peer-reviewed academic journal. Education Tu ...

writes that "Chorus after chorus, Braddy's drums draw shouts of applause at every new configuration of paradidles." In the performances of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, her drumming was considered a "spotlight" of the group. ''

The Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

'' called her drumming "sensational."

Francis Davis Francis Davis (born August 30, 1946) is an American author and journalist. He is best known as the jazz critic for ''The Village Voice'', and a contributing editor for ''The Atlantic Monthly''. He has also worked in radio and film, and taught ...

in ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' wrote that the band was "powered by Pauline Braddy's drumming." She was also called "Queen of the Drums." After the Sweethearts disbanded, she moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and became a drummer for the

Vi Burnside Violet May Burnside (April 19, 1915, Lancaster, Pennsylvania – November 19, 1964, Washington, DC) was an American jazz saxophonist and bandleader. Burnside worked for much of her career in all-female bands. She worked in Bill Baldwin's group ...

All-Stars, the Edna Smith Trio and Two Plus One. Braddy moved back to Washington to care for her mother in the 1960s. She then worked for some two decades as a

switchboard operator In the early days of telephony, companies used manual telephone switchboards, and switchboard operators connected calls by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks. They were gradually phased out and replaced by automated system ...

, retiring in 1994. Braddy was eager to talk about the history of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, and provided writer Antoinette D. Hardy with information and ephemera for her book ''The International Sweethearts of Rhythm''. Braddy moved to

Braxton, Mississippi Braxton is a village in Simpson County, Mississippi, United States. The village's population was 181 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Jackson, Mississippi metropolitan area, Jackson, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its zip code is ...

after retiring. Braddy died in her home on January 28, 1996.

References

External links

Drum Solo

International Sweethearts of Rhythm Collection Spotlight, Because of Her Story, Smithsonian Institution
American women jazz musicians American jazz drummers 1996 deaths People from Mendenhall, Mississippi African-American drummers 1922 births Jazz musicians from Mississippi International Sweethearts of Rhythm members 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people African-American women musicians {{US-jazz-drummer-stub