Union to host a weekend of ‘Women in Jazz’

Ladies Must Swing will debut in the Rathskeller in Memorial Union for Behind the Beat 4-6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23.

They will be a part of a weekend of “Women in Jazz” at the Wisconsin Union.

Ladies Must Swing, a 17-piece, all-women swing band, was started in 1997 by the Madison Jazz Society. Linda Marty Schmitz, the Jazz Society’s president, thought it would be fun to feature a female ensemble at one of their meetings. Thanks to co-founders June Dalton, saxophonist and clarinetist, and Marianne Eggerstand, drummer, LMS has grown bigger and better since Schmitz’s original idea.

“The band ranges from teenagers to grandmothers,” says Rachel Herszenson, director of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee, which sponsors free, live jazz every Friday in the Rathskeller. “The women vary in an assortment of vocations, but what brings them all together is their love of performing great music.”

Ladies Must Swing has performed at various venues around Madison, including the Isthmus Jazz Festival, Taste of Madison, Monona Terrace, “On Higher Ground” with Jonathon Overby and many other hot spots.

For more information about LMS or any upcoming Behind the Beat events, contact Herszenson, 262-0827, rbhersze@students.wisc.edu.