ABOUT THIS BOOK

Dottie Dodgion is a jazz drummer who played with the best. A survivor, she lived an entire lifetime before she was seventeen. Undeterred by hardships she defied the odds and earned a seat as a woman in the exclusive men’s club of jazz. Her dues-paying path as a musician took her from early work with Charles Mingus to being hired by Benny Goodman at Basin Street East on her first day in New York. From there she broke new ground as a woman who played a “man’s instrument” in first-string, all-male New York City jazz bands. Her inspiring memoir talks frankly about her music and the challenges she faced, and shines a light into the jazz world of the 1960s and 1970s.

Vivid and always entertaining, The Lady Swings tells Dottie Dodgion's story with the same verve and straight-ahead honesty that powered her playing.

A Variety Best Music Book of 2021

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Dottie Dodgion is a trailblazing American jazz drummer. Wayne Enstice is a coauthor of Jazzwomen: Conversations with Twenty-One Musicians and Jazz Spoken Here: Conversations with Twenty-Two Musicians.

REVIEWS

Dottie Dodgion was honored during the "In Memoriam" segment of the Grammy Awards 2022

"Dodgion had a fascinating story to relate. She and Enstice produced a book that flows naturally and always maintains the reader's interest." --Jersey Jazz

"This highly readable history says much about the demands upon someone determined to be a performer. . . . This book also contains an audio companion illustrating Dodgion's insufficiently celebrated playing, and she certainly knows how to tell a story, musically and verbally. " --Jazzwise

"The Lady Swings undulates as much with dynamic rhythm as it does with delicious drama and laugh-out-loud storylines." --JazzTimes

"Written in a breathtaking, breezy narrative that takes the reader on a musical journey that is reflected as if in the mirror of Ms Dodgion’s life itself. . . . This is what makes the book so exciting: the mere fact that you will discover a musician who gave – and continues to give – her life to the music she fell in love with as a child and one who remains its guardian, keeping the flame aglow even in the sunset of her life." --JazzdaGama

"A pioneering woman in jazz and swinging drummer, Dottie Dodgion played with some of the great musicians of her time. She has a unique story to tell."--Quincy Jones

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Prefatory Notes

Introduction

Part I. The California Years
Scene One: On the Road
Scene Two: Spot
Behind The Scenes One: The Giaimos
Scene Three: Eleanor Powell’s Shoes
Behind The Scenes Two: The Tiptons
Scene Four: The Eight-Day Clock
Scene Five: Polio
Scene Six: Jail Bait
Scene Seven: TD&L
Scene Eight: Mingus
Scene Nine: Apple Pie, Apple Pie, Apple Pie
Scene Ten: A Little Help from My Friends
Scene Eleven: The Drummer Was Always Late
Scene Twelve: Monty
Scene Thirteen: Jerry
Scene Fourteen: 176 Steps
Behind The Scenes Three: Eugene’s Lessons
Scene Fifteen: First Time in Vegas
Scene Sixteen: Followed by Myself in the Moonlight
Scene Seventeen: The IT Club
Scene Eighteen: Thunderbird
Part II. The New York and East Coast Years
Scene Nineteen: 14 Drummers
Scene Twenty: Mount Airy Lodge
Scene Twenty-One: Strollers
Scene Twenty-Two: The Village Stompers
Scene Twenty-Three: Eddie Condon’s
Behind The Scenes Four: Pearls to Swine
Scene Twenty-Four: Park Ridge
Scene Twenty-Five: Piano Party
Behind The Scenes Five: Ruby
Scene Twenty-Six: Suburban Housewife
Scene Twenty-Seven: In the Middle of the Brook
Scene Twenty-Eight: Harold’s Rogue and Jar
Scene Twenty-Nine: Melba Liston And Company
Scene Thirty: Fazee Cakes
Part III. California Redux
Scene Thirty-One: The Best Kept Secret in Town
Scene Thirty-Two: A Leader at Sixty-Five
Scene Thirty-Three: Pacific Grove
Scene Thirty-Four: Octogenarian
Postscript
Notes
Discography
Inde