Beryl Booker

Overview

This is a jazz story about talent, traveling, 1950s Philadelphia, and what constitutes a break in music and in life. Beryl Booker was a self-taught pianist and singer who played with a large number of male jazz stars in the late 1940s and early 1950s and led her own bands. She was one of a few women in the 1950s who broke barriers in the male-centric genre of jazz. She most notably played with Slam Stewart, Miles Davis and Don Byas, toured with Billie Holiday and recorded on numerous albums. We see something in 1950s America where women in jazz had a bit of a moment – but just a bit. Beryl’s prodigious lifetime contributions are now largely forgotten and like many stories of women in jazz, often described as unappreciated and overlooked. This jazz story is also a chronicle in progress of a years-long effort to get Beryl recognized on the Philadelphia Walk of Fame and is a call to action to the audience to advocate for this musician, finally, to get her star.

Pamela Hetherington, tap dancer
Deb Smith, trombone
Emmy Rotuh, bass
Maria Marmarou, drums

About the Artist

The Philadelphia Jazz Tap Ensemble is an award-winning tap dance company that advances the scope of American tap dance and jazz music traditions through current choreography, modern compositions, progressive performances and accessible environments and contexts for the work. We tell jazz stories. The oral histories of what came before us, live in us, and create our future in jazz. Founded in 2014 by Pamela Hetherington, the PJTE has since been presented by Jazz Bridge (Neighborhood Concert), The Philadelphia Jazz Project (7X7 Series, Whitman at 200, POOL), Creative Philadelphia (Music at the Market, Culture in the Courtyard, Creative Avenues, Neighborhood Arts), Dixon Place (30-30-30, Eight in Show), The Barnes Foundation (Free First Sunday), The Outlet Dance Project, the Allentown Art Museum (Third Thursday), Symphony Space (Stam-Pede/APAP), ArtYard, the Fairmount Waterworks, Solar Myth and more. The PJTE has been featured on the nationally-syndicated arts program, Articulate.