Roz Cron

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'''[[Roz Cron]]''' (c.1923) is a Jewish American alto-saxophonist. During the 1940s she played with the [[International Sweethearts of Rhythm]], an all women's jazz [[big band]]. <ref>''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' (2007) Ed. Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, Oxford University Press</ref><ref Name=Hersch>''Jews and Jazz: Improvising Ethnicity'' (2016) Charles B Hersch, Taylor & Francis, pp104-107</ref> She toured and performed for American soldiers in post-war Europe and was broadcast on national and international radio. <ref name=CBS/>

Following the war Cron led and participated in female big bands, while teaching extensively. She now lives in Los Angeles. <ref Name=Guardian/> Cron is regarded as a pioneer of female big-band music. <ref>[https://ift.tt/2sahxOa "No Man's Band: All-Female Jazz Orchestras Then and Now"], NPR, March 14 2019 </ref>

==Biography==
===Early life===
Cron grew up in [[Newton, Massachusetts]] and began playing music from the age of nine. She learnt flute, clarinet and saxophone, listening to a lot of big band music on the family's radio. She noted "my father was the first feminist I knew”. <ref Name= Guardian/> She played in school bands and fellow students included [[Hal McKusick]] and [[Serge Chaloff]]. With Chaloff's backing, she was offered a spot with [[Eddie Durham's All-Star Girl Orchestra]].

After graduating Cron joined [[Ada Leonard]]’s All-American Girl Orchestra and then, at 19 (1943) was invited into the all female [[International Sweethearts of Rhythm]] in [[New Britain, Connecticut]]. <ref Name= Guardian/> She was brought in as a professional to replace alto-sax player Marge Pettiford. <ref Name=Handy1>''The International Sweethearts of Rhythm'' (1998) D. Antoinette Handy, Scarecrow Press, pp158-159</ref>

Being from the American north, Cron had not encountered segregation before or the racial laws enforced in the south. Many of the International Sweethearts were African American or of mixed backgrounds, and in touring the segregated southern states, the light-skinned Cron was often charged with illegal mixing. Dark, Jewish, Cron was introduced by the diverse band as "part Russian" to give her an aura of ethnic mystery. She darkened her looks and permed her hair to increase the air of the exotic and to fit in with the other women. <ref Name=Hersch/> The band bus often kept its shades down when travelling through the deep south and the women slept in berths on the bus, to avoid mixed accommodation laws. <ref Name= Guardian/>

Cron was made head of the sax section and she noted that the experience deeply helped her improve her musical phrasing and allowed her to make contacts, both of which supported her through her future years. With the band she met a wide cross-section of musicians in the US and Europe, from assorted backgrounds, which gave her a compassion, respect and empathy that she says underpinned the rest of her life. <ref Name=Handy1/>

===Post war===
In July 1945 Cron and the band recorded Jubilee Broadcasts for [[G.I. (military)|GIs]] with radio [[NBC]], shows that were relayed through [[Armed Forces Radio]]. Under pressure from listeners, the band were invited to perform Third and Seventh Armies abroad. They were issued [[United Service Organizations|USO]] uniforms and landed at Le Havre, driving through bombed out towns across Europe. They played troupes in Germany and France, including three weeks in Paris and shows at [[Nuremberg]] Opera House. In 1945 Cron attended a service in [[Stuttgart]] for Jewish soldiers and survivors of the liberated [[Nazi concentration camps|concentration camps]], a deeply moving event that was a milestone in her life.<ref Name=Hersch/> <ref Name= Guardian/><ref name=CBS>[https://ift.tt/2sdHYCq "Women of note"], CBS, January 12, 2001</ref>

Cron left the Sweethearts in 1946 and lived in [[Spanish Harlem]] with bassist Helen Saine, her best friend from the group. With all the soldiers returning home after the war, Cron found it hard to get musical work; the men went back to their old jobs. She later worked in insurance, in a bank, and volunteered as a patient escort at abortion clinics, continuing to play in many groups. <ref name=CBS/><ref Name=Guardian/>She taught clarinet extensively and for a period worked at the American Institute of Foreign Trade. Cron joined studio bands in Los Angeles and in 1979 formed an all female, west coast, 17-piece big band with drummer Bonnie Janofsky. Cron went on to perform with the group Maiden Voyage and joined the Kansas City Salute in 1980. However working full time in corporate jobs, whilst running projects, proved to create too much pressure to continue with group leadership. <ref Name=Handy1/>

Cron married and raised two sons. <ref>''The International Sweethearts of Rhythm'' (1998) D. Antoinette Handy, Scarecrow Press, p117</ref> <ref name=CBS/> During her last years she is living in [[Sheltered housing|sheltered accommodation]] outside Los Angeles. <ref Name=Guardian>[https://ift.tt/2rHlBFx "'We loved each other': America’s first racially integrated all-girl swing band"], 16 December 2019. Guardian</ref>

==Legacy==
Cron's story features in ''Swing Shift'' (2000) by Sherrie Tucker. She writes of Cron's role in the Sweethearts; that they represented "intersectional feminists ahead of their time"; "women of color and white women; lesbian and straight, all loving each other and working effortlessly together.” <ref Name=Guardian/> Cron is also profiled in the documentary film ''The Girls in the Band'' (2019), which traces the history of female big-band musicians. <ref>[https://ift.tt/2paHBHo ''Girls in the Band''], 2019 film featuring Cron </ref> Cron is regarded as a pioneer of female big-band music. <ref>[https://ift.tt/2sahxOa "No Man's Band: All-Female Jazz Orchestras Then and Now",] NPR, March 14 2019 </ref>

==References==


==External links==
*[https://ift.tt/2rHlBFx "'We loved each other': America’s first racially integrated all-girl swing band"], interview with Cron, 16 December 2019. Guardian



[[Category:American bandleaders]]
[[Category:People from Lawton, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American musicians]]
[[Category:Nightclub performers]]
[[Category:People from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Clarinetists]]
[[Category:Jewish American musicians]]
[[Category:Big band bandleaders]]
[[Category:American jazz alto saxophonists]]

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