*( Now Playing; "Jump Children" from the above album - Recorded in Oct 1946 - Vocals by Tiny Davis )
Rosetta Records RR-1312 Woman' Heritage Series - Near Mint Condition - 5 Pages of Text

International Sweethearts of Rhythm

WWll drafted many of our best male musicians into the Services. This gave women musicians some new opportunities. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an excellent and popular women’s band, was formed in 1939 at the Piney Woods Country Life School (Mississippi), and made it's debut at the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C.

In 1941, Anna Mae Winburn, who had been fronting the Lloyd Hunter Serenaders, joined the "Sweethearts" as leader and stayed til the they dis-banded in the late '40's. They had excellent arrangements by Eddie Durham and Jesse Stone.

The personnel consisted of: Ernestine "Tiny" Davis, Ray Carter, Johnnie Mae Stansbury, and Edna Williams on Trumpets; Marge Pettiford, Amy Garrison, Helen Saine, Grace Bayron; Viola Burnside, and Willie Mae Wong on saxophones; Judy Bayron, Helen Jones and Ina Bell Byrd on Trombones; The rhythm was supplied by Lucille Dixon on bass; Roxanna Lucas on Guitar; Johnnie Mae Rice on Piano; and Pauline Braddy on the Drums. Evelyn McGee, vocalist. Anna Mae Winburn was the Leader and Vocalist, too.

Viola Burnside on tenor sax and Ernestine "Tiny" Davis on the trumpet, made great soloists. It was the first racially integrated women's band and it lasted for over a decade, playing to primarily black audiences in theaters and ballrooms across the country. At the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C., the band set a new box office record of 35,000 patrons in one week of 1941.

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