Women have been integral to jazz since its beginning. This four week online class celebrates the full breadth of women active in jazz history, including well-known past performers such as Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Mary Lou Williams, Marian McPartland, Melba Liston, Lil Hardin, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Geri Allen, present day performers like Esperanza Spalding, Jazzmeia Horn, Melissa Aldana, and Ingrid Jensen, and women who managed their partner’s careers and legacies, like pianist Lil Hardin, Iola Brubeck, Lorraine Willis Gillespie, Pannonica de Koenigswarter, and Nellie Monk. Part of a series of virtual workshops taught by Dr. Kelsey Klotz, this deep dive explores the contributions of jazz women musicians during Women’s History Month, and prepares us to enjoy some of the great women in jazz today in this month’s JAZZ ROOM Women in Jazz performance. Dr. Kelsey Klotz is a lecturer in UNC Charlotte’s Department of Music. In 2016, with a PhD in musicology. As an educator, Dr. Klotz teaches critical listening as a method for musical analysis and encountering perspectives different from one’s own. Her approach to the confluence of music and history offers a deep dive into the focal topic, relating that to influences of and to the societal environment of the time, and implications to today. Special Thanks to our program sponsors: Infusion Fund , North Carolina Arts Council, Knight Foundation, Doris Duke Foundation, Charlotte Woman’s Club, and Akers Foundation