Frances Carroll & Her Coquettes Featuring Drummer Viola Smith 

From your description I thought the vibraharp sounded a lot like a vibraphone, so I looked it up. Turns out they're different names for the same instrument (other names are vibes, vibraceleste and vibratone). I was going to suggest that a vibraphone might be a better comparison as it's a better known instrument 😊. I am curious where the name vibraharp came from as it isn't plucked? I don't know if you can enlighten me? Anyway, I am fairly certain that vibraphone is how it's most commonly known (when I looked up vibraharp on Wikipedia it redirected to vibraphone). Anyway, kudos to your mother and all the girls in the band. I'm truly sorry to hear they faced such prejudice and misogyny 'cause they sound terrific.

Same here. Strange being a drummer who's heard of just about every well-known drummer and just hearing about her now.

Ditto!R.I.P. Viola.

Sadly recorded performances seem very hard to come by. This interview is fantastic though. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jlzCWHw7ZW8.html

Amazing but sad. Sad that she had to go out in a time like this.

Same with me a week later.

She and this band are really good, but she herself is fantastic. At least from every indication in this video, she's twice the musician of everyone else in that very good band.

Totally agree!

...at 1:31 it sounds like the Star Wars cantina music 😁...this is awesome!! True girl power....

omg i was thinking the same thing ,,,,=^oo^=,,, plus i wanna do push ups on her, but she dead prolly

@@anotherkat4u she died 9 days ago at the age 107

Me too.

Yep, me too.

No shame on you, my good man. Shame on our culture for brandishing crap and forcing it upon us. Shame on them. Shame on our media, shame on the entertainment industry for giving us garbage and forcing us to listen to it and sweeping things like this under the carpet.

@@HailRider Amen, bro.

1 0 7 and close to 108. I saw Keith Moon with The Who. Then I saw them again with a new drummer. Keith died at 32.

Wow great!

Thanks RU-vid for a great introduction to Viola and the orchestra! I might never have learned about these talented women!

@@josephesposito3499 Oh you poor sad thing.

@@josephesposito3499 what in the hell are you saying? This has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve read. Did you learn English from Donald trump?

What’s the name of the trio?

Was really hoping she would make it to 108, and 2020 wouldn't claim another legend, but RIP to one of the greats. She had a great run.

To be fair, she literally kept the beat until aged 107. With all that the world has been through in the last century, she must have been great at improvising!

Must of been Covid 19

Drummers mostly are in great shape! The calories they burn through a few sets must be off the charts. Good example of why movement is good for you! Now if only they wouldn't shit themselves with booze, drugs and sex................

@@Bosstubeman I concur Bossman ...

Are the Ariel Toms the left and right drums in the air that look like hair salon dryers? I have been trying to find out what they are for a long time.

I never heard of her until now. Says a lot about gender barriers.

there is a lot of Bonham in her performance. Along with a great demonstration of Skill, Timing, Musicality and Technical ability.

It means a hell of a lot! And why wasn't she AS famous a Krupa or Rich? (from a drummer for 62 years)

If anything women get too much respect

When you get a nice flat rent controlled , you keep it ! 🧐

That's depressing as shit

@MusicManMaurice or a musician who happens to be a drummer

It's pretty impressive, just the switching alone. I never could get traditional grip down, I'm glad no one really cares about that anymore. Unless you play traditional, and people do notice it, only because it's becoming less seen.

@@EHiggins The history of different handing and drum stick grips is very interesting. The French used matched grip more than traditional. It was for many years not called matched or "rock" grip, but instead "tympani" grip. There is very little logic in traditional grip, and it is anything but traditional if you do your history research. I actually think it may be a vestige of North America. Many percussionists who were brought up in the "traditional" grip school of sticking used to criticize many accomplished musicians for using "rock and roll" grip as this was their attempt to shame and denigrate popular musicians who chose to use a grip much more in sync with the human body and the musculoskeletal system. There is nothing symmetrical, logical or reasonable about traditional grip. If you study the physics of stick control, it is totally contrary to traditional grip. The goal of parity, even pitch and similar resonance when striking a drum head is based on the same profile, and part of the stick striking the head in symmetry with every stroke. That is more difficult to achieve with traditional grip than that of matched, tympani, or French grip. So while all the traditionalist rant and rave about how "correct" traditional grip is, it has never played out in practice. Even Buddy Rich, who was a staunch criticizer of matched grip did a 180 in his later professional career, and if you watch and study his later performances you will see him transitioning back and forth from traditional to matched grip just like Viola Smith does in this video. Well respected musicians/drummers like Tony Williams, Billy Cobham, Vinnie Coliuta, Steve Smith, and dozens of others, who are unquestionably the best drummers of our age DO use matched grip. So in closing, traditional or matched, they both work, but matched is much more in sync with the human body, and an effort to get a even stick impact sound on a drum head.

@@3RTracing Yeah traditional feels totally unnatural to me, and I do just fine without it. Not something I really spent a lot of time thinking about. I just knew to get it right was going to take a ton of practice and discipline, that I felt kind of like a waste to me personally since I didn't really need it, and didn't like it. Most of my influences/hero's use matched grip. Thanks!

3RTracing: As I understand it, the traditional grip originated with marching drums. Back then marching drums were deep and therefore had to be tilted to allow the drummer to walk, thus the left hand required a different grip to allow the drummer to play over the high side of the tilted drum. I started playing in Pipe Bands, and although the drums are shallower and are held on a harness higher up, which allows them to be played level, it was traditional grip, or there's the door. For that reason I can play both, but matched grip is more logical. The snobbery has all but disappeared.

Well that shit, I literally just clicked on this video as it was recommended to me and thought "well this is cool", checked the comments, because why not (there are many reasons why not to), and then I read upon this, what an eerily strange coincidence.

@@GOTHICLORD69 No coincidence: algorithms.

Smith was featured in a documentary about short subjects around 2003; RIP.

Pretty good for a novelty act, not bad for girls. Proof that girls who look like guys can play almost as well.

She studied under Cab Calaway

dennis brown I was going to say she had moves like Cab Calloway. Glad that RU-vid recommended her videos!

AND.... YAWSAH!

When will number 107 be held? And where? Can uninvited guests attend? A nephew.

@ALJ Studios How many all female Jazz bands existed at that time?

@ALJ Studios Gave you a thumbs up for that comment! I wonder how often @PyrozPlayground makes his own sandwich?? Yeah, that's what I thought....

And before the likes of Fanny goldie & the gingerbreads the runaways the go gos the bangles, et al

@@tsitracommunications2884 i guess wayyyy back then it would have surprised some people or seemed like a novelty, sure.

Ivy Benson Band

All clarinet players doubling on sax.

@@alanfoster6589 Didn't notice that - cool catch.

@@alanfoster6589 Another fun fact: The bari sax player also played tenor AND alto!

@@KeithCooper-Albuquerque Good catch!

Brava! That's what you're supposed to say when it's a female....

I thought this must have been the war years; all female band, when the women weren't doing other crazy things like flying the latest fighter planes around the country to deliver them to the menfolk in the operational squadrons; then after the war they all went back into their kitchens!

There is a famous female fighter pilot too though.

SHE WAS INSPIRATIONAL to wo-MEN who look like guys, and cold play almost as well.

'instrumental', no pun intended,lol.

@@racketman2u given no choice but to go back to their homes ( men tend to overestimate the time a homemaker spends in a kitchen)

Me too.

it's in YT's algorithm....famous people who have passed away recently will show up in performances of yesteryear

Me too! Great sound🎶

What would be different if you learned about her while she was still alive? Gonna go over for tea?

The conductor was a 7 the rest were dudes,,,not bad for girls

Well said, Rusty!

But why, though? Most men nowadays are perfectly fine with women pursuing a music career. I personally always use female musicians as an example of women who might not want to pursue STEM just because the feminists said so, just to debunk the whole "Oh, so you just want women to become housewives?" shtick that gets thrown my way whenever I say women should choose their future.

The modem music industry would like to erase this kind of music in general. Sexism may play a part, but there are other factors. There may be fifty amazing big band and jazz drummers that you aren't familiar with just due to obscurity.

FOOL! SIMP! Proof that German girls who look like dudes can play almost as well as a MAN. Not bad for a novelty act, also proof that wo-MEN were never prohibited from playing music, just that most wo-MEN are not driven to do the same things as high testosterone wo-MEN do... a novelty act & not even comparable to true innovators like Rich & Krupa, stop being a fool.

I so agree these ladies are fantastic I too have been drumming over 40 years and only recently found out about this lady....... She is absolutely incredible add such a crime what she is so unknown rest in peace I know I will never forget you either

FOOL! SIMP! Pretty good for a novelty act. Also proof that girls who look like guys can play almost as well.

@@darowa44 Sounds like a band name, "The Algo-Rhythms"

Yep...

So true!

You're right, but I'm very glad I found it. Viola was a bit useful, wasn't she?

It could be that she passed recently, so it's not as weird as other recommendations you usually get on RU-vid.

sing sing sing is one of the best songs all time, and I'm a rock and roll /blues guy

Exactly what I thought, though I admit I don't have enough deep knowledge of big band drummers to say with authority how remarkable the similarity is or if it's more zeitgeist. But I know for sure I've listed with pleasure to many drummers fo the era who couldn't keep up with this on their best day - and she seems like she's just laying this down for kicks!

well, she certainly did lay down some fine solos for other drummers to get ideas from, didn't she?

She copied him. Krupa & Rich were before her

Looks like her kitchen.

All kits look like that unless it's a beginers one what are you taking about

Just like any modern heavy metal drummer, then...

@@SelectCircle Your head can be the snare/cutting board, as she whips you up a beat sandwich.

@@mikuspalmis You would never find me alone with a woman that ugly.

107. That's a lot of drum, er heart beats I'd say...

Is there a video of her105th birthday party at Piece.akers? If so put it on utube. G

- Are those cement mixers? 😳 Viola Smith - They go really well with the baritone sax.

@@markdemell3717 If you love men instead of women then tell me you love me.

@@suncookrocks I love you man!

Makes sense.......

Well obviously nobody stopped them from doing it, you just have to be good.

No that's not amazing. There were no men out there going "HEY that dame is doing our job, let's stop them, men!" I mean, what kind of neo progressive TV world do you live in?

HIS-story doesn't pander to hermaphroditic wo-MEN, these tom boys prove that GERMAN girls who look like guys have more MALE type ability, than pretty girls.

@@josephesposito3499 What.

@@josephesposito3499 you are a disgusting troll. And obviously an imbecile.