Annie Booth Spotlights Women Jazz Composers With Brava Jazz Publishing Company

Local jazz pianist, composer and educator Annie Booth spent her undergraduate years swimming around a sea of men. She remembers being the only woman in the entire jazz program at the University of Colorado, and it was a lonely and discouraging reality. But she's since found longstanding success in the Denver jazz scene, establishing the multi-generational Annie Booth Sextet with Mile High jazz stalwarts Greg Gisbert, Wil Swindler, John Gunther, Patrick McDevitt and Alejandro Castaño; the group won a 2023 Best of Denver award for Best New Jazz Album for last year's Alpenglow.

When composer, arranger and bandleader Alan Baylock approached Booth last summer with an opportunity to spotlight women in jazz, she jumped at the chance. "We know that there are great female composers and arrangers in jazz, but the major publishing outlets in the jazz industry aren't publishing their music," Booth notes. "For whatever reason, most of these major publishing houses have 5 percent or less music written by women. So we decided, well, let's change [that]."

Baylock and Booth's Brava Jazz Publishing is dedicated to publishing compositions by female jazz musicians that range from beginner to professional levels. Booth hopes the company will become a definitive resource for jazz ensemble directors and big bands to help diversify set lists.

Since Baylock first spoke with Booth, the two have been intensely busy, kickstarting Brava Jazz with vigor. After meeting with a host of consultants — from business and DEIA professionals to vocal jazz publishers — Brava Jazz Publishing was established as an LLC and launched its online presence in December 2022.

For Booth, building the company's catalogue has been the highlight of the experience thus far. She is focused on finding living women composers who specialize in creating music for large jazz ensembles — sometimes contacting old friends, other times emailing composers she's stumbled upon online. "We had a list of women who are composers and arrangers that we were already aware of. Some are dear friends of ours," she says. "But what was really exciting was doing some research into who's writing music. And we discovered some new names and new faces for us."

Reaching out to composers has been a surreal and beautiful experience for Booth. "It just gave me chills," she says. "I just felt like, 'Oh, my God, this is so full-circle.' Coming from a place of not any peers or mentors in this music [scene], and then I get to reach out to [women], some of whom are good friends of mine."

Booth says the full catalogue, which will be released sometime this month, offers around thirty charts from a wide range of living composers, from Ellen Rowe, a jazz educator at the University of Michigan, to Lamont School of Music graduate Camilla Vaitaitis and sixteen-year-old composer and instrumentalist Skylar Tang.

"When you hear music by women programmed in a jazz ensemble concert, a lot of times [1920s jazz pianist] Mary Lou Williams is the one," Booth says, adding that while the composer was an incredible pioneer for women in jazz, the genre needs more diversity. "I'm so happy that people are programming her music, and we want to keep building from there and keep the tradition alive with people who are composing today."

Booth hopes that Brava Jazz will inspire more women composers to "pick up the pen," writing with the certainty that their work will have a platform.

Booth looks forward to the publishing company's growth and is aiming for it to be a part of the Jazz Education Network Conference in New Orleans. Brava Jazz also has plans to expand its catalogue by offering small group and vocal jazz charts as well as commissioning works from women composers. Booth wants to host educational opportunities for hopeful soon-to-be jazz arrangers, as well.

"Alan and I have this vision to create an educational aspect of Brava Jazz Publishing, whether that's webinars or online courses in jazz arranging," Booth says. "Anyone who is interested in honing their skills in jazz arranging could learn from us in that way. And then eventually we envision a Brava Jazz orchestra — a big band, made up entirely of women, that plays and records pieces that are in our catalogue."

Ten years ago, Booth would never have dreamed of pursuing this venture. "I think that's kind of the funny way that life works sometimes," she muses. "You're just doing the things that you do and kind of trusting that you're on the right path."

Booth feels that everything she has done in her storied, accomplished career so far (her success as a jazz pianist is no small feat) has led her to this opportunity to make a tangible difference in the jazz world.

"Us musicians, we have to keep in mind sometimes: What would your former self think about what you're doing right now?" Booth says. "Your high school self or your middle-school self, they would just be so over the moon to see what you're doing. So I feel really, really grateful for this new chapter of my professional life."

Learn more at bravajazz.com.