LGBTQ representation in jazz

Since the Jazz Age, the genre has been popular with LGBTQ audiences. In Chicago, the Bronzeville and Woodlawn neighborhoods were home to several gay bars that hosted jazz performers and drag balls. These events on the South Side were often racially integrated with working-class queer crowds and provided a space for diverse identities at jazz clubs, until the clubs closed by the 1960s.^[2]

Patricia Barber (top left), Fred Hersch (top right), Billie Holiday (bottom left), and Ma Rainey (bottom right).

Patricia Barber,^[3] Spencer Day,^[4] Tiny Davis,^[5] Fred Hersch,^[6][7][8] Billie Holiday,^[9] Tony Jackson,^[10] Dave Koz,^[11] Allison Miller,^[12] Ma Rainey,^[13][14] and Billy Strayhorn^[15] are among LGBTQ jazz musicians. Sammy Rae & The Friends is a "multi-genre pop/rock/jazz septet fronted by a charismatic queer- and bisexual-identifying female singer-songwriter."^[16]

Jazz has been known as "notoriously macho", but there were more openly gay and lesbian musicians by the 2000s, such as Barber, Andy Bey, and Gary Burton, who have inspired later generations of LGBTQ performers.^[17]