DR. CLARE HANSSON HAS THE LAST WORD

Marian McPartland, Jazz Pianist: An Overview Of A Musical Career
A PhD Thesis By Clare Hansson

THE WHY: As a young woman In Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, I had no chance of being accepted into jazz. The talents of my late bass-playing husband, Bernie Hansson, were the catalyst for my acceptance into jazz. Marian insists that her husband, Jimmy McPartland, was her greatest encourager. She and I became penpals in 1986, but I first heard her play on radio in 1974. She agreed to my performing her pieces for my Masters degree, thus introducing me to her lustrous compositions, recordings, writings and interviews. I began my PhD in 1998, armed with a rich repository of background on Marian. The journey, thus begun, led me through a labyrinth of academic milestones all designed to distract me from my subject.

THE HOW: Doing a PhD is no picnic. One jazz woman researching the life of another jazz woman did not fit the academic mould. Stubbornly I rejected ‘isms’ and after some insanity, the journey evolved into creating a website overviewing Marian McPartland’s multi-faceted jazz career across six decades. This included analyses of four of Marian’s compositions, however for ease of navigating and viewing, these do not appear in the final version. Encircled by rigorous academic writing, the website is at the heart of this study.

THE DOING: Without Marian’s full support, permissions, generosity, urging and encouragement over the years, I may not have been able to maintain the passion. Three trips to New York to present papers at jazz conferences, interviews with her fellow musicians and industry figures, accumulating data and literature on her long history led to a wealth of material pointing to Marian’s significance. Once this was assembled, examined and approved, I graduated in 2006. The past two years have been spent securing permissions to post the research on the internet. Marian McPartland’s jazz life goes global!

THE END RESULT: This study is a pioneer in jazz research, and I thank all those who supported me. Musically, I continued to develop my jazz profile in Australia with energy and drive. An inspiration, Marian McPartland celebrated her 90th birthday in New York in March 2008 surrounded by accolades. As this PhD journey was one of discovery, the act of playing jazz is a world of exploration; spontaneous, full of surprises, ripe with promise. Like Marian, I am always open to new ideas, new challenges, new projects. I thank you, Marian McPartland, for a life-enhancing learning experience.