Viola Smith: Marching to the Beat of Her Own Drum

Name your favorite musician and we can bet our entire rare LP collection it will be either the singer or the lead guitarist. Drummers don’t get that same rabid fandom somehow, they’re only noticed when they’re loud and brash, think Keith Moon, think Bonzo, but they are the exception. Most drummers are quiet and unassuming, even though they are the backbone of the group, keeping the beat, they melt into the background.

Female drummers are even rarer than a Pearl Vari Pitch, which makes Viola Smith the most wonderful anomaly. She’s the jazz drummer we all need to be obsessed with, she started her career in the swinging ’20s, today she’s 107 years young and still going strong!

1. All in the family; Viola Schmitz was born on November 29th, 1912 in Mount Cavalry, Wisconsin. She was one of 10 children. Viola, her 7 sisters, and 1 of her brothers formed a band together which they named the Schmitz Sisters. (Her brother can’t have been too happy about that!)

2) Her parents ran a dance hall cum concert theater, which first sparked her interest in music. She was always fond of the performing arts and was born to be in front of an audience.

3) She learned to play the piano as a child, but when the band formed the position of the drummer was open, which she happily filled. Viola is glad she chose the drums, she cites playing drums as one of the reasons she is healthy and active even at the age of 107!

4) Fame is the name; The group landed on the radio version of America’s got Talent in the 1930s, they also played on the Radio-Keith-Orpheum and the Chicago Band Revue. Everyone this band was going places, and the only way to go was up!

5) By 1938 disillusionment had started to set in, her siblings wanted to move on with their lives in separate directions, so they disbanded in 1938 and a new group emerged, Phoenix-like, from the ashes. The Coquettes was a 12-piece group, with one of her sisters playing saxophone while Viola played the drums

6) She made it to the cover of Billboard magazine in 1940, she is also the longest-running endorser of WFL drum company. This was a huge deal at the time, it was rare for a female musician to get that kind of recognition.

7) Viola moved to New York in 1942, where she played drums for Ella Fitzgerald, recorded music for films, and even appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show not once, not twice, but five times!

8) Viola was enrolled at Juilliard and Columbia University, studying Psychology, Aesthetics, Philosophy, and English Composition. She also played in the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra.

9) In 1942 she wrote an article for Downbeat titled ‘Give girl musicians a break’, where she talked about equality and the work ethic of her fellow female musicians. Urging that, female musicians be called to fill the spot if men were drafted for war

10) Viola then joined an all-woman swing band called ‘The Hour of Charm’. You know you’ve really made it when your band is mentioned on an episode of ‘I Love Lucy’

11) She played film music for ‘Johnny comes marching home’(1942) and ‘Here come the Co-Eds’(1945). Her drum set was always a seventeen-piece ensemble that fascinated critics and fans alike.

12) In 1949 she performed at President Harry Truman’s inaugural ball. The attendees were in awe of the background score that accompanied the dance.

13) In 1954, after she quit the hour of charm, she formed her own band called ‘Viola & Her Seventeen Drums’, a tongue-in-cheek name for all the press coverage and attention her drum kit always got.

14) She was the drummer for the original 1960s production of Cabaret, with the Kit Kat Klub Kittens. The production ran nationwide until the mid-late 1960s and starred the greats such as Joel Gray, Jill Hayworth, and Lotte Lenya

15) Smith briefly dated ol’ blue eyes himself, and recalls those heady days with Frank Sinatra with fondness. Can’t say we blame her, who wouldn’t love to be flown to the moon with Mr. Sinatra!

16) Smith was often compared to Gene Krupa, referred to as ‘The Girl Krupa’. She has nothing against the drummer, and mentions Krupa as an inspiration, but was offended by the sexism. Despite the comparison, Viola had her own unique playing style

17) She considers Bix Beiderbecke one of the greatest musicians of all time, which makes sense when you take into account how multi-talented the man was. He played the cornet, the piano, and composed music too, talk about a triple threat!

18) She provided an all-female band for the Broadway production of ‘Sugar’. Sugar was a Broadway musical based on the runaway cinema hit ‘Some Like It Hot’. The movie that put Marilyn Monroe on the map and in our hearts forever.

19) In 1974 Viola was on the show ‘Liza with a Z’, it was Liza Minelli’s breakthrough Cabaret show. Most of us know her Lucille 2 from ‘Arrested Development’, but she had an illustrious career before she became Buster’s beau.

20) On April 12th, 2000, she was one of the eight women honored for their contributions to jazz. It was a touching tribute to the women that have paved the way for others

21) She still plays with bands occasionally in her hometown in Costa Mesa, California. Bands like the Piece Makers and Forever Young Band. Talk about a brilliant, trailblazing legacy. Let your obsession begin!