Women in Jazz and Blues: Joanne Brackeen, Doreen Ketchens, Carolyn Wonderland

I have spent most of this year writing about women who began their careers in the early part of the 20^th century. In July’s segment, I want to concentrate on three women who are still active—in three different styles of blues and/or jazz and in three different parts of the country.

JOANNE BRACKEEN 1938-

Joanne Brackeen

Joanne Brackeen is perhaps the foremost jazz pianist playing today. She is one of the most original and visionary keyboard artists with a definitively brilliant and flawless technique. She grew up in Ventura, California, and is largely self taught. In an interview she said she got hooked on the piano after hearing boogie woogie at a neighbor’s house! As a child, she could pick out difficult songs by ear and was considered a child prodigy. She hooked up with the great Joanne Castle (piano player of Lawrence Welk fame) when she was 12. They became best friends and began playing together, with Castle on accordion. They were incredulous that they were making money! In the ’50s, Brackeen began playing with top jazz artists in California, like Dexter Gordon, Harold Land, and Charles Lloyd. She met and married Charles Brackeen, a sax player, had four children, and moved to New York city, the epicenter of jazz. In the ’70s she began playing and touring with Art Blakey, and in the later ’70s, Stan Getz. Known for his warm tone, Getz may be best known for his recording of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Girl from Ipanema,” with Astrid Gilberto singing. I was fortunate enough to hear him—with Brackeen—at the Catamaran Hotel in Pacific Beach at that time. By the way, I also heard Sarah Vaughn and trumpet player Chet Baker there, in a very intimate setting. That was a fantastic jazz series.

Later I became more aware of Joanne when she performed at the 1980 Women’s Jazz Festival in Kansas City, which went on from 1978-1985. I was lucky enough to go and was incredibly inspired. Marian McPartland also performed, among many others. Joanne performed with an equally far-out bass player named Eddie Gomez. Their interaction was so intense, improvisational, and progressive, they were both drenched in sweat afterward. She liked being lost in the music and apparently had that bond with Gomez as well. She also taught a workshop later at the festival.

The best musical experience you can have either alone, but especially when you’re playing with a group of people, is that all of a sudden, it’s one person playing. There’s something very pure that’s easily available to people who are open to it. Nothing needs to be taught, just experienced.

—Joanne Brackeen

To me, that is what hooks people into playing music as well as listening to music. Joanne Brackeen is a very special artist, both technically, artistically, and spiritually. She continues to teach at the prestigious Berklee College of Music between performances and tours.

DOREEN KETCHENS 1966-

Doreen Ketchens

Widely considered a cultural ambassador for New Orleans, I have seen her every time I have visited there, mostly in the streets. You can find her often on the corner of Royal St. and St. Peter in the French Quarter. Once I saw her at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, welcoming visitors with her blend of American traditional jazz. Playing clarinet and leading the band, she is often joined by members of her family.

Doreen Ketchens grew up in the New Orleans neighborhood of Treme. She trained classically while attending high school and college and eventually received a scholarship from the New York Philharmonic to attend the Hartt School of Music. Called Lady Louis in NOLA, she received an honorary doctorate degree from Five Towns College, in Long Island, New York. She has appeared on television episodes of Queer Eye and Treme, among others as well as many festivals, including the French Quarter Festival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. She has performed for four presidents as well as abroad, bringing traditional jazz to Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, South America, Russia, and the U.S. Since she is normally out playing in the streets, she is very accessible. Her music, both singing and playing, is almost impossible to sit through without dancing, shouting, clapping, or tapping your feet. The clarinet queen and her husband, Lawrence H. Ketchens II, who played sousaphone in the band and arranged for them, are also educators, playing in schools and universities and doing many workshops. Sadly her husband passed away in January, 2025.

She has played with a who’s who of musicians, including Ellis Marsalis, Jon Faddis, Trombone Shorty, Al Hirt, Dorothy Donegan, the Black Crowes, and Jennifer Warren. She has opened for Macy Gray and Dr. John.

Doreen Ketchens performs with gusto and genuineness; no visit to New Orleans is complete without seeing and hearing her .

CAROLYN WONDERLAND 1972-

Carolyn Wonderland

One of the hardest working musicians out there, Carolyn Wonderland has logged in many road miles now. She has been touring for her entire career. A talented guitarist, singer, and songwriter, she embodies the Austin blues scene in her repertoire and approach to performing. She grew up in Houston and moved to Austin in 1999 to become one of the regular performers there, along with Marcia Ball, Shelley King, Sue Foley, Sarah Brown, fellow Texan Ray Benson (of Asleep at the Wheel fame), Lavelle White, and Jimmie Vaughn, among others. She began leading her own bands in high school and toured for several years as blues legend John Mayall’s lead guitarist (2018-2024), until his death. Instrumentally, she plays guitar, steel guitar, mandolin, trumpet, and piano.

A musical force, equipped with the soulful vocals of Janis, and the guitar slinging skills of Stevie Ray, Carolyn Wonderland reaches into the depths of the Texas blues tradition with the wit of a poet. She hits the stage with unmatched presence, a true legend in her time.

—Margaret Moser, music journalist and patron saint of the Austin music scene

She was signed by Alligator Records in 2021, releasing her debut album for them—Tempting Fate—that same year. Produced by Dave Alvin, he also produced and played on her second album for them, Truth Is, in 2025. Known mostly as a Texas blues musician, she also incorporates her originals, “cosmic” soul, doses of Tex-Mex, and Rock ‘n’ Roll. On her new album, she is joined by labelmate Marcia Ball, Shelley King, Ruthie Foster, and Cindy Cashdollar (Wonderland calls this the Girl Gang), as well as Jimmy Dale Gilmore, among others. She has received several nominations from the Blues Foundation in Memphis for Contemporary Blues Artist and Song of the Year (for “Fragile Peace and Certain War”).Her songs have been featured in several television productions and have consistently been on the top of the blues, Americana, and alt country charts.

Sue Palmer and Carolyn Wonderland

I first met Carolyn at the Kjell Blues Festival in Norway, in 2013. I was performing with Candye Kane and her band (with Laura Chavez) as well as playing solo piano. It was largely dedicated to an American piano player, who was supposed to be the headliner but who had passed away right before the festival (Little Willie Littlefield). Carolyn was playing as well as Davina and the Vagabonds, Caroline Dahl, Sugar Pie Desantis, and others. A political event in Texas had just occurred, which I was curious to ask Carolyn about. To my delight, she reported that she and Marcia Ball had both attended state senator Wendy Davis’ successful 11-hour-long filibuster to block a restrictive abortion measure in the Austin State House. Next time we met was at San Diego’s Gator by the Bay festival in 2018, where she was featured with her trio. She was very casually dressed (like most blues musicians from Austin) but was unbelievably dynamic, especially on her guitar. She is definitely a force to be reckoned with and will be appearing in San Diego this month, on July 31^st at Humphrey’s by the Bay.