Jutta Hipp

Jutta Hipp (4 February 1925 – 7 April 2003) was a German jazz pianist who was a pioneer of jazz in post-war Germany and was also active in the United States. After a career of approximately ten years as a jazz musician in Germany, during which she led a quintet that introduced Germany to bebop and cool jazz, she was discovered by an Anglo-American jazz critic and record producer who encouraged her to emigrate to the United States. However, she subsequently fell out with him and, just two years after her arrival in America, abandoned her career in jazz to work as a seamstress in a factory, following a surprising rhythm and blues tour in the southern United States in 1957. In 1955, known as the "First Lady of European Jazz", she became the first European and the first white female musician to sign a recording contract with the prestigious American record label Blue Note Records, on which she released three albums in 1956. For reasons that are unclear, Hipp's last recording was in 1956. She started working in a clothing factory, and ultimately cut herself off from the music world. She remained in the United States, and worked for the clothing company for 35 years. Jutta Hipp was also a painter, draughtswoman, photographer, and designer.