Margie Hyams

Jack Siefert (born 1918), a lifelong friend of Woody Herman, introduced Hyams to Herman, who had already broken convention by hiring a female instrumentalist in 1941, Billie Rogers (born 1919).[5] Rogers played trumpet with Herman until 1943.[6] Hyams is one of Woody's exceptional alumni vibraphonists that included Terry Gibbs, Red Norvo, and Milt Jackson, all of whom, according to jazz author Doug Ramsey, were part of a Who's Who quality of an imaginary line-up that was staggering.[7]

In a sense, you weren't really looked upon as a musician, especially in clubs. There was more interest in what you were going to wear or how your hair was fixed — they just wanted you to look attractive, ultra feminine, largely because you were doing something they didn't consider feminine. Most of the time I fought it and didn't listen to them. [One of the ways you fought it was insisting on wearing a band uniform instead of a dress.] Only in retrospect, when you start looking back and analyzing, you can see the obstacles that were put in front of you. I just thought at the time that I was too young to handle it, but now I see that it was really rampant chauvinism.

— Marjorie Hyams – 1978[8][9][10]

Hyams was a founder member of Shearing's world-famous quintet (1949-50) which achieved huge popularity and introduced an entirely new and much imitated ensemble sound in small group modern jazz. Shearing in his autobiography called Hyams 'a very fine musician... a thoroughly schooled classical pianist, well-versed in fugues and so on, but she'd taken up vibes in the early 1940s... We liked one another and got on very well. She also wrote some originals for the Quintet including November Seascape... [but she] left after about a year and a half... I think she just got tired of working for someone else and traveling so much, even though she was drawing a good salary.'[11]