Feminist Improvising Group (FIG) is an international free jazz and experimental music ensemble formed in London in 1977 by Scottish singer Maggie Nicols and British bassoonist and composer Lindsay Cooper.
FIG was the first all-female improvising band to publicly perform, challenging the male-dominated improvising music community. They incorporated theatrical performance into improvisational music and humorously integrated elements of women's everyday life into their performances.
Maggie Nicols was born in Edinburgh in 1948. In her teens, Nicols left school and began working as a dancer at the Windmill Theatre. In 1965, she became fascinated with jazz music. Nicols recalled that she rarely saw women playing instruments, so she started practicing to become an improvising vocalist.
In 1968, Nicols moved to London and joined an improvising band called the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Shortly after, she became a member of Keith Tippett's 50-piece jazz/avant-rock orchestra, Centipede.
In 1977, Nicols and Cooper met at a musicians' gathering, where Nicols was already an active feminist. They discussed the idea of forming an all-female improvising group for the first time. Although Nicols and Cooper often performed with men, they had little experience performing with other women.
Nicols and Cooper found three other female musicians to form a quintet: cellist/bassist Georgie Born, who also came from the band Henry Cow, singer/pianist Cathy Williams from the band Red Balune, and trumpeter Corinne Liensol from the band Jam Today.
FIG's first performance was at the "Music for Socialism" concert held at the Almost Free Theatre in London in October 1977. The organizers of the concert approached Nicols and asked if she could arrange for some female performers because there had been a lack of female performers in previous events. However, they probably never expected Nicols to bring an all-female improvising group.
They originally intended to call themselves the "European Women Improvising Group," but ironically, the organizers took it upon themselves to change their name to the "Feminist Improvising Group." Nicols said, "The political statement of the band's name was never ours! But we thought, 'Well, if they call us feminists, we'll go along with it.'"
Before FIG's first performance, the group organized a discussion about improvisational consciousness and roles. The musicians discussed their experiences and feelings as women. Nicols talked about her multiple identities as a mother, workshop organizer, and musician. Liensol discussed being treated like a child because of her disability. Born talked about her anxieties about appearance and weight. This discussion helped them find their voices and roles in their performances and transformed into an improvisational creative concept.
FIG's performances were chaotic and avant-garde. Nicols would cut onions on stage, and Cooper would spray perfume on the audience. They parodied women's roles in society and incorporated "found objects" from their homes into their performances, including "vacuum cleaners, brooms, dustpans, pots, pans, and egg slicers." In their performances, there were often scenes of women cleaning the stage while others crowded together to "explore the possibilities of household object sounds." FIG broke down the traditional barriers between performers and audience early on, engaging in call-and-response interactions with them and promoting the idea that "anyone can perform."
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, FIG toured Europe multiple times. They performed in various locations, including Paris, Berlin, Rome, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Reykjavik.
In early 1978, Cooper and Born invited Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer to join FIG after performing with her at a concert in Zurich with Henry Cow. In April 1978, British saxophonist, singer, and filmmaker Sally Potter also joined FIG.
Dutch trombonist Annemarie Roelofs, British singer Frankie Armstrong, Dutch woodwind player Angèle Veltmeijer, and French saxophonist and guitarist Françoise Dupety also occasionally collaborated with the band. Some of FIG's performances featured as many as eight women.
In the 1970s, the space for free improvisation was primarily dominated by heterosexual men, and women were often marginalized. In discussions and practices that emphasized freedom in free jazz and free improvisation, opportunities for women improvisers strangely seemed to be missing.
Nicols said, "Improvisation touches, breaks barriers, and challenges boundaries. Music is about liberation, and jazz is also about liberation." Nicols wanted the group to be open to women of all backgrounds and musical levels, including those who had never improvised before. She saw these diverse abilities that brought unexpected results as advantages rather than disadvantages.
Born said that FIG operated very differently from mixed-gender groups: "When you play with men, there's an element of competition; they often feel threatened by women. In an all-female band, we can be free from that pressure. Without men, women are more honest and open with each other and more accepting of what each member is doing."
FIG received either very positive or very negative criticism. Nicols and Roelofs rarely received support from male improvisers, who criticized their technical abilities and referred to them as women rather than musicians.
FIG's "anyone can do it" philosophy angered many who valued "technical excellence" and "improvisational skills." Nicols said they also complained that FIG showed "disrespect for technique and tradition."
However, FIG's performances also received positive reactions from both men and women. Nicols recalled lesbian women in the audience at their first performance who were interested in disco and soul music. They patiently sat through other improvisers' performances but laughed uproariously when FIG took the stage.
Listening to live recordings of FIG's performances, you can hear the enthusiastic response from the audience, often amused by their absurd actions. Cooper recalled a female artist working in film who said to her, "I don't know what you're doing, but I like it."
Nicols left FIG in 1980 and formed another all-female group called Contradictions. Contradictions later became a women's workshop open to anyone, run by Nicols.
In 1983, under Schweizer's leadership, FIG evolved into the European Women's Improvising Group (EWIG). EWIG included Schweizer, Cooper, Roelofs, French bassist Joëlle Léandre, and French singer Annick Nozati.
Intakt, a label closely associated with Schweizer, released many recordings of collaborations between FIG members. In the early 1990s, Nicols, Schweizer, and Léandre formed the improvising trio Les Diaboliques, releasing three albums on the Intakt label from 1994 to 1998.
In 1984, Roelofs organized the first Canaille International Women's Festival in Frankfurt. This music festival exclusively served female improvising artists and lasted for at least five years. The third Canaille festival in 1986 was organized by Rosmarie Meier and Schweizer in Zurich. FIG members Cooper, Schweizer, Nicols, Roelofs, and nine other female improvisers held a two-day performance and released valuable historical recordings on the Intakt label.
The story of FIG has ended, but its impact is profound. FIG attracted women who were previously uninterested in the concept of free improvisation by improvising on issues important to women. Despite criticism, FIG and these great women persisted in doing what they wanted to do, perhaps illustrating the significance of improvisational and free music.