Myrtle Marie Young, pioneering jazz saxophone player

THE PINEY Woods Country Life School, in Mississippi, has a distinction that might not be widely known. It produced what turned out to be a world-famous, all-girl jazz band.

The band began life in the '40s as the Swinging Rays of Rhythm, then morphed into the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, the first integrated all-women's band in the U.S.

It performed on a national circuit that included such famed venues as the Apollo Theater, in Harlem; the Regal, in Chicago; and the Howard, in Washington, D.C.

The Chicago Defender wrote that the band's performance in the Windy City was "one of the hottest stage shows that ever raised the roof of the theater."

And featured on saxophone was a talented young lady named Myrtle Marie Young.

Lawrence C. Jones, who founded the school to educate poor and African-American children in 1910, used the band and other musical groups to raise money for the school.

Myrtle, who graduated from the school in 1944 and went on to perform with other all-female aggregations, eventually arriving in Philadelphia, died of cancer Jan. 29. She was 82 and lived in West Oak Lane.

She was born in Jackson, Miss., to Robert Young and the former Mabel Tappan. She attended the Piney Woods school on a music scholarship.

One of the groups that Myrtle graced with her talent as both sax player and singer was the Darlings of Rhythm, which performed in Venezuela and other South American countries in the '50s.

Myrtle also performed in Switzerland, Germany and other European countries with various all-female bands.

Arriving in Philadelphia in the mid-'50s, she organized Myrtle Young and Her Rays of Rhythm. The combo toured throughout the East for a number of years.

She also appeared on many gigs in and out of the country with such jazz stars as Bootsie Barnes, Shirley Scott, Dottie Smith, Toni Rose and Pearl Williams.

In 1956, she married fellow sax player Virgil Wilson. They played together and formed a band that lasted a few years. The marriage ended in divorce, and Virgil died about 12 years ago.

Myrtle is survived by two daughters, Stephanie and Daphne Wilson; Veronica Joyner, whom she always treated as a daughter; three sisters, Mary Lou Williams, Josephine Woods and Bettie Jo McKinney; two brothers, Jimmy Tappan and Leroy Guice; and two granddaughters.

Services: 10 a.m. tomorrow at Salem Baptist Church of Jenkintown, 610 Summit Ave., Jenkintown. Friends may call at 8:30 a.m.