Roz Cron

Rosalind Cron (April 23, 1925 – February 7, 2021) was an American alto-saxophonist. During the 1940s she played with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all-female jazz big band. She toured and performed for American soldiers in post-war Europe and was broadcast on national and international radio. She was the last surviving member of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.

After graduating Cron joined Ada Leonard’s All-American Girl Orchestra and then, at 19 (1943) was invited into the all female International Sweethearts of Rhythm in New Britain, Connecticut.

Being from the American north, Cron had not encountered segregation before or the racial laws enforced in the south. Many of the International Sweethearts were African American or of mixed backgrounds, and in touring the segregated southern states, Cron was often charged with illegal mixing. Dark, Jewish, Cron was introduced by the diverse band as "part Russian" to give her an aura of ethnic mystery. She darkened her looks and permed her hair to increase the air of the exotic and to fit in with the other women.

Cron left the Sweethearts in 1946 and lived in Spanish Harlem with bassist Helen Saine, her best friend from the group. With all the soldiers returning home after the war, Cron found it hard to get musical work; the men went back to their old jobs. She later worked in insurance, in a bank, and volunteered as a patient escort at abortion clinics, continuing to play in many groups.

Legacy Cron was featured in the independent short documentary film International Sweethearts of Rhythm: America's Hottest All-Girl Band (1986) produced and directed by Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss. The film presented a history of the first racially integrated all-female jazz band in the United States. Cron was one of six surviving band members interviewed in the film.

Cron's story features in Swing Shift (2000) by Sherrie Tucker. She writes of Cron's role in the Sweethearts; that they represented "intersectional feminists ahead of their time"; "women of color and white women; lesbian and straight, all loving each other and working effortlessly together". Cron is regarded as a pioneer of female big-band music.