Five Play

The all-women's ensemble Five Play (the similar name Fourplay was already taken) is a smaller spin-off group of the Diva Jazz Orchestra. Drummer Sherrie Maricle from Buffalo, N.Y., the founder of both bands, was inspired by the Blue Note type groups of the '60s to the extent that she wanted to lead a quintet with a similar mainstream jazz, hard bop style. Founded in the late '90s, Maricle organized the combo with help from Diva manager Stanley Kay, conceived as a historical "band within a band" along the lines of what Bob Crosby, Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Co...