Viola Smith, swing era’s ‘fastest girl drummer in the world,’ dies at 107

Viola Smith, a swing-era musician who was promoted in the 1930s as the “fastest girl drummer in the world” and who championed greater inclusion of women in the almost completely male preserve of big bands, died Oct. 21 at her home in Costa Mesa, Calif. She was 107.

The cause was complications from Alzheimer’s disease, said her nephew, Dennis Bartash.