>> that was an incredibly special time because miles was walking around and alive and well, dizzy, elvinrdon, art blakey. >> reporter: blackman befriended and played with art blakey, and before the decade was out, she was leading jazz groups and cutting albums of her own. along the way, her musical identity solidified. >> i'm a jazz musician. that's who i am. i just can't stop it. it's what i'm designed to do, what i'm designed to be. it's who i am. >> reporter: she didn't mind, she says, that women drummer role models were in short supply at the time. >> there weren't any women to look up to, but i didn't look at drumming like that, so i didn't feel like i was blazing a trail. i just felt like i was following the music that i loved. and, you know, i was following the drummers that i loved. i didn't care if they were women, men or whatever. >> reporter: and what about the way you were treated? did you ever experience sexism as a drummer? >> oh surely, yeah, definitely. but, you know, i mean that's nothing that i align myself with for very long because it has nothing to do with my intenti