Two compelling jazz exhibits, “Jazz Greats: Classic Photographs from the Bank of America Collection” and “Jazz Scene in Boston: Telling the Local Story,” are on display at the Museum of African American History (MAAH) in Boston through March 30, 2020.
“Jazz Greats” includes 33 photographs by 16 photographers dating from the 1920s to the 1980s. It portrays artists from varied genres in music and dance. Many are legends from the uniquely American art forms of jazz and modern dance; some are simply members of local communities entertaining their neighbors. Among the photographers are Antony Armstrong Jones (Lord Snowdon), one of Great Britain’s most celebrated photographers; jazz bassist Milt Hinton, who captured intimate portraits of his mentors, colleagues and friends; Gjon Mili, who documented jam sessions he hosted in his New York studio in the 1940s; Chuck Stewart, a prolific jazz photographers who has photographed hundreds of musicians for album covers, in clubs, concerts and recording studios; Barbara Morgan, known for her iconic images of modern dance pioneers Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham; William Gottlieb, who created some of the most-recognized images of the golden age of jazz in the 1930s and 1940s; Michael Abramson, who photographed portraits of nightlife on Chicago’s south side, and others.
Jazz Scene in Boston captures the city’s incredible legacy of jazz clubs and musicians from the 1940s to the 1980s. The exhibition includes images by noted jazz photographers Lee Tanner and Jack Bradley, plus photos and memorabilia from numerous private collections. The Museum tapped the archives of Berklee College of Music, W.E.B. Dubois Library at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Salem State University when preparing this exhibit. There’s also an in-depth profile of renowned drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and her family, which has been part of Boston’s jazz scene for 80 years.
Read about Marita Rivero, executive director of the Museum of African American History.
Here are details of Black History Month in Massachusetts in February 2020.
For information on visiting Massachusetts, go to MassVacation.com.
