Browse Items (67 total)

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John T. “Fess” Whatley with other Black delegates to the 42nd annual convention of the American Federations of Musicians, Louisville, Kentucky, 1937. Barred from participating in Birmingham’s white musicians’ union, Whatley co-founded Local 733 for…

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Advertisement for Fess Whately's Saxo-Society Orchestra of Industrial High School, circa 1930: "A Neat Appearing Group of Men that Will Grace Any Function."

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Inaugural inductees to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, Birmingham, Alabama, 1978. From left to right: Sammy Lowe (trumpeter, arranger), Erskine Hawkins (trumpeter, bandleader), Frank Adams (reeds, educator), Amos Gordon (reeds, educator), Haywood…

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Drummer Alton “Snooky” Davenport. Davenport studied music at Tuskegee Institute, performed in Fess Whatley’s Birmingham orchestra, and during the Second World War directed the 334th ASF Band at Fort Benning, Georgia. He served as bandmaster at…

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Free jazz saxophonist Arthur Doyle, Birmingham, Alabama, 2000.

Photo by Craig Legg, courtesy Craig Legg.

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Free jazz saxophonist Arthur Doyle, Birmingham, Alabama, 2000.

Photo by Craig Legg, courtesy Craig Legg.

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Pianist / composer / arranger Avery Parrish (1917-1959), creator of the jazz and blues piano standard "After Hours," first recorded with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra in 1940.

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Historically, Birmingham schools have played an essential role in developing the city's jazz community; many Birmingham music teachers were also accomplished and highly respected players.

Here, Jackson-Olin High School band director Donald…

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These original contact sheets by photographer Skip Aldeman include images of Billie Holiday and Joe Guy, her musical and romantic partner. Also pictured is their beloved bulldog, Mister.

The Birmingham-born Guy, an early bebop pioneer, was widely…

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Detail from contact sheet by photographer Skip Aldeman. (For the full sheet of images, see "Billie Holiday and Joe Guy (2 Contact Sheets)." The Birmingham-born Guy, an early bebop pioneer, was widely known as Billie Holiday's husband, though the…

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Detail from contact sheet by photographer Skip Aldeman. (For the full sheet of images, see "Billie Holiday and Joe Guy (2 Contact Sheets)." The Birmingham-born Guy, an early bebop pioneer, was widely known as Billie Holiday's husband, though the…

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Birmingham Heritage Band, 1981 photo. The Birmingham Heritage Band was founded in 1976, in anticipation of the city's Bicentennial celebration. In the years to come, the band -- designed as a kind of supergroup of Birmingham talent and a living…

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Birmingham nightclub-goers, possibly at the popular Grand Terrace.

Photo courtesy Patrick Cather.

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Trumpeter Collins "Bo" Berry at The Jaybird, Birmingham, Alabama, December 16, 2017. Photo by Roger Stephenson.

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Brothers Charles ("Chuck") and Arthur ("Babe" or "Bayboy") Clarke perform with the Men of the Great Lakes Experience Navy Band, World War II. Like musicians across the country -- including many Birmingham jazz players -- the Clarke brothers found a…

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Charles “Chuck” Clarke, Mary Alice Clarke Stollenwerck, Joe Guy, and Jesse Evans perform in a Birmingham club, c. 1950s.

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Bassist Cleveland "Cleve" Eaton in Chicago, 1974.

Born in Fairfield, Alabama, Cleve Eaton (1934-2020) moved to Chicago in 1960, becoming an active figure in the city's jazz scene. In 1964 he joined the Ramsey Lewis Trio, performing for ten years…

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Erskine Hawkins (1914 – 1993), publicity photo, c. 1939. The Erskine Hawkins Orchestra, begun at Alabama State Teachers’ College as the ‘Bama State Collegians, developed into one of Black America’s leading dance bands. Nearly all the band’s members…

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Erskine Hawkins publicity photo, 1940s

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Erskine Hawkins performs with the Birmingham Heritage Band at the annual Function at the Junction in Ensley, Alabama, July 23, 1988. Amos Gordon conducts in the band. Henry Blankenship sings.

Begun in 1985 in Ensley's Tuxedo Junction Park, the…

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