The William P. Gottlieb Collection: Sizteenhundred Photographs of the Golden Age of Jazz

April 25, 2003 1:19 AM

Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole and Doris Day
--four of sixteen hundred photographs of celebrated jazz artists--
William P. Gottlieb - Photographs from the Golden Age of Jazz.
posted by y2karl (12 comments total)

More at jazzphotos.com. Enjoy!

"It came out of the dark heart of America, the aura, the smoke-filled essence of jazz, the music of joy, abandon, yearning. New cadences, accents, pulsations. Nights of improvisation and hot rapturous jazz. New York's 52nd Street, Swing Street, the mecca. It was to be William P. Gottlieb who would capture with his own instrument, the camera, the soul of this jazz, its voices, its prophets, its players, Bill who would become the chronicler of the golden age."
posted by plep at 1:42 AM on April 25, 2003

'Tis a distant - but very welcome - repost of jpoulos's pioneering post. Here's a related thread on Terry Cryer with links to other British jazz photographers.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 1:55 AM on April 25, 2003

Man, they had some talented cats back then, eh?

One criticism, though, it would be nice to have some biographical/discography-type info on some of the artists. I mean, I know who Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzie Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Django Reinhardt are, but a lot of the names on that site are unfamiliar to me.

Mad props to the Library of Congress for putting stuff like this (and this, as discussed here, and this, and this, which could probably be an fpp of its own online, and much thanks to y2karl for reminding us all it's out there.
posted by arto at 2:10 AM on April 25, 2003

Great photos Karl - some still with the photographer's crop marks. Wonderful resource, thanks!
posted by madamjujujive at 5:38 AM on April 25, 2003

Man, those cats were hep. Groovy post.

*snap* *snap* *snap*
posted by hama7 at 6:22 AM on April 25, 2003

I sent out I Love You For Sentinmental Reasons by the Nat King Cole Trio last night to the SpaMP3 list and included a link to the Nat King Cole Trio program page from Riverwalk, a PRI jazz program--the page had great links and one was to The Golden Age of Jazz.

I couldn't believe no one had posted it and Googled and Googled. After looking at jpoulos' post--who could Google that?--nothing by name or catergory and a vague reference to Ken Burns Jazz...

One thing it is, in part, is a visual history of bop in its prime. I didn't like the way Library of Congress files and cross-files things at first but I appreciate it more as time goes on, plus the gallery button that pops you into thumbnails. And it's nice to meet Mister.

I pity the fool who doesn't know Wingy Manone.
posted by y2karl at 6:23 AM on April 25, 2003

Previously posted or not, good stuff nonetheless.
posted by hama7 at 6:30 AM on April 25, 2003

Copacetic, y2. I wasn't hep to the fact that sweet little Doris was in the mix.
posted by MrBaliHai at 7:20 AM on April 25, 2003

& tres babeilicious in her day, eh? And in a 1940s belly shirt, too!
posted by y2karl at 7:55 AM on April 25, 2003

y2karl: I put the URL in Search and the original post came right up. I suspect you forgot to change the selected time period to "Since day one" (which is probably responsible for a lot of double posts). However, that's neither here nor there—this is worth posting again if anything is. And thanks, Miguel, for pointing me to the earlier thread, which had a succinct and comprehensive discussion of the notorious Ken Burns series; it summed up my reactions (great photos, some great music but not enough, too much Wynton and thus too much focus on his obsessions) perfectly in just a few comments.
posted by languagehat at 9:18 AM on April 25, 2003

We've hosted several events and showings with William Gottlieb over the years, and I was fortunate enough to receive an autographed copy (signed by WG) of Ella and Diz that is one of my favorites of his.

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Ella (self link), she was born in 1917.

Gottlieb, Ella, Diz, et all. It just doesn't get any cooler than that.
posted by bluedaniel at 11:04 AM on April 25, 2003

Hot damn! What a great way to spend a slow Friday at work. Thanks for posting this and thanks, of course, to the LOC for making them available.
posted by tommasz at 12:56 PM on April 25, 2003