[Dixielandjazz] Leonard Garment - Jazz Museum of Harlem - was Greenspan

[Steve Barbone]

> "Norman Vickers" <nvickers1 at cox.net> wrote (polite snip)

(About Leonard Garment)
 
> Now to the point of this communication-- in the Garment autobiography, there
> is a photo of him and Greenspan  side-by-side performing in the sax section.
> 
> After retirement from active law practice, I understand that Garment was
> active in promoting the jazz museum in Harlem.  Not sure, but he may have
> been chair of that committee.

Dear Norman:

More than just the chair, Leonard Garment co-founded the Jazz Museum of
Harlem and was its president. He may still be the president, I'm not sure,
but he is still on the Board. He is largely responsible for its success.

Those with catholic musical tastes who appreciate such museums might wish to
check out this one, see;  http://www.jazzmuseuminharlem.org/index.html

Below is an old article about Mr. Garment from Money Magazine. In 2007 the
museum is doing all sorts of great things. And 2008 will continue the trend.
It's now on 126th Street in Harlem. They got their $2 million (see below)
and moved into new digs. Jazz lives and Clarinet players rule.<grin>

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

Retirement Giving back after a long career Leonard Garment, New York City
By Ellen McGirt - August 1, 2003

Best known as a Wall Street attorney and legal sideman in the Nixon White
House, Leonard Garment had an opening act that was more humble. Born in a
three-room Brooklyn tenement to immigrant parents, Garment picked up a
clarinet and sax at age 13 and was hooked. "I loved everything about jazz
culture and playing jazz," he says. He managed to get paying gigs--he once
backed up Billie Holiday--and dropped out of school to play. But a draft
notice in 1944 ended his jazz career. What followed were a degree from
Brooklyn Law School, a job at a prestigious law firm where, in 1963, he
befriended Richard Nixon, and five years later an invitation from the newly
elected President Nixon to become White House counsel. Unscathed by
Watergate, Garment had a busy legal career until his semi-retirement in the
'90s. 

In 1996 he finally got the chance to fuse his two life paths when he was
recruited to establish a National Jazz Museum. He saw this unpaid retirement
job as a way to preserve the culture he loved--and a chance to leverage his
Washington credentials. "I don't have a lot of money, but I do have a lot of
friends," he says. He first wrote a check for $10,000. Then he helped win an
Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Grant for $125,000. Matching grants
followed. 

Even with a director and a board the process proved difficult. "We had
nothing but an idea," Garment explains. When the money ran out, the museum
seemed dead. In a clutch, Garment improvised. "I ran into Sen. John Warner,
who reminded me of a favor I'd done," he recalls. "When he asked what he
could do for me, I told him about the museum." Warner, in turn, helped
secure $1 million in federal funding. That was in 2000. Now, the museum is
taking shape. The next hurdle? Raising the $2 million for site and
exhibition development. Garment, 80, is devoting his full attention to fund
raising, to preserve jazz for Harlem, the nation and the world. "Jazz is the
soul of America," he says.