[Dixielandjazz] Jack Bradley's Armstrong Memorabilia on exhibit at Armstrong House

[Norman Vickers]

To:  Musicians & Jazzfans list; DJML

From: Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola

 

We’ve posted before about Jack Bradley’s relationship to Louis Armstrong and the current exhibit at Armstrong House. Early in the course of the Satchmo Summerfests, begun in 2001 which was Armstrong’s centennial year, Jack would come, show some films he’d taken and talk about Armstrong.  Jack hasn’t been in attendance in the last several years.  However, this August, there was a program about Jack and his relationship to Armstrong. The title of the exhibit is also an Armstrong play on words.  The speaker related that Jack would occasionally ask Louis if he could have a certain photograph, and Armstrong almost always said “yes.”  So, when Armstrong wrote a dedication to Jack the photographer as well as jack-of-all –trades for Armstrong and staff, “Greatest Photo Taker” had a double meaning! (smile)

 

Thanks all! For more info, search  Armstrong House Museum.

 

Norman

 

 

·          <http://louisarmstronghouse.org/visiting/overview.htm>  

·          <http://louisarmstronghouse.org/louie_armstrong/overview.htm>  

·          <http://louisarmstronghouse.org/news/news.php>  

·          <http://louisarmstronghouse.org/collections/collections.htm>  

·          <http://louisarmstronghouse.org/support/support.htm>  

·          <http://louisarmstronghouse.org/about/overview.htm>  


New Exhibit: "To Jack Bradley, the 'Greatest' Photo Taker": Treasures from the Jack Bradley Collection


Posted on: Oct 15, 2014 -- Last updated on: Oct 20, 2014

New Exhibit:  "To Jack Bradley, the 'Greatest' Photo Taker": Treasures from the Jack Bradley Collection

Our new exhibit “To Jack Bradley, the ‘Greatest’ Photo Taker”: Treasures from Jack Bradley Collectioncelebrates the legacy of Louis Armstrong through the private access that long-time friend and photographer Jack Bradley had of Satchmo on stage, back stage, on the road and at home.

 

On the surface, Louis Armstrong and Jack Bradley couldn't have been more different. Armstrong was a world-renowned musician, one of the most recognizable icons on the planet. Bradley was a salty sailor from Cape Cod, a graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and a great lover of jazz. When they met through mutual friend Jeann Failows in 1959, neither man probably realized that they'd grow to be such close friends. Over the last dozen years of Armstrong's life, the trumpeter would tell friends that Bradley was his "white son."

With unprecedented intimate access to Armstrong, Bradley snapped thousands of photos of Satchmo on and off stage and collected any artifacts he could find that were identified with his hero: over 2,500 sound recordings, fan mail, set lists, diet charts, handwritten notes, laundry receipts, rare books, figurines, posters, and more. As the years passed, Bradley grew into the world's foremost private collector of all things Armstrong.  Michael Cogswell, Executive Director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, observes, “It’s extremely rare that a dedicated collector enjoyed a dear friendship with his subject. Jack took photos that no one else could have taken and saved artifacts, such as set lists, that seemed ephemeral at the time but that are now priceless.”

In 2005, the Louis Armstrong House Museum acquired the Jack Bradley Collection thanks to a grant from the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation. It took five years for the collection to travel from Cape Cod to the museum’s archives in Queens and another two years for it to be arranged, preserved, and cataloged. Countless treasures have come to light including previously unseen photographs scanned from the original negatives, letters and telegrams from Armstrong to Bradley and rare recordings from 1920s. 

This new exhibit at the Louis Armstrong House Museum showcases highlights from Bradley's collection, illuminating the special friendship between Bradley, the "world's greatest photo taker" in Armstrong's words, and Armstrong, the world's most famous jazz musician.  All of the items are on exhibit for the very first time. The exhibit includes a Giardinelli trumpet mouthpiece given from Armstrong to Bradley; a rare 78 Fletcher Henderson recording, autographed by Armstrong; unique photos of Armstrong in Atlantic City, Framingham, Lambertville and other stops on the road; Bradley’s “Louis is God” t-shirt; photos of Armstrong at home in Corona shortly before his passing; a one-of-a-kind “Red Beans and Rice” lamp and much more. Cogswell observed that, “One of the most stunning photographs in the exhibit is a newly discovered photo of Louis and Miles Davis—both are smiling.  Jack took the only known photos of Louis and Miles together but this one has never been seen before.” 

All New!

Beginning Oct. 20th, you can obtain your own small piece of the collection from our new Print-to-Order feature from  <http://louisarmstronghouse.org/> our online museum shop.   <http://shop.louisarmstronghouse.org/page/photo-archive> Exclusive prints of Satchmo with Miles Davis and Tony Bennett are part of the series of photos available!  <http://shop.louisarmstronghouse.org/page/photo-archive> Print-to-Order photos are available exclusively with us just in time for the holiday season. Prints start at $6.95 for an 8x10 print. In addition to the Jack Bradley prints we have made a series of exclusive photos available for the first time.

 

"To Jack Bradley, the 'Greatest' Photo Taker": Treasures from the Jack Bradley Collection

Curated by Ricky Riccardi

Major funding for this exhibit is made possible by the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation.

S