[Dixielandjazz] Pensacola Jazz Room and library jazz activities. Your suggestions welcomed.

[Norman Vickers]

To:  DJML, Musicians and Jazzfans List and some jazz friends

From:  Norman Vickers, Jazz Pensacola

 

Re:  Asking your advice and taking opportunity to brag a mite about
Pensacola's downtown library jazz room and jazz programs.

 

Our 34  year old Jazz Pensacola organization has a long history with our
downtown public library.  When LPs were transitioning to CDs in the 1980s,
we talked with the then-director of the library, Gene Fischer,  who said
he'd like to have a jazz collection  but didn't know how to do it.  That's
when we jazz-folk stepped in and became partners.  We enlisted George Buck,
independent record producer in New Orleans,  and peripatetic record producer
Gus Statiras whose home was in Tifton, GA but he produced recordings all
over the US.  Buck and Statiras helped us get started and, thereafter, we
made decisions locally with advice from them as needed.  Our local "Friends
of the  West Florida Public Library" group has generously matched our
contribution thereafter.

 

The Jazz Society's grand piano is now in our downtown library meeting room
for use as needed. Only occasion that it needs to be moved is during our
two-day free Jazz Festival in the spring.

 

Now the jazz room boasts a collection valued at $20,000-jazz CDs, DVDs and
books.

Our current library director, Todd J. Humble, has researched this and found
that, whereas several public libraries have rooms dedicated to music,
there's only one other, on the West Coast, which has a dedicated jazz room.
We have lots of the Mosaic series CDs which have excellent taste and a
historical booklet which goes with the CDs  Also, we have fake books and the
play-along books and records for jazz students.  We even have some
appropriate jazz books in the juvenile section. And to make our funds go
further, our Friends of the Library group have matched our donation each
time.  What great collaboration!

 

During this period, we've co-produced events at our downtown Pensacola
public library.

We've had musical programs, "dancing in the stacks," jazz lectures-e.g.
videos of selected portions of Ken Burns Jazz video series-In, 2016, we had
David Sager,  trombonist and staff member of Library of Congress' Jukebox
project to give a library lecture about that project.  Next evening he
brought a hand-picked group of New Orleans musicians to give a program at a
downtown nightclub.

 

Now we're asking for your comments and advice.  Library and our jazz society
plans a series  of  jazz-related movies for a free series this summer.  We
want it to be reasonably accurate and well produced.  For example, two
suggestions have been Round Midnight ( stars Dexter Gordon) and Clint
Eastwoood's Bird, the excellent movie about Charlie Parker.

 

What other excellent movies, now out on DVD, would you suggest to complete
the series?

( After selections are made, library staff has to research permission to
show in public)

 

If you're curious further, then see www.jazzpensacola.com and there's story
and photos of our jazz room.

 

Thanks for your suggestions and advice.  If there are further questions,
I'll try to answer both informatively and, better still, succinctly! (smile)



Norman

 

F.Norman Vickers

5429 Dynasty Drive

Pensacola, FL 32504-8583

Home 850-484-9183; cell 850-324-5022

Jazz Society of Pensacola 850-433-8382

www.jazzpensacola.com <http://www.jazzpensacola.com/> 

nvickers1 at cox.net

http://jazzpensacola.com/vickers/

Member Jazz Journalists Association

 

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