ORIGINAL JAZZ POSTERS FOR ACTUAL EVENTS - 1
The illustrations are all part of my collection, which currently is over 1,200 different posters. I only illustrate items that I own. The majority of my posters have at least one autograph on them. My criteria for asking for an autograph is that the person must be listed on the poster, or their picture is on it. The illustrations do not show the many autographs as that would involve rescanning or rephotographing them each time a new signature was added.
I am only a collector and do not sell any of the posters. If you should have any question regarding them, please contact me at the email provided at the bottom of each page.
- The Duke Ellington Orchestra in Frankfort, Germany on October 30, 1973. Size: 23 x 33ins.
A great deal of searching and persistance is necessary to build a collection of diverse genuine jazz venue posters. Many establishments sell "commemorative" posters that often have the musician's portrait, or an album cover illustrated on it. These are printed in the thousands and are sold all over the world. While these are often very attractive, they generally have litle value over time, due to the number printed.
A category that I place between the venue and the commemorative posters is the "Tour" posters. Those with dates and places are very desirable, but those without that information are less so. Of course there are always exceptions and the older ones are frequently difficult to find.
Also available are "promo" posters, promoting album releases, but these are not as difficult to locate and are not as valuable as the venue posters. Jazz "promo" posters were not printed in as large number as those for popular music and rock groups and can be difficult to locate.
A new aspect of collecting has emerged where artists, rather than commercial companies, are commissioned to design posters and print limited numbers that are signed and numbered. They fall into a category that is really an "art print". They do commemorate actual events and are printed prior to the concerts but most end up being sold to collectors. I have seen a few of these tacked up on bulletin boards and stuck in windows of stores, prior to the event.
Largely because of the incredible art work of the "Psychedelic" posters of the 1970s, people began to collect them. Today there are many dealers offering both the genuine and "reprints" of these posters and other rock posters. That has led to printers making larger numbers of them and they are in turn sold to dealers/collectors. Others are "rescued" from those posting them in windows and bulletin boards, or simply taken off the walls and saved. These are all the original printing of the posters and are desirable. Less desirable, of course, are the "reprints" or second and third printings. These are printed because of the excessive cost and difficulty in locating an original printing or simply because of the demand.
Within the last couple of years many early jazz posters from the 1930s to the present are being reprinted. These are reproductions of the early posters and are becoming a glut on the market. Often the seller does not indicate that they are reproductions and the buyer thinks he, or she, has found a real treasure. These are generally printed on a stiff cardboard.
One of the most frustrating problems is determining the year of the performance. Most poster makers (for most types of posters) frequently do not include the year the event(s) took place.
Another concern is that most of the posters are not printed on acid free paper and will deteriorate over time. It is necessary to have them mounted on "linen", which is really a form of canvas. This is done to archively protect them. It is often more expensive than the poster itself, but it is necessary to preserve these "historical" documents.
Luckily for jazz fans, many jazz venue posters are now available for the last few years from the above mentioned dealers. This of course is mostly for the groups that are well known by the younger people. Those who are interested in the older jazz groups will really have to search to find what they want.
- LEFT: This is the oldest poster in my collection. It is from Christmas night, 1939 for a dance at the Inglaterra Ballroom in Peoria, IL. Size: 7 1/2 x 11 1/2ins.
RIGHT: Forty years later, after the death of Tommy Dorsey in November 1956, the orchestra was lead by the trombone player Buddy Morrow, who used to have his own orchestra. This is at the Maple Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Size: 7 1/4 x 14ins.
- LEFT: Wayne Escoffery, featuring Joe Locke, Hans Glawischnig and Johnathan Blake at Smoke, New York City, NY on August 7 - 9, 2008. Size: 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: Eddie Henderson featuring David Kikoski, Ed Howard and Steve Williams at Smoke on July 17 and 19, 2008.
- LEFT: Weather Report performing in Japan September 22, 27 and 28, in the 1980s.
RIGHT: Weather Report in Italy in July of 1984. The July 10th date is for Taormina. The other cities are listed at the bottom of the poster, but no dates given. I would like to thank Francesco Chiari of Italy for providing the year for me.
- LEFT: Third Annual Keystone Korner New Years Jazz Festival, San Francisco, California, December 26 - 31, 1978. Autographed by Charlie Haden. Size: 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: A special exhibit of rare and unique musical items from the Chicago Jazz Archives and Special Collections at the University of Chicago, May, 17, 2006.
- LEFT: A poster advertizing for "Big Band Musicians" in Chicago, Illinois. This poster was obtained in late 2007 from the Fine Arts Building wall. I saw several of these posted and was directed to many offices in my attempt to get one. Eventually someone just took this off the wall and gave it to me. Size: 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: The Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival at the University of Montana on April 25 and 26, 2008. Size: 13 1/2 x 20 ins.
- LEFT: Ella Fitzgetrald, at the St. Louis, Missouri V.P. Fair, July 3, 1981. Size: 15 x 23ins.
RIGHT: Julian Nicholas, the British sax player and Emil Viklicky the Czech piano player in Leipzig, Germany on March 27, 2010. Size: 23 x 33ins. Emil sent me this poster after I met him at a club in Chicago.
- LEFT: Twenty fifth anniversary concert of the CJO (Chicago Jazz Orchestra) featuring Nicholas Payton and Kurt Elling. The poster is autographed by Jeff Lindberg, the Artistic Director. The bottom photo is Steve Jensen, the co-founder of the orchestra who passed away several years ago. The concert was at the Harris Theater, Chicago, Illinois on June 5, 2004.
RIGHT: The Third Annual Eddie Moore Festival at Yoshi's Nitespot, Oakland, California from August 4 - 9, 1992. The poster is autographed by Famoudou Don Moye, Jimmy Heath and Julian Priester.
The following posters were designed by Dan Grzeca of Chicago for local Chicago jazz events. His work also includes posters for rock groups in and outside of Chicago. This is the complete, to date, series of eight posters for the Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music.
- Crisis (Ken Vandemark and group) at the Chicago Jazz Festival, Grant Park, Chicago, IL on August 30, 2003. The poster is now autographed by Jeb Bishop and Josh Berman. Size: 8 x 19ins.
- LEFT: Peter Brotzmann solo performance at the Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, April 21, 2001. Size: 12 1/2 x 19ins.
RIGHT: 1997 Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL on May 14 - 17, 1997. Size: 19 x 30ins.
- LEFT: 1998 Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, IL, May 8-10, 1998. Size: 18 x 20ins.
FIGHT: 1999 Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, Il on May 14-16, 1999. Size: 20 x 30ins.
- LEFT: 2000 Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, IL on May 10-14, 2000. The poster is now autographed by Fred Anderson and Guillermo Gregorio. Size: 18 x 30 1/2ins.
RIGHT: 2001 Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL on April 19-21, 2001. Size: 26 x 20ins.
- LEFT: 2002 Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL on April 25-27, 2002. Size:
RIGHT: 2003 Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL on April 24-26, 2003. The poster is now autographed by Nicole Mitchel. Size: 19 x 25ins.
- LEFT: 2004 Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL, on April 21-24, 2004. Fred Anderson with Harrison Bankhead and Isaiah Spencer performed at the festival but at the Chicago Cultural Center. The poster is now autographed by Fred Anderson Size: 19 x 25ins.
RIGHT: 2005 Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music at the Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL on June 15-18, 2005. Sam Rivers performed at the festival. Size: 19 x 25ins.
- LEFT: Keith Jarrett appearing at Convocation Hall, Toronto, Ontario, Canada on March 21, 1975. Size: 16 x 10 1/4ins.
RIGHT: Keith Jarrett appearing at the Orpheum Theatre, October 30, 2001. Size: 18 x 24ins.
- LEFT: An autographed poster of a Pat Martino concert held at the Old Town School of Folk Music, Chicago, Illinois on June 3, 2006. I attended the concert and had him autograph it after the concert. Weeks before the concert I had taken public transportation to attend a wedding. While walking to the church I saw this in the window of the branch of the school and asked the person working there if I could get a copy of the poster for my collection. He told me since I seemed to know what I was doing to take one off the wall as they had another one there. I sat through the wedding holding the rolled up poster. Size: 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: The Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and his group at the Hothouse, Chicago, on October 18, 2006. One of my friends worked there and I volunteered there. He took the poster off of the wall and gave it to me. During the intermission I met with the four musicians and had them autograph it for me. I had taken some CDs that Don Moye, the drummer of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, had asked me to give to Tomasz, along with a message. Tomasz had lots of questions about Chicago and the jazz scene and was pleased that Don had remembered him. The top autograph is in the light gray area under the right side of the picure and does not show in this photo. Size: 11 x 17ins.
- Right: Jason Moran & the Bandwagon appearing with E.S.T. (Esbjorn Svensson Trio - a Swedish group) at Cankarjev Jazz '05, Ljubljana, Slovenia on November 2, 2005. This poster was given to me by Jason Moran and is autographed by Jason, Nasheet Waits, Tarus Mateen and the three members of E.S.T.. This image was taken off of the Internet as I was not able to photograph my copy of the poster, due to it's size. Size: 26 3/4 x 38 1/2ins.
RIGHT: Jason Moran & the Bandwagon and a tribute to Dexter Gordon, featuring Jimmy Heath, Frank Wess, Ronnie Mathews, Winard Harper and Rufus Reid at Symphony Hall, Chicago, on March 18, 2005. The poster is now autographed by Winard Harper, Jason Moran, Tarus Mateen and Nashet Waits. Size: 24 x 37ins.
- LEFT: Charles Lloyd appearing at the Vancouver East Cultural Center, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on September 25, 2001. The poster is now autographed by John Abercrombie. Size: 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: Miles Davis appearing at the Torino Sports Palace on July 3, 1986. Size 27 x 39ins.
- LEFT: Jean Luc-Ponty at the Orpheum Theater, Wichita, Kansas, November 9, 1977. Size: 17 x 22ins.
RIGHT: Manhattan Transfer and Stanley Jordan at the Chicago Theatre, Chicago, Illinois on June 4, 1988. Size: 20 x 30 1/2ins.
- LEFT: Dave Brubeck Quartet and the Count Basie Orchestra at Lincoln Center Philharmonic Hall, New York City on October 18, 1964. Size: 24 x 38ins.
RIGHT: Count Basie Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, etc at the Munich Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany on May 14, 1977. Size: 23 x 33ins. On February 17, 2006 I talked with Louis Bellson who was at the Willie Pickens' birthday bash at the Museum of Science and Industry, here in Chicago, where he was a performing guest, and got him to autograph this poster. This photo was taken before it was autographed.
- LEFT: Cecil Taylor at the New Yorker Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on January 16, 1977.
RIGHT: Ornette Coleman and his Prime Time Band at The Cactus, Toronto, Ontario, Canada on February 21, 1982. Size: 8 1/2 x 14ins.
- LEFT: Diane Reeves at the Orpheum Theatre in unknown city, on June 21, 200?. Size:
RIGHT: Joe Zawinal - The Immigrant Tour, at the Hannah Theatre, unknown city and state, on June 9, 1988 or 1989 (According to Gerald Veasley. He does not remember the city). Size: 18 x 24ins.
- LEFT: Bronzeville Jazz Festival held at the new Chcekerboard Lounge in Chicago, IL on December 9, 2005. Three groups were featured, the Fred Anderson Trio, Malachi Thompson and his FreeBop Band and Ari Brown and his group. A matinee featured Malachi Thompson and his larger group, Africa Brass. The poster is autographed by the three leaders. Size: 12 x 18ins.
RIGHT: Malachi Thompson and his Freebop Band at the new Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago, IL on January 15, 2006 for a Dr. Martin Luther King Day Celebration. The poster is now autographed by Malachi Thompson, Yusef Ben Israel and Dr. Robert Rhodes, the speaker at the event. Size: 12 x 18ins.
- LEFT: George Benson Australian Tour poster for October, 2004. Size: 16 1/2 x 23 1/2ins.
RIGHT: Diana Krall Australian Tour poster for April, 2005. Size: 16 1/2 x 23 1/2ins.
- LEFT: Herbie Nichols Project and John Stetch at the Capilano College Performing Arts Theatre, North Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on November 1, 2002. The poster has now been autographed by Matt Wilson (drums) Size: 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: Lionel Hampton Orchestra at the Dusseldorf Town Hall on May 21, 1979. The poster has now been autographed by Curtis Fuller. Size: 23 x 33ins.
- LEFT: Mose Allison at Richard's, on September 18, 2000. This poster is now autographed by Mose. Size: 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: Mose Allison performing at the American Victorian Museum with Nichole Da Luz on February 6, 1982. This poster is also now autographed by Mose. Size: 9 1/2 x 13 1/2 ins.
- LEFT: Art Blakey at the Basin Street Cabaret, Toronto, Ontario, Canada on October 10, 1982. Surprisingly the picture of the individual is not Art Blakey. Size: 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: Dexter Gordon at the Basin Street Cabaret, Toronto, Ontario, Canada on November 21, 1981. Size: 11 x 16 1/2ins.
- LEFT: Harry Connick, Jr at the Tower City Amphitheater, Cleveland, Ohio, on August 8, 2004. Size: 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: Harry Connick, Jr tour of Great Britain. March 12-17, 2000. Size: 19 x 27
- LEFT: Joshua Redman and the San Francisco Collective ( Joshua Redman, Bobby Hutcherson, Nicholas Payton, Miguel Zinon, Renee Rosnes, Robert Hurst and Eric Harland) at Symphony Hall, Chicago, Illinois on April 1, 2005. The poster is now autographed by Nicholas Payton. Size: 25 x 37ins.
RIGHT:Joshua Redman Quartet, Pat Metheney, Christian McBride and Billy Higgins at Fox Theater, Denver, CO on October 22, 1993. Size: 11 x 17ins.
- LEFT: Rashid Ali Group, with Ravi Coltrane, Reggie Workman, Jumaane Smith and Andy Coe at the Triple Door, Seattle, Washington. Size: 11 x 17 1/2ins. The poster is now autographed by Ravi Coltrane.
RIGHT: Roy Hargrove at the Aladdin Theatre, Portland, Oregon, on May 23, 1996. This poster is now autographed by Roy Hargrove. Size: 11 x 17ins.
- Keefe Jackson's group at the Hideout, Chicago, Illinois on October 25, 2006. Keefe is a saxophone player who is involved in modern improvisational music in the Chicago area. The poster is now autographed by all the band members. Size: 19 1/2 x 6 1/2ins.
- LEFT: A build-out benefit concert for the Jazz Showcase that was held on October 21, 2007 at the Chicago Cultural Center, Downtown Chicago. The concert featured the Ramsey Lewis Trio with Larry Gray and Leon Joyce. The poster is autographed by Leon Joyce. Size: 11 x 13 1/2 ins. This poster was taped under the poster illustrated to the right and when I got home, I found this poster behind it. I had to have them separated professionally so they wouldn't be destroyed.
RIGHT: The 2nd build-out benefit concert for the Jazz Showcase, presented at Joe's Bebop Cafe on Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. The concert featured the Mulligan Mosaic Concert Band, directed by the baritone saxophone player Ted Hogarth, with David "Fathead" Newman, Phil Woods, Frank D'Rone, Howard Levy and Larry Novak. The benefit was on November 19, 2008. The poster is signed by Howard Levy. Both posters were taken off the wall of Joe's Bebop Cafe, with Joe Segal's permission, after the November 19th concert. Size: 11 x 12 1/4ins.
- LEFT: The 5th Evanston (Illinois) Jazz Festival featuring Phil Woods with the DePaul Uniaversity Jazz Ensemble. On the same day there is a free concert by the Mulligan Mosaics Big Band. The festival is February 9, 2008 at the Evanston Township High School Auditorium. Size: 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: This is a promo poster for Tammy McCann's CD but it was also used for a performance at the Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago, Illinois on January 13, 2008. It is autographed by Tammy. Size: 11 x 17ins.
- LEFT: 25th Anniversary Festival of the AACM at the Getz Theater, Chicago, Illinois from November 30 - December 2, 1990. The poster is signed by Famoudou Don Moye and Mwata Bowden. Size 11 x 17ins.
RIGHT: the 1998 Utah Jazz and Blues Festival in Snowbird, Utah. Size: 14 x 21 ins.
This page maintained by: R. Howard Courtney -
(rhcourtney333@yahoo.com)