Top of page
Posted by: Pat Padua
Today we release the penultimate set of photographs from the William Gottlieb Collection to Flickr. This set includes classic portraits of jazz legends like Fats Navarro and Tadd Dameron, Ray Nance, and Buddy Rich. There are also striking images of lesser known figures, like a Kodachrome portrait of singer Dottie Reid. Her isolation in the frame – …
Posted in: Jazz, Musicians, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
Next Friday the Music Division will release another batch of images from the William P. Gottlieb Collection to Flickr Commons. What makes this particular selection of images special, and a little more poignant, at least for me, can be found outside the image. If you look closely at the edges of the color images in …
Posted in: Jazz, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
The following is a guest post by Daniel Walshaw, Music Division. Berlin – before the nightclubs and the heavy metal concerts, before the cabarets and the brettls, even before the Berlin Philharmonic – evening musical entertainment was centered on a vibrant and growing chamber music tradition, nurtured by King Frederick II of Prussia. C.P.E. Bach, Johann …
Posted in: Composers, Guest bloggers
Posted by: Pat Padua
People sometimes ask if Library of Congress programs are available to view online. Copyright and other issues prevent us from making everything available online, but highlights from the Music Division’s great concert and lecture season are available on the Library’s webcasts page, including the lecture “Bernstein meets Broadway,” the late Jack Gottlieb’s revealing talk “Working …
Posted in: Concerts and Events, Musicians, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Pat Padua
Known as the Texas Troubador, Ernest Tubb was born on February 9, 1914 in Ellis County, Texas. His best known song is probably “Walking the floor over you,” but owing to my heritage I am partial to “My Filipino baby.” In September 1947, Tubb led the first Grand Ole Opry in New York’s Carnegie Hall, …
Posted in: Birthdays, Composers, Musicians, Pic of the Week
Posted by: Pat Padua
Tickets are still available for a concert that promises to be one of the highlights of the season. This Saturday the U. S. Army Band ”Pershing’s Own,” with the help of vocalist Christal Rheames , continues its Concerts from The Collection series with a tribute to the legendary Ella Fitzgerald. The event takes place …
Posted in: Concerts and Events, Pic of the Week, Special Collections, Women in Music
Posted by: Pat Padua
Today we remember the birthday of one of bebop’s pioneers, captured in a classic portrait by photographer William P. Gottlieb. Drummer Max Roach was born on January 10, 1924 in North Carolina. He was not only a pioneer of the new form but was active in the Civil Rights movement with his We Insist! Max …
Posted in: Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Pic of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
In the Muse has been under the weather lately, and would have otherwise paid timely homage to one of the twentieth century’s greatest entertainers. Francis Albert Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey on December 12, 1915. His long and storied career invited imitation …
Posted in: Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Pic of the Week, Special Collections
Posted by: Pat Padua
This week’s Pic of the Week breaks one of the cardinal rules of Good Photography: show your subject. But if you recognize the face emerging from the ghostly apparition, it makes perfect sense. Jazz singer Mel Tormé was born on this day in 1925. He began his long career as a drummer for Chico Marx, …
Posted in: Birthdays, Jazz, Musicians, Pic of the Week, Special Collections