JAZZ EXPOSÉ: 53 Reasons to Read This Book

[rhess]

THE LOST MUSEUM

JAZZ EXPOSÉ: THE NEW YORK JAZZ MUSEUM AND THE POWER STRUGGLE THAT DESTROYED IT by Howard E. Fischer

53 Reasons to Read This Book (see - www.NYJazzMuseum.com)

Have you ever heard of the New York Jazz Museum? Most people have not. Yet between 1972 and 1977 it was the most significant institution for jazz in the world! With the opening of the Lincoln Center jazz facility and the recent large federal grant for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem this book looks back to present the story of a Lost Museum.

It was situated in its own two-story building in mid-town Manhattan and had a small staff, an archive that eventually numbered about 25,000 items and extensive programs in New York City and beyond. Some of the programs won awards and most of them were received with widespread acclaim in the media and from jazz fans.

There were the Calvert Extra Sunday Concerts - 40 per year, the Jazz Puppet Show, the Jazz Film Festivals, the Jazz Panorama - an audio visual history of jazz, The Jazz Store, Information Center, the exhibits - Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Bird & Diz: The Bebop Era, Count Basie and His Bands, Billie Holiday Remembered, About John Coltrane and the Jazz Trumpet. Posters and booklets were produced in conjunction with the exhibits and there was so much more.

An extended power struggle ensued that eventually caused the Museum's demise. Entangled in the fatal conflagration was the "Jazz Fraternity," which included the most prominent names in jazz - musicians, producers, writers, artists, et al.

This book tells the whole story for the first time. It was written by Howard E. Fischer, founder of the Museum and its Executive Director.

JAZZ EXPOSÉ: THE NEW YORK JAZZ MUSEUM AND THE POWER STRUGGLE THAT DESTROYED IT can be ordered from http://www.NYJazzMuseum.com

or by calling (212) 579-0689.

Title - JAZZ EXPOSÉ: THE NEW YORK JAZZ MUSEUM AND

THE POWER STRUGGLE THAT DESTROYED IT

Author - Howard E. Fischer

Price: $15 (plus shipping) 5 ½ x 8 ½ Paperback 134 pages illustrations

ISBN: 1-932203-97-7

Published by Sundog, Ltd., Nashville, TN

Contact: (212) 579-0689

Web site: http://www.NYJazzMuseum.com

[BeBop]

I just received - four years later - the same e-mail posted here. Anyone read "Jazz Expose"?

[BeBop]

By the way, the website (http://www.nyjazzmuseum.com/) is non-functional.

[Ken Dryden]

I'll have to admit I was sent a copy several years ago. It was very cheaply printed, with the type varying in clarity from page to page, often not parallel to the top of the page. It made it a chore to read and I finally gave up and threw it out.

It comes off as a bit of a self-serving rant, though I'm sure that some of the claims Fischer makes about how the non-profit was undermined are true.

[ejp626]

It comes off as a bit of a self-serving rant, though I'm sure that some of the claims Fischer makes about how the non-profit was undermined are true.

Maybe he should join the Board -- sounds like he would fit in.

[bichos]

I just received - four years later - the same e-mail posted here. Anyone read "Jazz Expose"?

yes, i received this e-mail also for years every six month or so....

sounds interesting but a little bit strange.

keep boppin´

marcel

[fasstrack]

THE LOST MUSEUM

JAZZ EXPOSÉ: THE NEW YORK JAZZ MUSEUM AND THE POWER STRUGGLE THAT DESTROYED IT by Howard E. Fischer

53 Reasons to Read This Book (see - www.NYJazzMuseum.com)

Have you ever heard of the New York Jazz Museum? Most people have not. Yet between 1972 and 1977 it was the most significant institution for jazz in the world! With the opening of the Lincoln Center jazz facility and the recent large federal grant for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem this book looks back to present the story of a Lost Museum.

It was situated in its own two-story building in mid-town Manhattan and had a small staff, an archive that eventually numbered about 25,000 items and extensive programs in New York City and beyond. Some of the programs won awards and most of them were received with widespread acclaim in the media and from jazz fans.

There were the Calvert Extra Sunday Concerts - 40 per year, the Jazz Puppet Show, the Jazz Film Festivals, the Jazz Panorama - an audio visual history of jazz, The Jazz Store, Information Center, the exhibits - Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Bird & Diz: The Bebop Era, Count Basie and His Bands, Billie Holiday Remembered, About John Coltrane and the Jazz Trumpet. Posters and booklets were produced in conjunction with the exhibits and there was so much more.

I remember going there in my teens to early 20s when I was trying to learn to play a little and checking out whatever was available. I remember that building in the 50s aomewhere. I saw a concert with Paul Quinchette, can't remember who else, but I remember a trumpet player so it was a quintet. One of those Sunday concerts, I guess, and free too. I alao remember some of the artifacts like---I could almost swear---Lester Young's horn. I remember some kind of event re: John Coltrane and a handwritten note by him saying: 'I think the artist would like to create beauty' or something very close to those words. IK think they had his handwritten response to questions from DownBeat. I think that was the interview where they asked him to name his best solos and he wrote 'no good solos'. That's all I remember about the place, except it was a great resource for a kid like me to see these things up close and hear the music live.

The National Jazz Museum of Harlem is the baby of my old friend Loren Schoenberg. I've been there a few times and it is a great space also. Loren is trying to do some great things and should be supported by jazz lovers. I offered to donate for his archives a video a student made of a concert with James Chirillo, John Beal, Eddie Locke, and myself at Mercy College in 2002. I put this group together for Black History Month, a concert featuring music of Wes Montgomery, Charlie Christian and Jimmy Raney, followed by a Q&A. I edited it and added titles, but there was no commercial interest b/c of the low-tech nature of the sound/visual quality. But it's a good document, largely b/c Eddie was a highlight, talking about how the guys looked after him in NY (Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, etc.) jazz education, and neighborhoods. It's in less than great video/audio quality, but we got to the kids and the spirit was great that day. I thought we dug in pretty good on Topsy. We had fun, anyway, and Eddie's speeches were wise and humanitarian, and of archival worth, I think. I have to dub a copy and then it'll be there for anyone interested.

Edited April 10, 2009 by fasstrack