DIY Jazz Wall Art, just add printer.

August 6, 2010 8:08 PM

Between 1938 and 1948, William P. Gottlieb wrote about and photographed the jazz world. In 1995, the Library of Congress acquired his collection of approximately 1500 photographs covering more than 250 jazz musicians. While discussed here seven years ago, not mentioned at that time was the fact that Mr. Gottlieb agreed to transfer his copyrights into the public domain 15 years after acquisition. Fast forward to 2010, and you will find that the Library has added high resolution TIFFs download links to the image pages (click on the thumbnail images to get to the TIFF download links). A few pictures to whet your appetite: Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, Les Paul, Django Reinhardt, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong.
posted by fings (19 comments total)

Please note that "In accordance with the wishes of William Gottlieb, the photographs in this collection entered into the public domain on February 16, 2010, but rights of privacy and publicity may apply. Privacy and publicity rights protect the interests of the person(s) who may be the subject(s) of the work or intellectual creation. Users of photographs in the Gottlieb collection are responsible for clearing any privacy or publicity rights associated with the use of the images."

So while you should have no problem printing up posters for your own use, you might want to think twice before trying to sell prints or t-shirts.
posted by fings at 8:09 PM on August 6, 2010

THIS IS THE MOST AWESOME THING EVER.
posted by koeselitz at 8:27 PM on August 6, 2010

Sarah Vaughan
Norma Sheppard
Nellie Lutcher
Ella Fitzgerald

These are gorgeous, thanks for the links.
posted by shinybaum at 8:29 PM on August 6, 2010

bassamp! (Portrait of Shelley Manne and Art Pepper playing with the Stan Kenton orchestra) wantwantwant. Check the mother of pearl cover on that thing man oh man oh man.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through Pepper's biography Straight Life and he spends a couple chapters on the Stan Kenton touring days, so this is amazingly well-timed for me, as well as just plain amazing.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:36 PM on August 6, 2010

Nat King Cole sure likes hangin' out at the gym. Needs to get him a locker, tho.
posted by koeselitz at 8:43 PM on August 6, 2010

Good god, but I love this photo. The first person is one of the most talented comedic minds of the time; the second person is one of the most brilliant piano players of the time. And I have no idea who the third person is; the credit on the photo seems to me to be a pseudonym.
posted by koeselitz at 8:51 PM on August 6, 2010

Nat King Cole got him some crazy friends, too.
posted by koeselitz at 8:52 PM on August 6, 2010

Just wondering what the disposition of all his photos taken AFTER 1948 may be. Are they all still "under wraps" and not in the L o C?
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 9:12 PM on August 6, 2010

According to the LoC bio, after 1948 he left the jazz scene and went to making filmstrips. He did take a few photos in retirement -- if you search for "1980s" you'll find four photos in his collection taken around then.

As to his filmstrips, they are probably still owned by McGraw-Hill.
posted by fings at 9:24 PM on August 6, 2010

Thelonious Monk | LEADBELLY | Dizzy (dig the cheeks!) Gillespie | Charlie Parker with his nervous young roommate, Miles... | ... who stuck around to play with Coleman Hawkins, too | Leonard Bernstein [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ] looking very striking
posted by koeselitz at 10:27 PM on August 6, 2010

Aw, hell yeah.

Thanks for the post!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:15 PM on August 6, 2010

koeselitz, those links that you're posting point to temporary files on the LOC's server. IOW, those links will be permanently broken. :/
posted by simoncion at 7:37 AM on August 7, 2010

Fabulous! Thanks.
posted by OmieWise at 7:53 AM on August 7, 2010

Great post, thanks. (And yeah, could people please link to jpg files like Devils Rancher did? None of koeselitz's links work.)
posted by languagehat at 8:04 AM on August 7, 2010

They're going up on Flickr too.
posted by danb at 9:06 AM on August 7, 2010

well, that was obnoxious. temporary links? why?
posted by koeselitz at 2:33 PM on August 7, 2010

Those are some sexy people. This picture of Cab Calloway makes my heart go pitter-pat. And this one. And this super hot Miles Davis. In fact, most of the pictures I've looked at so far. Only Claude Thornhill looks like less than a groupie magnet. Not homely, mind you. Just not like these folks (hipsters take note!)
posted by irisclara at 5:25 PM on August 7, 2010

While discussed here seven years ago...

Discussed ? Nay, posted--and double posted at that, as both Miguel and languagehat politely pointed out that second time around.
posted by y2karl at 6:26 PM on August 7, 2010

Miguel and I are nothing if not polite.
posted by languagehat at 2:17 PM on August 8, 2010