Hot Jazz

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A black and white gelatin photograph of a jazz band performing at Circle in the Square, New York, 1952. Silhouetted against a hazy dark background, the band members wear dark suits with bright long sleeve shirts. From left to right: a man bends backwards at the knees as he blows into his clarinet, a man stands upright with a saxophone, a man sits or crouches to play the double bass, a man wearing eyeglasses sits at a drum set, a dark-haired man plays a guitar, and facing the guitarist, a dark-haired man plays the trombone. At bottom right of the image, the hands of a person out of frame are raised in the air. On verso, the title of the photograph is inscribed along the upper edge, and the artist’s mark: [HUGH BELL PHOTOGRAPHY] is stamped in black ink.

Explore Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture ↗