Billy Strayhorn - Clark Terry - Bob Wilber jazz poster - The New School - 1965
Billy Strayhorn - Clark Terry - Bob Wilber jazz poster - The New School - 1965
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SecondTakeJazzArt presents...
a high-quality unframed poster featuring original artwork commemorating some celebrated live performances from jazz history:
Billy Strayhorn (piano, composer)
in various solo, duo, trio, sextet, and septet settings
the Sunday, June 6, 1965, showcase concert at The New School for Social Research in New York City
featuring "The Riverside Drive Five"...
Clark Terry (trumpet, flugelhorn)
Bob Wilber (soprano sax, clarinet)
Willie Ruff (French horn)
Wendell Marshall (bass)
Dave Bailey (drums)
plus Ozzie Bailey (vocals)
In June 1965, Billy Strayhorn was given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Duke Ellington Jazz Society of New York would present a concert in his honor, where, for the first time in his career, he would be the headline performer and the program would consist solely of his compositions. And Strayhorn, battling esophageal cancer with just two years left to live, took on the project with boundless excitement and verve.
After 25-plus years contributing immeasurably to the success of Duke Ellington and his orchestra, Billy now needed to organize a band of his own. So he enlisted friends Clark Terry, Bob Wilber, Willie Ruff, Wendell Marshall, and Dave Bailey into a makeshift ensemble he would dub "The Riverside Drive Five," and he quickly crafted new, detailed arrangements of tunes like "Take the 'A' Train" for the group. For some of his other compositions, he'd lead a classic piano trio with Marshall and Bailey; for others, he'd take the stage alone and perform as a solo pianist; and for the vocals, he'd accompany his friend, singer Ozzie Bailey. And after careful preparation and rehearsals, Strayhorn was ready to take the spotlight — truly for the first time as "the main attraction" — on June 5, 1965, at The New School for Social Research in Greenwich Village.
By all accounts, the whole event came together beautifully. The sold-out audience that filled the auditorium that afternoon got an extraordinary treat: a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear a "Strayhorn plays Strayhorn" revue of sorts, featuring delightful performances of his beloved compositions, such as "Something to Live For," "Passion Flower", "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing," "Multicolored Blue," "Just a Sittin' and a Rockin'," "All Heart," "Hearsay," "Orson," "Drawing Room Blues," "Smada," "Raincheck," "U.M.M.G.," and "Chelsea Bridge." Attendees agreed that he played extremely well, and that all the quintessential hallmarks of the Strayhorn sound – the sophisticated artistry, the consummate musicianship, the delicate balladry, the quiet confidence, the infectious swing, the personal warmth, and the wry sense of humor – were on full display. It was a smashing success and a personal triumph.
The concert itself wasn't recorded that day, but don't despair! The event was such a hit that Strayhorn, Ozzie Bailey, and The Riverside Drive Five promptly reassembled to record their material from the program... with Duke in the booth, serving as something of a record producer for the session. The results form the bulk of the Red Baron album, "Lush Life." Be sure to go check it out — it's exceptional.
IMPORTANT INFO
IMPORTANT INFO
1) Our posters are new. First and foremost, all our posters are MODERN CREATIONS — they are NOT vintage pieces or antiques! Our posters are printed on-demand from our own ORIGINAL art files that we've created ourselves within the last few years. (Read on for more details.)
2) Bring your own frames. We offer our posters UNFRAMED ONLY! Many of our preview images demonstrate how our posters look framed in various real-world environments; however, these images are for ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY — we do NOT include frames when you order our posters! Offering our posters UNFRAMED ONLY helps us keep our production and shipping prices lower, allows us to offer FREE U.S. shipping on our posters, and lets our customers choose their own frame styles and materials to best match their taste, décor, and budget. (Thousands of inexpensive, easy-to-use framing options are available: with most, you just undo the clips on the back, slide in the poster, and redo the clips.)
3) Keep your cool. If you do wish to frame or mount our posters, do NOT use dry mount or heat press processes on them — doing so may DAMAGE them! Our posters are special digital prints that are prepared using vivid inks and finishes that can make them HEAT-SENSITIVE. (Instead, we recommend applying archival double-sided adhesive film; light misting with a pressure-sensitive archival spray adhesive such as Scotch/3M Spray Mount or Super 77; judicious application of archival double-sided tape; or mounting to peel-and-stick foam core/mounting board.) It's worth noting, however, that most folks who frame our posters skip adhesives altogether — they typically buy the right-size "ready to hang" frame for their poster and simply insert it freely into the frame. No muss, no fuss. Works like a charm!
4) Screens aren't paper. Please note that digital images are typically MORE VIBRANT than printed posters. Also, due to printing variations and editorial decisions, you can expect that the colors, details, etc. in the actual posters you receive may vary somewhat from their representations here. (Some preview images we show have been WATERMARKED for security purposes. Don't worry — these marks do NOT appear on the finished product.)
5) Perfectly imperfect. In general, our posters look what we like to call "PERFECTLY IMPERFECT." The events they publicize occurred in the distant past, and therefore the original source materials from which they derive often include not-so-minor COSMETIC FLAWS — folds, creases, scratches, spots, marks, smears, ghosting, discolorations, printing glitches, etc. In addition, some of the primary vintage advertising pieces contain TYPESETTING ERRORS — mistakes, typos, misspellings, etc. We elect to leave almost all of these issues INTACT. This serves to reflect the rushed nature of publicizing live jazz (with its often hurried programming and last-minute personnel changes), and when names are misspelled, these goofs reveal how some of the now-famous participants were still relatively early in their careers and not yet widely known. We always aim to strike a balance when preparing these "antique" materials for modern printing — holding onto their nostalgic, vintage-looking charm as much as possible — "warts and all" — while fixing issues primarily when they significantly hinder legibility. (Please be sure to ZOOM IN on our preview images to examine each poster closely. If possible, we recommend viewing on a desktop vs. mobile.)
6) A best-in-class experience. Our thousands of satisfied customers agree: posters from SecondTakeJazzArt are an outstanding value! To print our superior-quality posters, we use state-of-the-art digital presses, special vivid inks and finishes, and premium paper stock (typically matte satin 80# cover stock [220 GSM] or 45# bond [170 GSM]). And we pride ourselves on providing truly exceptional customer service. (For your reference, our customer feedback is overwhelmingly positive, and our return rate usually hovers around 0.5% — just 5 units returned out of every 1,000 ordered — and most of those are exchanges!)
And where do these posters come from?
Our mission at SecondTakeJazzArt is to produce high-quality visuals that commemorate celebrated live performances by jazz legends from the distant past. We particularly focus on renowned club or concert appearances that have been preserved by fan-favorite recordings — legendary shows for which little to no advertising ephemera survives (or was ever created.
SecondTakeJazzArt strives to fill in these gaps with carefully researched, highly detailed facsimiles of said missing ephemera. Our poster designs combine the verifiable performance information with vintage source materials (imagery, branding, type, etc.) and original elements (derived from or inspired by contemporaneous advertisements of the same/similar events in posters, handbills, newspapers, magazines, festival programs, album covers, etc.).
In general, the posters we've created for SecondTakeJazzArt fall into three categories:
1) Some are our own wholly new original designs; (aka, "recreations" — new posters that we've designed ourselves to commemorate specific gigs or concerts). Descriptions for these posters typically include the phrase "featuring original artwork."
2) Others are our own original enhanced designs (aka, "refittings" — new versions of vintage poster designs that we've edited, adjusted, reconfigured, customized, etc. ourselves to commemorate specific gigs or concerts). Descriptions for these posters typically include the phrase "featuring original enhanced artwork."
3) Some are our own original upgraded designs (aka, "reprints" — new straight reproductions of vintage posters that we've painstakingly retouched ourselves). Descriptions for these posters typically include the phrase "featuring original upgraded artwork."
SecondTakeJazzArt produces decorative tributes that aim to delight the viewer, not forgeries or fakes that aim to deceive them. Our goals are to either faithfully recreate and/or authentically mimic something close to what might have been or reproduce in higher fidelity what's largely been lost.
We sincerely hope you do enjoy our posters, and find them to be worthy constituents of your home or office décor.
All posters designed and printed in the U.S.A.
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