Poster projects and presentations on jazz and blues
We suggest that students, parents, and teachers think creatively about materials that can be used in poster presentations without destruction of rare items. For instance, excellent results can be obtained using commercially-produced jazz/blues calendars, greeting cards and postcards. Most of the photos come from famous photograph collections, such as those of Ole Brask, Duncan Scheidt, Milt Hinton, Chuck Stewart, and Francis Wolff. There are items that cover all periods of jazz and blues history, and several fine ones with jazz art as well.
Many independent local bookstores in Chicago carry calendars and loose jazz postcards as well as boxed cards; try Barbara's Bookstores, and the Seminary Co-op Bookstore in Hyde Park. Large chain bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and Borders ususally have calendars, while museum and poster shops often have postcards and boxed cards in addition to posters. Online, check Pomegranate Publishing for cards adnd Allposters.com for posters and prints if you can't find them locally. Books of jazz postcards are also helpful, e.g., "Jazz Postcard Book" by William Claxton (ISBN: 3822879843); "Jazz Seen" (ISBN: 3822866520); "Lee Tanner's Jazz Photographs" (ISBN: 1566404045); "Over Time: The Jazz Photographs of Milt Hinton Postcards"(ISBN: 0-7649-0366-7) "Blue Note: The Jazz Photographs of Francis Wolff" (ISBN: 1-56640-021-X)
Thrift shops are good sources of unplayable 78s and jazz LP cover art for displays. Large public libraries often have newspapers on microfilm or online from which copies can be made, and they are wonderful sources of reviews, photos and concert advertisments that can be enlarged and photocopied onto interesting paper. There are some online exhibits available as well, see the Archive's Jazz Art and Photography page. Remember to credit the artists whose work you use!
If you need to listen to or play music for your project, there are a number of jazz compilations available. You will need to do some reading before you go to the library or the store, since many of the compilations are arranged by artist name or by period or genre of jazz/blues. Don't hesitate to ask for help at the record store. In Chicago, the Jazz Record Mart and the Tower Records at Clark and Belden have excellent staff for jazz and blues.
Be careful about using materials you find on the Web; the information you find may or may not be reliable because there is no editorial control as there is with printed books. In addition, you may accidentally find yourself in violation of copyright law if you download and print off jazz materials from the Web. Remember to credit the sources you use!
Enjoy your project!
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