Portraits from the Golden Age of Jazz

Billie "Lady Day" Holiday, circa 1948. "I tried to capture a subject's personality or inner qualities," wrote William Gottlieb, who took photos to accompany his articles. "The haunting, anguished voice of Lady Day is one of the glories of music. I was fortunate to hear her at her peak."

On exhibit through March 5 in Alderman Library’s McGregor Room

Shortly before World War II, a 22-year-old jazz enthusiast named William P. Gottlieb began photographing jazz musicians to illustrate columns he wrote for the Washington Post. Considered the iconic images of jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, Gottlieb’s photos were published widely in magazines, books, album covers, posters, and even on U.S. postage stamps.

In addition to Gottlieb’s photographs, the U.Va. Library is displaying related items from the Harlem Renaissance drawn from Special Collections, including works by James Weldon Johnson and Zora Neale Hurston and an original letter about Billie Holiday written by Langston Hughes.

Benny Goodman, circa 1947. Goodman and his orchestra are said to have ushered in the Swing Era.

“Portraits from the Golden Age of Jazz” is made possible by the Library of Congress, which acquired Gottlieb’s photographs through the Ira and Leonore Gershwin Fund.

An online version of the exhibition is at www.lib.virginia. edu/exhibits/jazz.