Music & Musical Instruments - Overview
The Museum's music collections contain more than 5,000 instruments of American and European heritage. These include a quartet of 18th-century Stradivari stringed instruments, Tito Puente's autographed timbales, and the Yellow Cloud guitar that belonged to Prince, to name only a few. Several of these rare instruments can be heard in performances of the Smithsonian Chamber Players and in other public programs. Music collections also include jukeboxes and synthesizers, square-dancing outfits and sheet music, archival materials, oral histories, and recordings of performances at the Museum. The vast Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music is a remarkable window into the American past in words, music, and visual imagery. The Duke Ellington and Ruth Ellington Boatwright collections contain handwritten music compositions, sound recordings, business records, and other materials documenting the career of this renowned musician.
"Music & Musical Instruments - Overview" showing 1021 items.
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Sheet Music, "A-Tisket A-Tasket"
- Description
- Over the course of her sixty-year career, Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) became known to fans and colleagues as "The First Lady of Song." Her rise to international fame as a jazz and popular singer coincided with the rise of an American entertainment industry that brought music to millions through concerts, sound recordings, film, radio, and television. In 1938, Fitzgerald came up with the idea for a song called "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," basing her lyric on a 19th–century nursery rhyme. Her 1938 Decca recording of the song over time became a million–seller.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1938
- lyricist
- Fitzgerald, Ella
- maker
- Robbins Music Corporation
- ID Number
- 1984.1117.04
- accession number
- 1984.1117
- catalog number
- 1984.1117.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Dizzy Gillespie's B–flat Trumpet
- Description
- This custom–made "Silver Flair" trumpet belonged to renowned trumpeter, bandleader, and composer John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, a founder of the modern jazz style known as bebop. Renowned for his musical virtuosity and for his impish good humor and wit, Gillespie played this trumpet in the early 1980s. Its uniquely shaped upturned bell was Gillespie's internationally known trademark.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1981
- owner
- Gillespie, Dizzy
- user
- Gillespie, Dizzy
- maker
- King Musical Instruments
- ID Number
- 1986.0003.01
- catalog number
- 1986.0003.01
- accession number
- 1986.0003
- serial number
- 673792
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Prince's Yellow Cloud Electric Guitar
- Description
- Custom-made in 1989 by the Minneapolis, Minn., firm of Knut-Koupee Enterprises, this Yellow-cloud electric guitar was designed and used by Prince. The musician's distinctive personal symbol adorns both the top and the side of the fingerboard. Custom work for famous instrumentalists and musicians provides an important marketing tool for small-scale guitar makers.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1989
- maker
- Haugen, Barry
- Rusan, David
- Knut-Koupee Enterprises, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1993.0435.01
- catalog number
- 1993.0435.01
- accession number
- 1993.0435
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording
- Description
- Elvis Aron Presley (1935—1977) is one of the best-known and most influential figures in popular music. Throughout his career, Elvis incorporated pop, gospel, country, and blues elements into creating his trademark style and earning his mainstream success.
- This recording is the first of Elvis's many albums that he made for RCA. The company took a major risk in releasing a full album from this new "rock & roll" artist, as teenagers were more likely to buy 45 rpm singles than a full LP. The Elvis Presley album included recording sessions Elvis did for RCA and five previously unissued songs recorded earlier with Sun Records. After the album's release in March 1956, Elvis Presley eventually went on to become the first rock & roll album to reach number one on national record sales charts, and RCA's first million-dollar-earning pop album.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1956
- recording artist
- Presley, Elvis
- manufacturer
- RCA Victor
- ID Number
- 2000.3053.1039
- nonaccession number
- 2000.3053
- catalog number
- 2000.3053.1039
- label number
- LPM-1254
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "When the Saints Go Marching In"
- Description (Brief)
- Born in New Orleans in 1901, jazz musician Louis Armstrong (d. 1971)was known for his distinctive trumpet-playing and vocal style. He often improvised jazz riffs using his voice rather than his instrument, “scatting” notes and melodies rather than singing actual words. Armstrong transformed traditional church songs like “When the Saints Go Marching In” into jazz melodies fit for brass bands. Nicknamed Satchmo, short for “satchel-mouth,” he helped popularize the solo performance in jazz music. His musical style influenced singers Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1939
- recording artist
- Louis Armstrong and his Orchestra
- maker
- Decca
- ID Number
- 1978.0670.208
- accession number
- 1978.0670
- maker number
- 25153
- catalog number
- 1978.0670.208
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "And the Angels Sing"
- Description (Brief)
- Benny Goodman (1909-1986,) the King of Swing, was one of the America’s most popular band leaders and the leader of one of the first racially integrated musical groups. Goodman was a clarinetist by training, and his big band performances in Chicago and New York throughout the 1930s helped make jazz a respectable musical form. He and his orchestra performed the first jazz concert in New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1938. “And the Angels Sing,” recorded in 1939, was one of Goodman’s many hits. The musician would go on to play a variety of music, including bebop and classical.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1939
- recording artist
- Benny Goodman and his Orchestra
- maker
- Victor
- ID Number
- 1981.0566.119
- maker number
- 26170
- accession number
- 1981.0566
- catalog number
- 1981.0566.119
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "Body and Soul"
- Description (Brief)
- Often considered the first great jazz saxophonist, Coleman Hawkins (1904-1969) is known as the Father of the Tenor Saxophone. Like Louis Armstrong, Hawkins pushed the boundaries of jazz music by improvising solos and altering songs’ basic melodies. His 1939 recording of the jazz standard “Body and Soul” became famous for its improvisation. He never played the same version twice. Though primarily a jazz and big band musician, Hawkins experimented in bebop in the 1940s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1939
- recording artist
- Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra
- maker
- Bluebird
- performer
- Coleman Hawkins and his Orchestra
- ID Number
- 1988.0698.1213
- catalog number
- 1988.0698.1213
- accession number
- 1988.0698
- catalog number
- 1988.698.1213
- maker number
- B-10523
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "Moonlight Serenade"
- Description (Brief)
- “Moonlight Serenade” became bandleader Glenn Miller’s (1904-1944, MIA) signature song, despite its place on the b-side of his 1939 “Sunrise Serenade” release. In that year alone, Miller had five top-20 records on the Billboard charts, and “Sunrise Serenade” became his first record to sell more than one million copies. The swing music the Miller and his orchestra performed was infused with elements of jazz and featured a unique combination of sound from the clarinet and saxophone. The bandleader's pure, romantic swing sound appealed to dance audiences nationally and overseas.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1939
- maker
- Bluebird
- performer
- Glenn Miller and his Orchestra
- ID Number
- 1988.0698.1705
- catalog number
- 1988.0698.1705
- accession number
- 1988.0698
- catalog number
- 1988.698.1705
- maker number
- B-10214
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Sound Recording, "Back in the Saddle Again"
- Description (Brief)
- The first singing cowboy in film, Gene Autry (1907-1998) found fame as a country western musician, film actor, and radio and television personality. Audiences embraced Autry's films in the 1930s as an escape from the economic woes of the Great Depression. “Back in the Saddle Again,” recorded in 1939, became the performer's signature song. The next year it was used as the theme for Autry’s "Melody Ranch" radio show.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1939
- 1946
- recording artist
- Autry, Gene
- maker
- Columbia
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.05055
- maker number
- 37183
- C 120
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- catalog number
- 1996.0320.05055
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Cuban Rumba Dress
- Description
- This is a Bata Cubana, or Cuban Rumba dress, donated to the Smithsonian by Celia Cruz, the great Cuban salsa singer in 1997. An adaptation of the traditional Cuban rumba dress, it was made in the United States by Cuban-born designer José Arteaga. The Bata Cubana has its roots in the 19th century, with origins as diverse as the multicultural makeup of the people of Cuba. It brings together influences from Spanish, French, and African culture and dress, combining theater, fiesta, and the spectacle of carnival with slave and gypsy dress. The Bata Cubana is a garment worn for performance on stage or cabaret. Celia Cruz's Bata Cubana is made of orange polyester satin, trimmed with white nylon eyelet along ruffle-edges and eyelet beading along seams with inserted orange ribbon. The Bata Cubana was Celia's preferred performance costume.
- Date made
- ca 1992
- date made
- 1973-1987
- designer
- Arteaga, Enrique
- ID Number
- 1997.0291.01
- accession number
- 1997.0291
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center