Music & Musical Instruments

This button is from the Monrovia Old Style Jazz Band in Monrovia, California. It is a round button with a yellow background with black printing, covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

Monrovia
Old Style
Jazz Band

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

This button is from the Palm Springs Jazz Festival in Palm Springs, California, in 1990-1991. It is made of red paper with white ink covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

Classic Jazz Management
Palm
Springs
Jazz
90-91
WYNDHAM PALM SPRINGS

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

This button is from Jazz at the Plaza festival in Los Angeles, California. It is a diamond-shaped button made of paper with a white background and pink printing covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

BALDWIN HILLS
CRENSHAW PLAZA
MUSEUM OF AFRICAN
AMERICAN ART
Jazz
at the
Plaza
Coors

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

George Lewis' Ragtime Band. George Lewis' Ragtome Band (Jazz Man LP1).
33-1/3 rpm.

Jazz Man Records was founded by David Ashford Stuart in 1941. The record label was devoted to traditional New Orleans-style jazz. In 1946, Stuart sold the label to Nesuhi Ertegun, brother of Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records, and Nesuhi’s wife Marili Morden, owners of the Jazz Man Record Shop in Hollywood, the label’s namesake. Jazz Man Records continued to produce recordings until late 1954.

This music box was made by AMICA in Pasadena, California, in 1980. It is a miniature banjo music box presented by the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors Association at their 1980 convention in Pasadena. Made by members of the Southern California chapter of AMICA. This music box plays 1 tune, “Oh, Susanna” [with a banjo on my knee].

This holotype miniature model was made and proposed as a Convention souvenir by Ben Lilien of Los Angeles. It is constructed at about 1/8” scale. The Encore Banjo was inventedabout 1898 and probably went into manufacture a few years later. Less than 2,000 were made, most of which were placed in bars and restaurants in Greater New York. Today, only a dozen or so remain in existence. The music was played from a perforated music roll which set in motion tiny metal fingers to pluck the strings. The proper notes were sounded by buttons pressing the frets.

This button is from the Sacramento Dixieland Jubilee Jazz Festival, in 1991. The button is a made of white paper with black and red lettering covered with a clear film, on a round two-piece metal button with a pin back. There is a red ribbon attached to the back of the button. The button is printed:

SACRAMENTO
[image of riverboat]
FLOYD
LEVIN
DIXIELAND JUBILEE
1991

(The ribbon is printed):

EMPEROR
1985

The Sacramento Music Festival (formerly the Old Sacramento Dixieland Jazz Jubilee) was an annual event held every Memorial Day weekend in Sacramento, California. Organized by the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society, the festival was launched in 1974 and presented its final festival in 2017.

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

Wardell Gray and Vido Musso. side 1: Sweet Georgia Bop; side 2: Sweet Georgia Brown (Modern 20-611).
78 rpm.

This pressing is from a live recording in the Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California in 1947 of a Just Jazz concert presented by American impresario, Gene Norman.

This button is from the New Year’s Jazz at Indian Wells event in Palm Springs, California. It is a round button with a green background with black printing, covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

NEW YEAR'S JAZZ
[image of trumpet and bass players]
AT INDIAN WELLS
3 DAY PASS
Traditional
Jazz Party

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

Art Tatum. side 1: Hallelujah!; side 2: Memories of You (American Recording Artists 4501), from the album, Piano Impressions (American Recording Artists A-1).
78 rpm.

The cover art for this album was made by American illustrator Gene Widhoff (1907-1972). Widhoff began his career as a staff artist for RKO Pictures where he created images for movie posters and theater lobby cards. He created album covers for the American Recording Artists (ARA) label. Later in his career, Widhoff worked as staff artist for NBC. Widoff received an Emmy for “Outstanding Achievement in Creative Technical Craft” in 1971.

Charlie Shavers, Stan Getz, Willie Smith, Red Norvo, "Nature Boy," Oscar Moore, Johnny Miller, and Louie Bellson. side 1: Body and Soul [part 1]; side 2: Body and Soul [part 2] (Modern 20-695).
78 rpm

This pressing is from a live recording in the Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California on June 23, 1947 of a Just Jazz concert by American impresario, Gene Norman.

This button is from the Spring Jazzfest at Griswold’s Old School House, in Claremont, California, in 1978. It is made of white paper with blue ink covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

GRISWOLD'S OLD SCHOOL HOUSE
1978
[image of trumpet]
SPRING
JAZZFEST
650
SUPPORTED BY THE UNITED JAZZ CLUBS OF SO. CALIF.

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.