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Benny Carter’s badge to the 1984 Monterey Jazz Festival held in Monterey, California. The badge is a pink laminated card with Carter’s photograph and a metal clip.

The Monterey Jazz Festival held its debut in 1958 and is one of the longest consecutively running jazz festivals. Founded by Jimmy Lyons and his colleague Ralph Gleason, the festival is a celebration of jazz’s legacy through performances by top jazz artists as well as educational programs. Since 1984 (the date on this badge) organizers have sent festival musicians into schools around the Monterey County School District to work with music students.

Benny Carter, born in New York City in 1907, was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader who made a significant contribution to jazz throughout his seventy year career. Carter was a featured performer in the 1984 Monterey Jazz Festival. He has received two Grammy Awards, and in 1986 was granted the NEA Jazz Masters award by The National Endowment for the Arts. Carter died in 2003 at the age of 95.

This button is from the Paradise Valley Jazz Party in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1986. It has a red background with white printing covered with a clear film, on a round two-piece metal button with a pin back. There is an image of jazz trumpeter, Joe Newman (?), in the center of the button. These buttons were given to all Jazz Party goers as admission tickets and to simplify the billing for food and beverages. The button is printed:

PARADISE VALLEY
JAZZ PARTY 1986
165

The Paradise Jazz Party was founded by Don Z. and Sue Miller, owners of a finance company and a motorcycle dealership, in 1978. Denver businessman Dick Gibson, of the Colorado Jazz Parties, helped the Millers start a similar event in Arizona.

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 award was presented to Ramon "Mongo" Santamaría by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), in 1980. It is comprised of a gold toned record, miniature album cover, and engraved metal plate in a gold frame with plexiglass. The metal plate is engraved:

PRESENTED TO
MONGO SANTAMARIA
TO COMMEMORATE THE SALES OF MORE THAN
500,000 COPIES OF THE
COLUMBIA / TAPPAN ZEE RECORDS
LONG PLAYING RECORD ALBUM
”TOUCHDOWN”
CERTIFIED RIAA SALES AWARD

This RIAA gold record was presented to Mongo Santamaría for his work on the album by Bob James, Touchdown, released in 1978.

Ramón "Mongo" Santamaría Rodríguez (1917–2003) was a Cuban percussionist and bandleader who spent most of his career in the United States. Primarily a conga drummer, Santamaría was a leading figure in the pachanga and boogaloo dance crazes of the 1960s. From the 1970s, he recorded mainly salsa and Latin jazz, before retiring in the late 1990s. Santamaria made several recordings as a leader of his own group, as well as a sideman with Fania All-Stars, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ray Charles.

The Society of Singers presented this award to Ella Fitzgerald in 1989. It is an etched glass pyramid on a black wooden base. Engraved on metal plate:

Society of Singers
Lifetime Achievement Award
ELLA FITZGERALD
The First Lady of Song
April 28, 1989

and etched on glass pyramid:

E
Val Lambert Jr. L.

The Society of Singers was co-founded by Ginny Mancini and Donna (Fowler) Manners in 1984. It was a nonprofit charitable organization that was dedicated to helping professional singers. The main fundraising event was a ceremony presenting the Ella Award, named after its first recipient, Ella Fitzgerald, in 1989. Mike Love was the last recipient of the award in 2014. The organization ceased in 2017.

This plaque was presented to Benny Carter by the American Society of Music Arrangers, in 1980. It is a wood plaque with gold-painted trim and printed paper document. The surface of the plaque is lacquered. The paper certificate is printed:

AMERICAN SOCIETY OD MUSIC ARRANGERS
In recognition of continued excellence and achievement
of the highest standards in the arts of composing,
arranging and orchestrating, the Society awards to:
Benny Carter
[musical note]
THE GOLDEN SCORE
Signed:
[signature of Eddy L. Manson]
[signature of Bert Shefter]
Dated: [in script: June 8 1980]

Benny Carter, born in New York City in 1907, was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader who made a significant contribution to jazz throughout his seventy year career. He has received two Grammy Awards, and in 1986 was granted the NEA Jazz Masters award by The National Endowment for the Arts. Carter died in 2003 at the age of 95.

This button is from the Palm Springs Jazz Festival in Palm Springs, California, in 1989-1990. It is made of black paper with white lettering with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. The button is printed:

Classic Jazz Management
Palm
Springs
Jazz
89-90
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 the Paradise Valley Jazz Party in Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1985. It has a dark blue background with white printing covered with a clear film, on a round two-piece metal button with a pin back. There is an image of jazz trombonist, Al Grey, on the side of the button. Grey was the guest of honor at the event. These buttons were given to all Jazz Party goers as admission tickets and to simplify the billing for food and beverages. The button is printed:

1985 PARADISE VALLEY
JAZZ PARTY
179

The Paradise Jazz Party was founded by Don Z. and Sue Miller, owners of a finance company and a motorcycle dealership, in 1978. Denver businessman Dick Gibson, of the Colorado Jazz Parties, helped the Millers start a similar event in Arizona.

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.