Vail Jazz Party Button

Description:

This button is from the Vail Jazz Party in Vail, Colorado. It is made of pink/peach paper with black ink covered with a clear film, on a two-piece metal button with a pin back. 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:

VAIL
[image of trumpet]
214
JAZZ

Dick Gibson, a Denver businessman, sponsored the first Colorado Jazz Party in 1963 as a means to reinvigorate the jazz scene in Colorado. These private gatherings brought together musicians and fans from all over the world in an intimate setting of weekend-long jam sessions. Initially hosted at the Jerome Hotel in Aspen, the Jazz Party became an annual event, moving to the Broadmoor Hotel, a resort located high in the mountains above Colorado Springs, then to Denver. This Jazz Party format has since inspired multiple other jazz parties throughout the United States.

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.