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Vintage portrait of a smiling man in a suit, holding a trumpet. The text reads Johnny Collins presents the international star Louis Armstrong Worlds Greatest Trumpeter.

Jazz Scrapbook

Bill Russell and Some Highly Musical Friends

A roll call of early jazz greats, illustrated and informed by HNOC’s William Russell Jazz Collection. Nine essays and 65 rare period photographs give an intimate, backstage view of the jazz world from its New Orleans inception to its midcentury revival.

Cover of a book titled Jazz Scrapbook with stylized text in black and red. Below, theres an illustration of a trumpet with musical notes, piano keys, and a blue music note character. The authors are Bill Russell and some highly musical friends.

Jazz Scrapbook: Bill Russell and Some Highly Musical Friends

HNOC 1998
softcover • 5½" x 8½" • 152 pp.
65 b&w images
ISBN 978-0-917860-41-6

$9.95

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For those who might not hear it in the music itself, here was proof of his vision that jazz had developed not in a vacuum but within a complex New Orleans environment shaped by myriad influences.

Collector William “Bill” Russell’s passion for jazz is the underlying rhythm throughout Jazz Scrapbook. The book offers cameo portraits of Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Bunk Johnson, Mahalia Jackson, Baby Dodds, Natty Dominque, and Fess Manetta—a roll call of early jazz greats, all born in New Orleans. Nine essays and 65 rare period photographs give an intimate, backstage view of the jazz world documented by the William Russell Jazz Collection at the Historic New Orleans Collection.

A man sitting on a chair, playing a trumpet. He faces a set of closed shutters, with two trumpet mutes resting on the windowsill beside him. The image is black and white and has a vintage appearance.
Natty Dominique, 1950s. HNOC, MSS 520.906
A woman in a dress claps her hands while another woman plays the piano beside her. A man stands at a podium in the background. They appear to be in a church or auditorium setting.
Mahalia Jackson, 1953. MSS 520.3286
Collection highlights

William Russell Jazz Collection

HNOC’s largest collection related to New Orleans jazz was the life’s work of this prolific collector, producer, historian, and photographer.

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An elderly man stands in a dimly lit room holding a small blue and white bird in one hand. He is wearing a light-colored shirt and dark pants. Cardboard boxes are stacked in the background.
Signature programs

Bill Russell Lecture

Part concert, part lecture, this annual event blends history and music to appreciate sounds from the past and the people who made them.

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A brass band performing in front of an old, detailed map. The musicians are wearing white shirts, dark trousers, and hats. The lead trumpet player stands in the foreground, energetically playing his instrument.
Cover of A Life in Jazz by Danny Barker, edited by Alyn Shipton. The image features a black-and-white portrait of a man wearing a hat and suit. The book includes a new introduction by Gwen Thompkins.

A Life in Jazz

HNOC 2016 
hardcover • 8" × 10" • 254 pp.
115 color and b&w images
ISBN 978-0-917860-71-3

$39.95

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