AJM to host Billie Holiday exhibit + First Friday weekend + Downtown news

Rare photos of the legendary Billie Holiday are coming to KC.

American Jazz Museum to host Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit beginning Saturday

In April 1957, photographer Jerry Dantzic had an assignment from Decca Records to photograph Billie Holiday during a week-long run of performances at the Newark, New Jersey, nightclub, Sugar Hill.

What unfolded was an unexpected and intimate journey into her private and public worlds. His photos comprise the largest collection of images from any single Billie Holiday club engagement. “Billie Holiday at Sugar Hill: Photographs by Jerry Dantzic” presents 56 remarkable images of the jazz icon that challenge the tragic narrative that frequently defines her. The exhibition will be on view at the American Jazz Museum, 1616 E. 18th St., from Saturday, May 8 to Sunday, Aug. 1.

Developed collaboratively by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) and the Jerry Dantzic Archives, the exhibition shows the elegance, complexity, star power and humanity of the consummate jazz artist. Dantzic’s discreet, respectful and artful approach, using only available light, helped forge a bond of trust between him and Holiday.

The result is a series of striking images that presents her, not only on stage but also among her closest friends and family, projecting warmth, humor and tenderness. The photographer’s unparalleled access also captures Holiday encountering fans, strolling Broad Street in Newark, backstage and performing. Dantzic, an artist in his own right, masterfully captures these moments. The photographs document a significant period in Holiday’s life, just two years before her death at the age of 44.

Click here to learn more about this legendary exhibition.

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