NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Here in Music City, we do love a bit of music history. This piece of history is coming to us from an unexpected place, but it's very much a part of the American story.
Cheekwood Estate & Gardens has this new exhibit. It's photography giving glimpses into the jazz age and the decades that followed. There are familiar faces. Billie Holiday. Eartha Kitt. Louis Armstrong.
Each picture tells a story. There's also a story of why the pictures are here now.
"It's from the Bank of America Art in our Communities collection," said Heather Vincent, Nashville local market executive for Bank of America.
Vincent explained they are made up of many pre-existing banks, and those could go back as far as 200 years.
"At one time, banks and bankers really collected art," she said. "As we have grown as a company, we have come to have this amazing collection of art. We don't want it sitting in a warehouse. We want to have it in our communities."
The photography owned by Bank of America has been broken into roughly a dozen traveling categories including Jazz Greats. Each category is loaned out to museum partners which include Cheekwood.
The pictures tend to give the vibe of a place like Manhattan long ago. Of course, jazz connections aren't limited to any one place. Thinking of the Black artists who played Nashville in the 1960s and earlier, we often think of rock and R&B artists. However, those famous jazz artists also appeared in local venues. One of them was called The Silver Streak. It was a ballroom just off Jefferson Street that played host to many of the greats including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Cab Calloway.
"It's part of the American story," said Sarah Sperling, Senior Vice President of External Relations and Museum Affairs at Cheekwood.
Sperling said there's another reason why these pictures have a connection to this place.
"We're here in the Cheek Mansion, and this was completed in 1932, which was also the 1930s, the height of the jazz movement in America," she explained.
33 photographs by 15 photographers are on display through October 5.
"Jazz music has had such an impact on our culture," said Vincent. "When you look at these photos, you feel like you're there."
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Music lessons for just 50 cents! A Nashville music school has been providing that to area students for over 40 years including for the city's current mayor. As a child, I always wanted to take piano lessons. I was able to for about 6 months but had to stop due to family finances. I would have loved to have had access to a program like this at the W. O. Smith Music School.
- Lelan Statom
