{"id":2268,"date":"2017-07-28T16:51:49","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T20:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=2268"},"modified":"2017-07-28T16:55:11","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T20:55:11","slug":"the-jazz-blues-art-box-instant-collection-rare-data-trove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2017\/07\/the-jazz-blues-art-box-instant-collection-rare-data-trove.html","title":{"rendered":"The Jazz &#038; Blues Art Box &#8212; instant collection, rare data trove"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two hundred and thirty dvds of concerts and 96 interviews from the International Jazzfestival Bern (Switzerland), 1983 to 2002, 20 yearbooks plus a 344-page large format graphics-rich volume, in a cabinet\u00c2\u00a0on wheels standing almost 4 feet tall, 3 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/artbox-1497067082-4592.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2283\" src=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/artbox-1497067082-4592-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"295\" height=\"221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/artbox-1497067082-4592-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/artbox-1497067082-4592.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 295px) 100vw, 295px\" \/><\/a>feet wide, 15 inches deep. Released as a one-time-only edition with a promise of no reissues and the dvds (in PAL format, playable on my Mac) constituting a single unit never to be split up. Cost: $8,400 USD. <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thejazzandbluesartbox.com\/index.php?id=20&amp;L=1\">The Jazz &amp; Blues Art Box<\/a><\/em> is a phenomenon unto itself, the ultimate gift for the connoisseur and\/or an instant collection of stellar performances and oral histories for a school or library.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s nothing else like it I know of. In some ways it&#8217;s comparable to Audubon&#8217;s original\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.audubon.org\/birds-of-america\"><em>Birds of America<\/em><\/a>, known as &#8220;the Double Elephant Folio&#8221; for comprising approximately 40&#8243; x 30&#8243; plates depicting their subjects in life-size, but those 435 plates (87 sets of five published by 1838, costing $870 in the day&#8217;s currency) would have been easier to get an overview of in a single sitting. <em>The Jazz &amp; Art Art Box<\/em> would take something like 400 hours &#8212; more than 10 work weeks &#8212; to sit through just once, start to finish.<\/p>\n<p>Based on the one dvd I&#8217;ve sampled &#8212; \u00c2\u00a0a Max Roach quartet gig from 1980 (like the band below, but with Tyrone Brown on bass rather than Calvin Hill) which I was given at the New York City introduction last month of the <em>J&amp;BAB<\/em>, a reception at the New School at which Wynton Marsalis (who has played the Fest, with at least three sets in the <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0dHqm0xhUEU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>box), jazz fest producer George Wein, Box annotator\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hankoneal.com\/\">Hank O&#8217;Neal<\/a> and executive producer Hans Zurbr\u00c3\u00bcgg presided onstage, talking between screened excerpts &#8212; the quality of sound, multi-camera videos and interviews is impressive. (Here&#8217;s the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=u0cb19c0FQM\">promotional video<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0with a couple brief samples that explains how the whole project came together). The musicians being grilled, from what I&#8217;ve seen, aren&#8217;t asked dumb questions; as they&#8217;re being treated well, they come up with fresh answers. The big book is handsomely laid out and its text seems substantive, too. The <em>J&amp;BAB <\/em>is a beautiful thing.<\/p>\n<p>Zurbr\u00c3\u00bcgg, its prime mover, is a Swiss entrepreneur and amateur trumpeter who founded the Jazzfestival Bern (IJFB) in 1976, still owns and produces it. His artistic focus has been definitively mainstream, including modernists but few who go very far out. As a result, the dvds spotlight many veterans from the swing-to-bop era such as Benny Carter, Jay McShann, St\u00c3\u00a9phane Grappelli, Dorothy Donegan and Freddy Green, along with post-WWII leaders such as Buddy de Franco, Betty Carter, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Chick Corea, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie and so forth. There are blues acts &#8212; B.B. King, Linda Hopkins, Carrie Smith, Fats Domino, Sammy Price &#8212; and Latin jazz figures (Eddie Palmieri, Paquito d&#8217;Rivera, Mario Rivera).<\/p>\n<p>Caveat: I have not delved deeply into this material. The J&amp;BAB is not being provided to critics for review, perhaps due to the mailing costs (joke). Nevermind: While it would clearly be a luxury to live with one of these cabinets, available for dipping into whenever the mood struck, considering how much there is in it the J&amp;BAB really ought to be accessible not to individuals, rather to communities. Generations of users will ultimately judge the collection&#8217;s value.<\/p>\n<p>But individuals can&#8217;t begin to evaluate unless one is at hand. I&#8217;m told no Box has yet been purchased for delivery in, say, Chicago. Will an upper level jazz program here (at Northwestern University, U of Chicago, University of Illinois-Chicago, DePaul U, Roosevelt U, Columbia College), the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chipublib.org\/about-hwlc\/\">Harold Washington Library<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0or perhaps the independent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newberry.org\/\">Newberry Research Library<\/a> step up to the opportunity? It may depend on what else $8400 can buy. However: Pro-rate the price tag over a couple decades, consider the number of folks who might access it (simultaneously!) and the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Objet_petit_a\"><em>objet petit<\/em><\/a> becomes reasonably obtainable. We know jazz and blues as arts can&#8217;t be contained, yet the Jazz &amp; Blues Art Box is a treasure chest that will grow more valuable with age. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thejazzandbluesartbox.com\/index.php?id=20&amp;L=1\">To procure one<\/a>? Now&#8217;s the time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.howardmandel.com\/\" target=\"blank\">howardmandel.com<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.feedburner.com\/fb\/a\/emailverifySubmit?feedId=1102712&amp;loc=en_US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe by Email <\/a> |<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/JazzBeyondJazz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe by RSS<\/a> |<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Follow on Twitter <\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/archives.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> All JBJ posts <\/a> |<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two hundred and thirty dvds of concerts and 96 interviews from the International Jazzfestival Bern (Switzerland), 1983 to 2002, 20 yearbooks plus a 344-page large format graphics-rich volume, in a cabinet\u00c2\u00a0on wheels standing almost 4 feet tall, 3 feet wide, 15 inches deep. Released as a one-time-only edition with a promise of no reissues and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2268","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/artbox-1497067082-4592.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-AA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":267,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/11\/midnight_est_deadline_blues_co.html","url_meta":{"origin":2268,"position":0},"title":"Midnight (EST) deadline, blues contest entries","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"November 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Prizes of Jazz at Lincoln Center tix for this weekend and dvds of Wynton Marsalis with Willie Nelson for the best blues lyrics or prose poem will be determined at 12:01 tonight (11\/11\/09). Several stunning (!?!) efforts have been received -- via the comments box below -- but I'm not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":265,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/11\/jazz_at_lincoln_center_ducats.html","url_meta":{"origin":2268,"position":1},"title":"Jazz at Lincoln Center ducats, Wynton-Willie dvd giveaways!","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"November 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Readers of this blog can win 2 tix for JALC's November 14 shows by Maceo Parker or the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra playing Mary Lou Williams, or autographed Wynton-Willie Nelson Play Ray Charles dvds. But in keeping with the inherent value of these prizes, I'm making the contest creative, not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1324,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2013\/04\/jazz-video-canon-for-nyu-tisch-students-jazzapril-week-3.html","url_meta":{"origin":2268,"position":2},"title":"Jazz videos for troubled times, JazzApril week 3","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Is it hard to sustain four weeks of Jazz Appreciation Month? With the defeat of gun-control measures, bombings in Boston, ricin attacks on the President, fertilizer explosions in Texas -- promotion of jazz as a\u00c2\u00a0positive cultural entity might have seemed\u00c2\u00a0less than relevant. But when I addressed students at New York\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"robeson","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/robeson.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":700,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/12\/last-ditch-impressive-gifts-for-fans-beyond-jazz.html","url_meta":{"origin":2268,"position":3},"title":"Last ditch impressive gifts for fans beyond &#8220;jazz&#8221;","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"December 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I refrain from abject product endorsement -- but The Jazz Icons Series 5\u00c2\u00a0is\u00c2\u00a0my no-fail recommendation for those favorite (weird?) aunts or uncles obsessed with \"culture\" -- for parents who space out listening to long, wordless music from their decades' back youth -- for snobs who should meet vernacular jazz in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/series5box4web.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":268,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2009\/11\/winners_and_their_blues.html","url_meta":{"origin":2268,"position":4},"title":"Winners and their blues","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"November 13, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Winners of this blog's first Blues Lyric Contest are suitably\u00c2\u00a0troubled -- and all get Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson\u00c2\u00a0Play the Music of Ray Charles DVDS to ease their weary minds. All have expressed regrets they can't get to \u00c2\u00a0Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts of Wynton and the Lincoln Center Jazz\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":334,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/09\/audience_size_for_jazz_festiva.html","url_meta":{"origin":2268,"position":5},"title":"Jazz festival weekend: Is anybody counting?","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Can we guestimate how many listeners will be out hearing jazz this Labor Day weekend, at festivals free and\/or famous around the U.S.?\u00a0Chicago, Detroit, Tanglewood, Aspen, Vail, Los Angeles, Washington DC (well, Herndon VA), Philadelphia,\u00a0San Jose, Macinac Island (Michigan) Indianapolis, St. Louis, Wilmington and Bethany Beach (Delaware), San Diego, Tucson,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;main&quot;","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}