{"id":2515,"date":"2011-04-12T21:34:56","date_gmt":"2011-04-13T04:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=2515"},"modified":"2011-04-12T21:49:39","modified_gmt":"2011-04-13T04:49:39","slug":"correspondence-the-stamp-of-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2011\/04\/correspondence-the-stamp-of-jazz\/","title":{"rendered":"Correspondence: The Stamp Of Jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jazz historian, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator and short sleeper Bill Kirchner<\/a> writes:<\/p>\n

You’ve probably seen—or will see—the new “Jazz” U.S. postage stamp just issued. A year ago, I was a paid consultant on the design of it. The graphic artist’s original design included a trumpeter, saxophonist, pianist, and bassist—no women, no singer. I successfully lobbied for a female singer–my foremost contribution to American culture (smile).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This was the stamp being introduced in New Orleans on the day it was issued, March 25. The man in the light suit is Paul Rogers, who designed it. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On his website, Rogers wrote about the project.<\/p>\n

Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and about a dozen others have been honored with stamps in the past, and in 2008 Michael Bartalos designed a wonderful Latin Jazz stamp, but there has never been a single stamp to pay tribute to America\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s original art form, jazz. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always an honor to design a postage stamp, and because I love jazz and have great respect for the history of the music, this one was very special to me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To read about and see the stages of Rogers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 creation of the design, including detail about how the singer became part of the scheme, go here<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Treme Brass Band was part of the stamp\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unveiling ceremony, so why not let them end our story? <\/p>\n