Snitzer’s ‘Movement’ a Photomusical Salute to Freedom

Photographs of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Lester Young, Freddie Hubbard and many more, as well as written commentary by James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka and others combine to make up “Jazz & the Movement,” an exhibit by photographer Herb Snitzer at Verve Contemporary Arts that continues Mondays-Saturdays through Dec. 31.

“The show is not only about jazz, but about jazz as a metaphor for freedom,” said Snitzer, a Cambridge, Mass., resident who was a photojournalist for Life magazine and an editor at Metronome. “These photographs are images that stand for the dignity of black culture and the contributions that black Americans have made to the development of American culture.

“For example, Duke Ellington is most often thought of as a bandleader and a jazz musician and while that’s true, he’s also, in my opinion, the greatest American composer ever,” Snitzer said. “Not a black composer or a black jazz composer, but the greatest composer. I think white America has a problem thinking that a black person could be the best at anything except basketball.”

In addition to Snitzer’s photographs, the show contains several of his collages. “I’m appropriating images, using other people’s photographs and making new pieces of them, like one where I juxtapose photos of Martin Luther King and Jesse Helms, and Robert Mapplethorpe and Helms,” he said. “These images on the idea of freedom become logical extensions of what jazzmen do with their music, express freedom and individuality.”

Information: (213) 937-0325.

Back in Town: Bill Holman, whose orchestra made one of its far-too-rare performances Wednesday at the Biltmore Hotel’s Grand Avenue Bar, recently returned from another monthlong stint as composer-arranger with the West German Radio Network in Cologne, where he’s been appearing once a year for many annums. As usual, Holman--who has gained renown for his work for Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Woody Herman and Doc Severinsen--wrote an hour of original music, which was played by the network’s jazz band live on the air.

In contrast to past performances, this year there was no guest soloist. “That was kind of fun,” said Holman. “I’ve always depended on the guest and this way I got to stretch out a little bit with the program. When you have a guest doing more than half of the music, you pin it on them; without them, you go whatever direction you want.”

Holman dubbed his new piece, “City of Angles.” “That’s what the Germans call L.A., and then there’s the hit play in New York (“City of Angels”) that Billy Byers wrote the charts for. I tried to explain all this to the German audience, starting with what an angle is, then what that means in the (entertainment) industry.”

On the way back, Holman took part in a couple of clinics, including one taught by Bob Brookmeyer under the aegis of Broadcast Music Inc. “Brookmeyer got a grant from BMI to do a class in beginning and advanced composing. There are a lot of pros from around New York town in the latter. Whenever I’m in town, I always go up there and put in an appearance.”

Brookmeyer, who was first known as valve trombonist with Gerry Mulligan, was a member of Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All-Stars in Hermosa Beach in 1956 and ’57 when Holman met him. “I knew he was there and knew of him, met him and when we both discovered we liked strong drink to excess, our friendship was formed,” Holman laughed.

Just Out: Long awaited by cognoscenti, “The Complete Dean Benedetti Recordings of Charlie Parker,” a 10-LP/7-CD set, has finally been released on Mosaic. The package contains 278 previously unheard tracks by the alto marvel, captured in 1947 and ’48 on portable recorders by Benedetti at the Hi-De-Ho club in Los Angeles and the Onyx and Three Deuces clubs in New York. Caveat: Sound quality is not high end. Available by mail only from Mosaic, 35 Melrose Place, Stamford, Conn. 06902. RELATED STORY: F13