National Jazz Museum in Harlem (9/21/19)

I went there on Smithsonian Magazine’s Free Museum Day. While I enjoyed it, I was a little surprised at its modest size. It’s on the ground floor of a building on West 129th Street and was like a regular apartment gussied up as a museum. On exhibition was a nice grouping of items and interactive stations all dealing with Duke Ellington. His white baby grand was there (no touching allowed) and there was also a pianola—player piano—on display (no touching). One wall had big blowups of some of his sheet music.

One case had tickets to a rent party, something that was very popular in the 1920s, ’30s, and beyond. They were usually referred to as Social Parties or Whist Parties, but the funds generated helped folks make their rent. There were also printed programs from select concerts, a trumpet (I forget whose) and a tenor saxophone (I forget whose, but he was known for playing with a really big, powerful sound). I especially liked the group photo of fifty-plus jazz musicians, taken outside of a building on West 126th Street. It was mostly men, but Mary Lou Williams and Marian McPartland were included; I have, and enjoy, CDs by both of these pianistic ladies. In doing some online research for this post, I learned that there was a documentary film made—A Great Day in Harlem—based on this photo.

As far as interactive went, there were headphones available to watch and listen to videos as well as a test version of a keyboard that you could play, as if you were sitting in on a jam session. There were three choices: easy, medium, and hard. I have a strong feeling that even easy would be beyond my skill set, so I didn’t even bother trying.

All of it was interesting, but I ended up spending only a little more than thirty minutes there. I heard someone ask what museum admission is on a non-free day. A suggested $10.00 donation. I’m glad I went when I did. I wanted something slightly off the beaten track and I got just that. Would I heartily recommend it? I don’t think so. Maybe a mild recommendation.

MuseumMeister