One afternoon in 2021 on a walk around Washington, D.C., I began thinking about the designs of the patriotic memorials around and near the Tidal Basin. Although they had been created over a wide span of time, I observed a common visual language in how the various historical figures were depicted. It occurred to me that another subgenre of iconography that has similar attributes was jazz portraits of photographers such as William Gottlieb, Herman Leonard, Milt Hinton, and others. That walk inspired Tidal Basin Blues, a series of five drawings which are a sort of mash-up of monumental sculpture with jazz photography.
At the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial, graphite, 23×18″
The first to be completed was a reimagining of the Jefferson Memorial as a monument to the cornetist and composer Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931). In the Biederbecke Memorial, the excerpts from Jefferson’s writings inscribed on the walls of the interior are replaced by titles of songs recorded by Bix (with one exception) altered to become references to Jefferson’s writing of the Declaration of Independence followed by some pointed references to his decidedly problematic history of slave ownership, especially his relationship with Sally Hemings. A well-known quote attributed to Beiderbecke, “One of the things I like about jazz, kid, is I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Do you?” is inscribed around the base of the dome.
Frankie D’s Swingin’ Big New Deal, graphite, 24×18″
The depiction of the cloaked FDR sitting with his hands crossed at the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial reminded me of some of the publicity photos of drummers like Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. The logo for the National Recovery Act is emblazoned on the face of the bass drum along with a monogram mimicking that used by Buddy Rich. As at the memorial, FDR’s dog Fala sits at his feet.
Ladies and Gentlemen—Miss Ella Roosevelt, graphite, 18×18″
A separate statue of Eleanor Roosevelt is incorporated into the FDR Memorial. I took the dignified statue of the former First Lady and placed it behind a microphone in my drawing based on the famous William Gottlieb photograph of Ella Fitzgerald sitting in with Dizzy Gillespie’s band in 1947. Gillespie’s admiring gaze is replaced here by that of the journalist Lorena Hickok who was rumored to be a romantic partner to Mrs. Roosevelt. In both the photo and the drawing, Fitzgerald’s husband Ray Brown is seen in the background playing the bass, while in the drawing, FDR is again on the drums.
King With Strings, watercolor pencil and marker, 12×12″
Another important form of jazz iconography, besides photographic portraits is album cover art. The innovative work of illustrators, graphic designers, and photographers such as Reid Miles, David Stone Martin, and Jim Flora graced the album jackets for recordings on the Blue Note, Prestige, Columbia, and many other labels throughout the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. I merged Martin Luther King’s pose from the sculpture by Lei Yixin at the MLK memorial at the Tidal Basin with David Stone Martin’s Ben Shahn-inspired cover for the album Charlie Parker with Strings.
It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie, graphite, 18×18″
The final piece in the series takes a short detour from the Tidal Basin over to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool where we find Honest Abe Lincoln moonlighting as a stride pianist. It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie is a popular song written by Billy Mayhew in 1936 that was popularized by Fats Waller.
