Contents

Collection Summary

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Organization of the Edward Beach collection

Selected Search Terms

Iconography

Edward Beach Collection

Processed by the Music Division of the Library of Congress

2007

Biographical Sketch

Edward Beach was the host of a well-known jazz radio program in New York City from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s. "Just Jazz," broadcast over station WRVR, was hailed by musicians and those with an avid interest in jazz as one of the finest radio shows in the area devoted to that topic.

Beach was born in Winnipeg, Canada, and moved to Portland, Oregon, as a child. He became interested in jazz music as a teenager. He later performed as a pianist with the Gus Arnheim Big Band, and formed a jazz trio which appeared in Portland, St. Louis and Chicago. After attending college in Portland, Beach earned course credits towards a graduate degree in theater at Cornell University. He then spent five years in New York City working as an actor in off-Broadway productions, touring companies, television and summer stock theater.

In 1957, Beach began working at radio station WNYC in New York. He took a position in 1961 with WRVR, a not-for-profit station operated by New York City's Riverside Church. It was there that he developed the much-praised format of the "Just Jazz" broadcast, which featured a single artist on each show. Beach became well-known for his extensive knowledge of jazz music and musicians. The "Just Jazz" show ceased production when the radio station was sold in 1976. Beach retired to Tualatin, Oregon, in 1977.

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Scope and Content Note

The Edward Beach Collection consists exclusively of photographs and other iconography of musicians. Primarily, the images are of jazz musicians; also represented are a few notable figures from other musical and artistic disciplines. The bulk of the material dates from the 1950s through the mid-1970s; one photograph is dated 1940.

Included among the images in the Edward Beach Collection are many musical figures; some are rarely depicted in standard sources. Of particular interest are images of: Louis Armstrong; William "Count" Basie; Sidney Bechet; Leon Bismarck "Bix" Beiderbecke; Bennett Lester "Benny" Carter; John Coltrane; Miles Davis; Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge; Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington; Bill Evans; John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie; Benny Goodman; Coleman Hawkins; John Cornelius "Rab" Hodges; Billie Holiday; Henry "Hank" Jones; Charles Mingus; Thelonious Monk; Bessie Smith; Art Tatum; Jack Teagarden; and Lester Young. Apart from musicians in the jazz tradition, there are images of composers Benjamin Britten; Aaron Copland; Frederick Delius; Paul Hindemith; Leoš Janàček; Bohuslav Martinu; Darius Milhaud; Carl Orff; Serge Prokofiev; Maurice Ravel; Dmitri Shostakovich; Karol Szymanowski; and Ralph Vaughan Williams, among others. Included also is a large poster of dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

Many of the photographs appear to have been produced for publicity purposes. Some items are autographed or bear other inscriptions.

Kate Rivers, May 1995

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Selected Search Terms

People

• Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971--Portraits.
• Basie, Count, 1904-1984--Portraits.
• Beach, Ed.
• Beiderbecke, Bix, 1903-1931--Portraits.
• Britten, Benjamin, 1913-1976--Portraits.
• Carter, Benny--Portraits.
• Coltrane, John, 1926-1967--Portraits.
• Davis, Miles--Portraits.
• Delius, Frederick, 1862-1934--Portraits.
• Eldridge, Roy, 1911-1989--Portraits.
• Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974--Portraits.
• Evans, Bill, 1929-1980--Portraits.
• Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917-1993--Portraits.
• Goodman, Benny, 1909-1986--Portraits.
• Hawkins, Coleman--Portraits.
• Hindemith, Paul, 1895-1963--Portraits.
• Hodges, Johnny--Portraits.
• Holiday, Billie, 1915-1959--Portraits.
• Janáček, Leoš, 1854-1928--Portraits.
• Jones, Hank, 1918-2010--Portraits.
• Martinů, Bohuslav, 1890-1959--Portraits.
• Milhaud, Darius, 1892-1974--Portraits.
• Mingus, Charles, 1922-1979--Portraits.
• Monk, Thelonious--Portraits.
• Nijinsky, Waslaw, 1890-1950--Portraits.
• Orff, Carl, 1895-1982--Portraits.
• Prokofiev, Sergey, 1891-1953--Portraits.
• Ravel, Maurice, 1875-1937--Portraits.
• Shostakovich, Dmitriĭ Dmitrievich, 1906-1975--Portraits.
• Smith, Bessie, 1894-1937--Portraits.
• Szymanowski, Karol, 1882-1937--Portraits.
• Teagarden, Jack, 1905-1964--Portraits.
• Vaughan Williams, Ralph, 1872-1958--Portraits.
• Young, Lester, 1909-1959--Portraits.

Organizations

• Art Tatum Trio--Portraits.

Subjects

• Composers--Portraits.
• Jazz musicians--Portraits.
• Musicians--Portraits.

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Organization of the Edward Beach collection

The Edward Beach collection is organized in 1 series:

• Iconography

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Container List

Iconography

The Edward Beach Collection consists exclusively of photographs and other iconography of musicians. Primarily, the images are of jazz musicians; also represented are a few notable figures from other musical and artistic disciplines.

Arrangement is alphabetical by subject

Adderley, Julian Edwin "Cannonball"

Akiyoshi, Toshiko

Allen, Henry "Red"

Armstrong, Louis

Auld, Georgie (John Altwerger) see Goodman, Benny Sextet

Baker, Chesney H. "Chet"

Bartók, Béla

Basie, William "Count"

Bechet, Sidney

Beiderbecke, Leon Bismarck "Bix"

Berg, Alban

Berigan, Roland Bernard "Bunny"

Bernstein, Arthur "Artie" see Goodman, Benny Sextet

Bloch, Ernest

Braff, Reuben "Ruby"

Brian, Havergal

Britten, Benjamin

Brown, Clifford

Brown, Raymond

Bryant, Raphael "Ray"

Burton, Gary

Byas, Carlos Wesley "Don"

Carter, Bennett Lester "Benny"

Christian, Charlie see Goodman, Benny Sextet

Clayton, William "Buck"

Cohn, Alvin Gilbert (and "Zoot" Sims)

Cole, Nat "King" Trio

Coltrane, John William

Copland, Aaron

Dankworth, John

Davis, Miles Dewey, Jr.

Davison, William "Wild Bill"

Debussy, Claude

DeFranco, Boniface Ferdinand Leonardo "Buddy"

Delius, Frederick

Desmond, Paul

Edison, Harry "Sweets"

Edwards, Leonard

Eldridge, Roy "Little Jazz"

Ellington, Edward Kennedy "Duke"

Evans, Bill

Farmer, Arthur Stewart

Fitzgerald, Ella

Flanagan, Tommy Lee

Garner, Erroll Louis

Gershwin, George

Getz, Stanley

Gillespie, John Birks "Dizzy"

Goodman, Benny

Goodman, Benny Quartet

Goodman, Benny Sextet

Gordon, Dexter

Grappelli, Stephane see also Hot Club of France, Quintet of the

Griffin, John Arnold III "Johnny"

Hackett, Robert Leo "Bobby"

Haig, Alan W.

Hampton, Lionel

Harris, Barry Dole

Hawes, Hampton

Hawkins, Coleman

Hindemith, Paul

Hines, Earl

Hinton, Milton "Judge"

Hodges, John Cornelius "Rab", "Rabbit", "Jeep"

Holiday, Billie (Eleanor Gough McKay)

Honegger, Artur

Hot Club of France, Quintet of the

Hubbard, Frederick Dewayne "Freddie"

Hyman, Dick

Ives, Charles

Jackson, Milton "Bags"

Jacquet, Jean-Baptiste "Illinois"

Janàček, Leoš

Jones, Hank

Kelly, William

Kirk, Roland T.

Kodály, Zoltán

Konitz, Lee

Krupa, Gene see Goodman, Benny Quartet

Laine, Cleo see Dankworth, John

Lewis, John

Mahler, Gustav

Martinu, Bohuslav

McKenna, David J. "Dave"

McPartland, Marian

Milhaud, Darius

Miller, Bass see Cole, Nat "King" Trio

Mingus, Charles see also Gillespie, John Birks "Dizzy"

Monk, Thelonious

Montgomery, John Leslie "Wes"

Montoliu, Vincente "Tete"

Moore, Oscar Fred see Cole, Nat "King" Trio

Morton, Ferdinand "Jelly Roll"

Mulligan, Gerry

Nat "King" Cole Trio

Navarro, Theodore "Fats"

Newborn, Phineas, Jr.

Nichols, Herbert Horatio "Herbie"

Nielsen, Carl

Nijinsky, Vaslav

Orff, Carl

Parker, Charlie see also Gillespie, John Birks "Dizzy"

Passalaqua, Joseph Anthony "Joe Pass"

Peterson, Oscar Emmanuel

Petrucciani, Michel

Pettiford, Oscar

Poulenc, Francis

Powell, Earl "Bud" see also Gillespie, John Birks "Dizzy"

Prokofiev, Serge

Ravel, Maurice

Reinhardt, Jean-Baptiste "Django" see also Hot Club of France, The Quintet of

Roach, Max see Gillespie, John Birks "Dizzy"

Rollins, Theodore Walter "Sonny"

Roussel, Albert

Rowles, James George "Jimmy"

Satie, Eric

Schoenberg, Arnold

Schuman, William

Scriabin, Alexander

Shearing, George Albert

Shostakovitch, Dmitri

Sibelius, Jean

Silver, Horace Ward Martin Tavares

Sims, John Haley "Zoot" see also Cohn, Alvin Gilbert

Smith, Bessie

Smith, Hezekiah Leroy Gordon "Stuff"

Stewart, Leroy "Slam"

Stitt, Sonny

Stravinsky, Igor

Sullivan, Ira Brevard, Jr.

Sullivan, Marietta Williams "Maxine"

Sutton, Ralph Earl

Szymanowski, Karol

Tabackin, Lew see Akiyoshi, Toshiko

Tate, George Holmes "Buddy"

Tatum, Art

Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilych

Teagarden, John Weldon "Jack"

Terry, Clark

Thompson, Eli "Lucky"

Tristano, Leonard Joseph "Lennie"

Vaughan, Sarah Lois

Vaughan Williams, Ralph

Waller, Thomas Wright "Fats"

Walton, Sir William

Webster, Benjamin Francis

Weston, Randy

Williams, Charles "Cootie" Melvin see also Goodman, Benny Sextet

Williams, Mary Lou

Wilson, Theodore "Teddy"

Woods, Phil

Young, Lester Willis "Pres"