{"id":9254,"date":"2019-05-20T03:23:05","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T03:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacksonvillejazzfest.com\/?p=9254"},"modified":"2021-07-20T03:30:13","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T03:30:13","slug":"jacksonville-jazz-festival-poster-a-nod-to-citys-history-as-harlem-of-the-south","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jacksonvillejazzfest.com\/_ARC\/2019\/05\/jacksonville-jazz-festival-poster-a-nod-to-citys-history-as-harlem-of-the-south\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville Jazz Festival Poster A Nod To City’s History As ‘Harlem Of The South’"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s Jacksonville Jazz Festival poster pays tribute to the city\u2019s legendary reputation as the \u201cHarlem of the South\u201d in LaVilla’s heyday.<\/p>\n

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Brooklyn, New York, artist and jazz aficionado\u00a0Keith Henry Brown<\/a>\u00a0was commissioned for this year\u2019s poster. Brown said he was drawn to LaVilla\u2019s musical history, noting Ray Charles got his start in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

Charles played piano for bands at the Ritz Theatre in LaVilla as he was working to establish himself, earning $4 a night, according to\u00a0The Jaxson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe large figures in my picture, looming over the once ecstatic downtown of Jacksonville at its music\u2013fueled height are meant to imply the ghosts of the past that inform the future,\u201d Brown\u00a0wrote on the\u00a0Jazz Festival’s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other famous musicians that played in LaVilla include Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald,\u00a0according to Downtown Vision<\/a>.<\/p>\n

LaVilla’s African American music scene flourished in the 1940s. A history of LaVilla is available on\u00a0The Jaxson<\/a>, which is a partnership between WJCT and Modern Cities.<\/p>\n

In addition to jazz musicians and the Ritz, Brown also plays tribute to the now-defunct Manuel\u2019s Tap Room.<\/p>\n

The 1942 issue of\u00a0The Crisis<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 an NAACP magazine \u2013 called it \u201cthe finest of its kind in the South,\u201d according to\u00a0MetroJacksonville.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brown has also created posters for \u00a0Jazz Appreciation Month for the National Museum of American History and The Newport Jazz Festival while also contributing jazz album covers for artists such as Christian McBride, Kevin Eubanks, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Wynton Marsalis.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Jacksonville Jazz Festival starts Thursday with a piano competition and runs through Sunday night.\u00a0Gladys Knight<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Brian Culbertson<\/a>\u00a0will be the headliners.<\/p>\n

Other performers set to appear include:<\/p>\n