“Classic Jazz Visions: The Photography of Jack Bradley” is coming to Peabody’s Black Box Theater at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 6. The show is a one-hour, immersive multi-media event that combines the images of Bradley with live music by Michael Persico’s Classic Jazz & Swing Orchestra.
Bradley (1934-2021) was Louis Armstrong’s friend and photographer from 1959 until Armstrong’s death in 1971. He took thousands of pictures of Armstrong, his band, his family, and his friends, which are now archived at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, N.Y. Along with Armstrong, Bradley captured images of Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and dozens of other well-known jazz musicians, many in the twilight of their careers.
The film is the first in a series of live and recorded performances that combine many of Bradley’s never-before-seen images with a biographical narration and newly recorded songs of the jazz era.
Tickets are $35 per person and are available at www.classicjazzvisions.org.
Classic Jazz Visions, Inc. is a Massachusetts nonprofit company dedicated to preserving and promoting the artistic legacy of Bradley.
The Black Box Theater is located at 22 Foster St. in downtown Peabody.
