Jazz at the Philharmonic 1957

[Gil Damsell]

In the fall of 1957 the JATP came to play a one night stand at the Georgia Auditorium (NW corner of Georgia and Denman). I believe this was the last North American tour for the JATP. I remember that Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis and Ray Brown played and accompanied Ella Fitzgerald but I am not certain of the others. They may have included Roy Eldridge, J J Johnson and Lester Young.

I had a cutting from the Vancouver Sun or Province advertising the concert that listed all participants but sadly that has been lost.

Can anyone with a long memory or access to the archives complete the list of musicians?

[John Dawe]

Hi Gill...... I don't know if this will be much help to you, but I've just finished doing abt 5 mths. of research to do with the Orig. Cellar jazz club & it involved going thru 6 yrs of old Van. Sun entertainment pages on microfilm at the Burnaby Lib. & it's one hell of a job....I believe that you could find what you're looking for if you're willing to put in the time...at least you know the yr. & that it was the fall..... try starting in Sept/57 & go thru all the papers starting with the entertainment( movie) pages....if you find one ad, then look on other days to see if there is more than one ad placement....sometimes there are many & all the ads could give more info as to who was appearing etc........ give it a try & be sure to take lots of change with you....good luck....John Dawe.

[Gil Damsell]

Thanks John, a great idea. I will try your method if all else fails. I was hoping that someone would have one of the expensive (for the time) souvenir programs that gave profiles of all the musicians appearing at the event. I was too poor (or too cheap) to buy one myself.

[Bob Sheridan]

I don't have a program but I have a copy of the JATP 1957 poster for Gil or anyone else who might like one.

[John Dawe]

Hi Gil....... I asked a friend if she knew about the /57 Jazz at the Phil concert & all she could find was a program for the /56 concert...sometimes the guys taking part were almost the same the following year...anyway here's the lineup for the /56 concert.

Flip Philips...Roy Eldridge....Illinois Jaquet...Oscar Peterson trio w/ Jo jones......The MJQ.....Dizzy...... Getz.....Sonny Stitt...... Gene Krupa qt. w/ Dave McKenna & John Drew... & Ella Fitzgerald. That might ring some bells.
Regards...... John Dawe