WONDERFUL LARGE PHOTOGRAPH OF STAN KENTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA

(KENTON, Stan) LEWIS, Reuben. Large photograph. Chicago: circa 1942. Photographic print (10-1/2 by 13-1/2 inches), mounted, entire piece measures 16 by 20 inches. $500.

Large photograph of Stan Kenton and his orchestra.

The photograph, from the Hotel Sherman’s Panther Room in Chicago, shows Kenton standing in front of his orchestra, with the singer Dolly Mitchell seated behind him. On the back is the stamp of Rube Lewis. “Rube” is photographer Reuben Lewis, probably the hotel’s photographer. The Hotel Sherman was an important location for big band and jazz music in Chicago from the twenties to the forties, one of the first places in “respectable” white Chicago to hear the extraordinary music coming out of places like New Orleans and Chicago’s own south side. The popular late-night radio broadcasts from the Panther Room were heard throughout the country.

Photograph fine; light wear to cardboard mount. A wonderful image, suitable for framing.