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Creator
Metronome Corp.
Call number
JPB 24-1
Physical description
22.67 linear feet (52 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Metronome magazine photographs, JPB 24-1. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Metronome, an American magazine published from 1885 to 1961, is most known for its run from the 1930s onward as a publication for jazz fans and listeners, and for its production of "Metronome All-Stars" recordings. The magazine's library of photographs, dating from 1917 to 1996, documents the American jazz and popular music industry from the 1930s through the 1950s. The collection features hundreds of musicians, band leaders, vocalists, entertainers, and media and music business figures, including Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Gene Krupa, Count Basie, Harry James, and Louis Armstrong.

Biographical/historical information

Metronome magazine began publication in 1885 as a resource for leaders of wind bands. By the early 1930s, it had shifted away from its classical music roots and had begun covering the popular and jazz music scenes, and aimed mainly at musicians working in dance orchestras, bands, theaters, radio, and film. Over the course of the 1930s and into the 1940s, it again shifted from being an industry magazine for professionals into a more fan-based publication documenting bands and musicians, particularly as the Swing era greatly expanded the numbers of both working musicians and jazz listeners. The writer George T. Simon, who became the editor in 1939, was instrumental in this transition. By the mid-1940s and the advent of modern jazz, the magazine was home to two of the most bebop-friendly critics, Barry Ulanov and Leonard Feather. Simon was succeeded as editor in 1955 by Bill Coss.

Metronome conducted annual reader polls starting in 1939 (it was the first jazz magazine to do so), and in many years it sponsored recording sessions featuring the poll winners, released under variations of the title "Metronome All-Stars." In the 1950s, it also published "yearbooks," end-of-year publications highlighting major musical developments and the most successful and popular musicians.

By the end of the 1950s, the magazine was failing. After a brief, unsuccessful reorganization, during which it was remade in the style of Esquire and Playboy magazines, it attempted once again to focus on jazz under the editorship of Dan Morgenstern. But the company could not be saved, and the final issue of Metronome was published in December, 1961.

Following the dissolution of the company, the president, Milton J. Lichtenstein, and treasurer, Robert Asen, took custody of the magazine's photograph library. To pay for storage space, they began renting out access to the library, a business Asen maintained through the 1960s and 1970s. Eventually, Asen's son, Robert Scott Asen, took over management of the library. In 1996, Asen entered an agreement with Archive Photos to represent and market the Metronome photographs.

Scope and arrangement

The Metronome magazine photographs, dating from 1917 to 1996, document the American jazz and popular music industry from the 1930s to 1961 through photographs of hundreds of musicians, band leaders, vocalists, entertainers, and media and music business figures. The collection also holds a small amount of papers documenting the rental of the magazine's photograph library in the decades following the end of publication in 1961, and content indexes.

Major figures appearing in the photograph files include Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Gene Krupa, Count Basie, Harry James, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Barnet, June Christy, Nat King Cole, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Frankie Laine, Peggy Lee, Bud Powell, Buddy Rich, Max Roach, Artie Shaw, Frank Sinatra, and Lester Young.

The Metronome magazine photographs are arranged in two series:

  • Series I: Photographs
    1917-1975
    19.83 linear feet (48 boxes)

    The photographs represent a large number of musicians, vocalists, and music industry figures, mainly from the 1930s to the 1950s. Major and minor figures from the worlds of jazz and popular music are present, including many lesser-known individuals. Musicians in the collection with the highest volume of photographs are Woody Herman, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Gene Krupa, Count Basie, and Harry James.

    Musicians, bands, and singers with fewer but still significant contents include Louis Armstrong, Georgie Auld, Chet Baker, Charlie Barnet, Harry Belafonte, Tex Beneke, Les Brown, Dave Brubeck, Benny Carter, June Christy, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Miles Davis, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Roy Eldridge, Ella Fitzgerald, Erroll Garner, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Giuffre, Glen Gray/Casa Loma Orchestra, Chico Hamilton, Coleman Hawkins, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Helen Humes, The Ink Spots, Chubby Jackson, John Kirby, Lee Konitz, Andre Kostelanetz, Frankie Laine, Peggy Lee, Glen Miller, Gerry Mulligan, Bud Powell, Buddy Rich, Max Roach, Artie Shaw, George Shearing, Frank Sinatra, and Lester Young. The files for most band leaders also include photographs of their band members and vocalists, many of whom have files under their own names.

    Some of the best-known jazz musicians of the 1940s and 1950s are also pictured in recording sessions for the Metronome All-Stars (filed under All-Stars). These include Count Basie, Ralph Burns, Benny Carter, Miles Davis, Buddy DeFranco, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Max Roach, Pete Rugolo, Flip Phillips, Zoot Sims, and many others.

    The series also holds photographs of disc jockeys such as Symphony Sid Torin; music industry officials from record companies, such as John Hammond and Orrin Keepnews; musical instrument manufacturers; and music writers and critics such as George Simon, Barry Ulanov, Leonard Feather, Bill Coss, and others.

    Not all names in the collection are in the container list, though many names in it have scope notes mentioning other notable figures present. For a nearly complete list of all names appearing in this series, see the additional resource, prepared by Archive Photos in 1996.

    The file contents include formal portraits, most eight by ten inches, as well as performance shots, publicity images, and informal photos of varying sizes. Some files also contain slides or negatives (usually 8x10 inches), which in most cases were produced by Archive Photos in the 1990s. Many more labeled negatives and slides, also copies of originals in the collection, are located at the end of this series. In addition to photographs, many files contain captions, press releases, publicity literature, letters, press clippings, or other written or printed content.

  • Series II: Business Files
    1944-1996
    3.25 linear feet (5 boxes)

    These files pertain mainly to the rental of the Metronome photographs after the magazine ceased publication, from the 1960s to the 1990s, up until Archive Photos took over representation of the photo library. Most files hold contracts and correspondence with clients regarding photographs desired and rental terms. Other contents include the Certificate of Dissolution of the Metronome Corporation following the end of publication; an index card file indicating which issues of the magazine photograph subjects appeared in; an index of names appearing in the photographs (viewable in the archival portal); and personal documents of Robert Asen (birth certificate and passport).

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Purchased from Robert Scott Asen, 2023.

Processing information

Processed by Matthew Snyder in 2024.

Using the collection

Location

Music Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Other finding aid

A nearly complete, hand written list of all names appearing in the photographs is available as an additional resource to the finding aid. This list was compiled by Archive Photos in 1996 when that company was engaged by Robert Scott Asen to manage and market the Metronome photograph collection for rental.

Additional resources