Page 245 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

450 ● (MUSIC.) ARMSTRONG, LOUIS “SATCHMO.” Swing That Music. 136
pages plus ten original folding parts for the piece “Swing that Music” at the rear of the
book. 8vo, original cloth; spine lightly faded. New York, 1936 [500/750]
FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED AND SIGNED BY ARMSTRONG ON THE HALF -TITLE. “To
‘My Radio Boss’ Mr. Gardner, from Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong. ‘yea man.’”” The “Radio
Boss” to whom Armstrong inscribed this probably was a producer on one of the several radio
programs that Armstrong played on like that of Rudy Vallee, who wrote the introduction to this
book.
451 ● (MUSIC—JAZZ.) BAKER, JOSEPHINE. RACE. Revue Auteurs
Compositeurs Editeurs. The original watercolor and airbrush painting on cardstock, for
the cover of a French magazine or perhaps a poster, 81⁄
4 x 8 inches, mounted to a piece of
heavy cardstock. NP [Paris?], circa 1925-1930 [500/750]
Obviousaly influenced by Josephine Baker’s “Revue Negre, and the artwork of Paul Colin,
this painting has a double meaning. The first letter of each word of the revue, spells the word
RACE.
452 ● (MUSIC.) BALMER, J.H. J.H. Balmer F.R.G.S. England and his Company
Africa in song and Story. halftone photogravure, mounted on a stiff card with caption.
SIGNED ON THE REVERSE BY EVERY MEMBER OF THE CHORAL GROUP WITH THEIR AFRICAN
AND CHRISTIAN NAMES Africa, circa 1900. [400/600]
SIGNED BY ELSIE CLARK AND ALL OF THE BOYS, WITH EACH INDICATING HIS TRIBAL
GROUP AND HIS GIVEN NAME For example “Bushman-Gert Besulda.” One has even
signed “Kafir-Paul Jella.” There is in fact, no “Kafir tribe, it is only a Boer term of disrespect.
J. H. Balmer, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and his associate Elsie Clark orga-
nized a group of tribal boys into a choir, which they at first called the “Wonderful Singing
Kafir Boys.” The term Kafir is an old derogatory Boer word, equivalent to the “N” word as
used in the U.S.. Balmer and Clark later changed the named to “Balmer’s Singing Boys.”
They toured Great Britain and even the United States to rave reviews.
453 ● (MUSIC.) BAISE, COUNT. SALOU, MICHEL. Group of seven gelatin silver
prints average 7 x 91⁄2 inches of jazz artists in concert. Count Basie, The Basie
Orchestra, Erroll Garner, Ray Charles (2), and Thelonius Monk.
Paris, 1960’s [1,500/2,500]
453