Jazz Age in
Paris
Smithsonian exhibit
comes to Missoula
The music, literature, dances and art of the jazz age in Paris will come
alive in Missoula and at UM during an exhibit and accompanying series of performances and
lectures in February and March. "The Jazz Age in Paris: 1914-1940" will be
displayed Feb. 10-March 23 at the Missoula Public Library. Missoula is among only 30
public libraries in the United States to host the traveling exhibit, which is based on a
large-scale show presented at the Smithsonian in 1997. UM's Mansfield Library is
co-sponsoring the exhibit and related events.
See "Jazz Age in Paris"
schedule of events.
Schedule brochures also are available at the public library and at UM's Mansfield
Library.
The Missoula display opens Thursday, Feb. 10, with a 7 p.m. reception. Both the exhibit
and reception are free and open to the public. The historical exhibit will be on display
in the lower level of the Missoula Public Library, while a series of related events --
including lectures, concerts and other performances -- takes place throughout Missoula.
The exhibit brings to life in words, pictures and music the early jazz movement in
Europe, its American roots, and the exuberant cafe and cabaret musical culture of the City
of Light between the two world wars. It is the story of a unique blending of cultures --
American, European and African -- that produced a style influential around the world.
"The Jazz Age in Paris" offers insights into how the American expatriate
population in Paris and the European avant garde helped shape a glamorous cabaret culture
in the 1920s and 1930s. Musicians and performers such as James Reese Europe, Josephine
Baker, Ada "Bricktop" Smith and Django Reinhardt are featured in the exhibit. A
video allows visitors to listen to music of the era and hear reminiscences of surviving
jazz-age musicians and performers.
The exhibit is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
and the American Library Association and supported by the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
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