Bunk Johnson NewOrleansJazzConcertHandbill OrsonWelles TownHall NewYorkCity1946

Description

An original concert handbill flyer for Bunk Johnson's New Orleans Band with Orson Welles Master of Ceremonies at the Town Hall venue in New York City on Tuesday, January 1st probably 1946 given Welles radio show history, Johnson's 1948 death and universal calendar dating
Other musicians played at this significant event and any other information would be appreciated.
In OK-good condition for its age but glued to thick board and has darkening/toning and a horizontal middle fold and with general wear/handling  ---  please see pictures for condition and ask questions in advance if helpful. Will be mailed well packed with insurance.
Wikipedia:"
Willie Gary
"
Bunk
"
Johnson
(December 27, 1879 – July 7, 1949) was an American prominent
jazz
trumpeter in New Orleans. Johnson gave the year of his birth as 1879, although there is speculation that he may have been younger by as much as a decade. Johnson stated on his 1937 application for
Social Security
that he was born on December 27, 1889. Many jazz historians believe this date of birth to be the most accurate of the various dates Johnson gave throughout his life
Johnson received lessons from Adam Olivier and began playing professionally in Olivier's orchestra. Johnson probably played a few adolescent jobs with
Buddy Bolden
, but was not a regular member of Bolden's Band (contrary to Johnson's claim). Johnson was regarded as one of the leading trumpeters in New Orleans in the years 1905–1915,in between repeatedly leaving the city to tour with
minstrel shows
and circus bands.
After he failed to appear for a
New Orleans Mardi Gras
parade job in 1915, he learned that
krewe
members intended to do him bodily harm. So he left town, touring with shows and then by the early 1920s settling in
New Iberia, Louisiana
. While living in New Iberia, Johnson worked in rice mills and the public school system, and continued playing jazz, but with local groups such as the Black Eagle Band from
Crowley
and the Banner Orchestra.
In 1931, he lost his trumpet and front teeth when a fight broke out at a dance in
Rayne, Louisiana
, putting an end to his playing. He thereafter worked in manual labor, occasionally giving music lessons.
In 1938 and 1939, the writers of an early jazz history book,
Jazzmen
, interviewed several prominent musicians of the time, including
Louis Armstrong
,
Sidney Bechet
, and
Clarence Williams
, who spoke highly of Johnson in the old days in New Orleans. The writers tracked down Johnson's address, and traded several letters with him, where he recalled (and possibly embellished) his early career. Johnson stated that he could play again if he only had new teeth and a new trumpet. A collection was taken up by writers and musicians, and he was fitted with a set of dentures by Bechet's dentist brother, Leonard, and given a new trumpet.  He made his first recordings in 1942, for
Jazz Man Records
.
The Superior Orchestra, 1910
These first recordings propelled Johnson (along with clarinetist
George Lewis
) into public attention.Johnson and his band played in New Orleans,
San Francisco
,
Boston
, and
New York City
and made many more recordings. Johnson's work in the 1940s shows why he was well regarded by his fellow musicians.
[1]
On his best days he played with great imagination, subtlety, and beauty, as well as suggesting why he had not gained prominence earlier, for he was unpredictable, temperamental, with a
passive-aggressive
streak and a fondness for drinking alcohol to the point of impairment.
[7]
Johnson suffered from a
stroke
in late 1948 and died in
New Iberia
the following year.
Jazz historians have debated Johnson's legacy, and the extent to which his colorful reminiscences of his early career were accurate, misremembered, exaggerated, or untrue. Although in recent years, new evidence has appeared in jazz historian Vic Hobson's 2014
Creating Jazz Counterpoint. New Orleans, Barbershop Harmony, and the Blues
, in which is stated that Buddy Bolden's band member Willy Cornish — who is seen on the only surviving picture of the Bolden Band — affirmed Bunk Johnson as a member of the early jazz group. This puts Johnson's own statements and recordings, in which he actively recreated the Bolden tunes, in a plausible and positive light, making them of great historical and musicological importance to the study of jazz and New Orleans jazz in particular.
His recordings have been reissued on CD.  Johnson was a
Catholic
, and as of 2019 an annual Jazz Mass and procession was conducted in his hometown of New Iberia, beginning at St Edward Catholic Church and ending at Johnson's gravesite.  In about 1996, Bunk Johnson Park was dedicated to his memory in New Iberia, Louisiana. Twenty years later, in 2016, the park was dismantled due to criminal activity in the area. The
Iberia Parish Library
hosts an archival collection of Johnson's papers and a special exhibit room for Johnson."