Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

One of the donations received by the Archive is the photographs and negatives taken by the late Denis Williams (1933-2009).

Denis was a press photographer and enthusiastic freelance photographer of both jazz musicians and events and was a regular at the Bracknell Jazz Festival and London venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

He also worked for Crescendo magazine and produced photos for album covers for Spotlite Records. In his later years, he was particularly associated with Herts Jazz, taking many photos at their events.

This photo of Dizzy Gillespie, with his trademark ‘bent’ trumpet, was taken by Denis at the Royal Festival Hall on 1st November 1985 where Dizzy was playing with The Royal Philharmonic. 

Find Denis’s digitised collection here. The collection is of great value to researchers interested in jazz musicians and concerts and it also gives a detailed record of jazz clubs in Hertfordshire over a 25-year period.

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