Jazz in London

The National Portrait Gallery has just opened a new exhibition called Jazz in London: Photographs by Walter Hanlon which runs until 20 July 2008 and has free admission.

Walter Hanlon is a Scottish musician and photographer who used his contacts on the London jazz scene in the 1950s to take intimate and atmospheric black and white pictures of most of the top jazz singers and musicians who played in London during that period including the likes of Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Cab Calloway and Coleman Hawkins.

The National Portrait Gallery has recently acquired some of Walter Hanlon’s collection and the exhibition comes ahead of the publication of his book 1950s Jazz in London and Paris. The National Portrait Gallery is open daily from 10am-6pm (9pm Thurs, Fri) and the exhibition takes place in Room 31. Map