Cheekwood Presents Jazz Greats: Classic Photographs from the Bank of America Collection

Cheekwood Estate & Gardens is pleased to welcome the upcoming exhibition Jazz Greats: Classic Photographs from the Bank of America Collection, which celebrates the legacy of singers, musicians, audiences and artists who contributed to the cultural footprint of the genre.

Jazz Greats: Classic Photographs from the Bank of America Collection highlights photographs of jazz musicians captured by photographers as dynamic as their subjects. The collection features early jazz leaders and defining moments of cultural transformation during an era of social, economic, industrial, and political reckoning.

The exhibition consists of 33 photographs by 15 photographers that date from the 1920s to the 1980s and portray artists from the fields of music and dance. The photographs feature jazz legends such as Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong as well as members of local communities entertaining their neighbors. Almost all are gelatin silver prints made from negative film, which achieve a crystalline depth of field not seen in digital images.

Jazz Greats: Classic Photographs from the Bank of America Collection will be on view at Cheekwood from July 12 until October 5, 2025.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to exhibit these beautiful photographs depicting legendary figures in music and dance from the 20th century through the Bank of America Art in Our Communities® program,” said Sarah Sperling, Senior Vice President of External Relations and Museum Affairs at Cheekwood.

“Cheekwood Estate & Gardens, built during the heart of the American Jazz Age, has been a mainstay of the Middle Tennessee cultural landscape for decades. We are thrilled to share this unique exhibit from the Bank of America collection with Cheekwood and its patrons from across Music City and beyond,” said Tyson Moore, Nashville President, Bank of America.

The collection features work by many renowned photographers. Antony Armstrong–Jones (Lord Snowdon) is one of Great Britain’s most celebrated photographers and best known for his elegant magazine portraits of notable personalities. A self-proclaimed “amateur photographer,” jazz bassist Milt Hinton captured intimate portraits of his mentors, colleagues and friends. Chuck Stewart is known as one of the most prolific jazz photographers and has photographed hundreds of musicians for album covers, in clubs, concerts and recording studios, in formal portraits and in live performances. Barbara Morgan is known for her iconic images of modern dance pioneers Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. William Gottlieb, a photographer and newspaper columnist, created some of the most-recognized images of the golden age of jazz in the 1930s and 1940s.

The full list of photographers featured in this exhibition includes Aaron Siskind, Anthony Armstrong-Jones, Arthur H. Fellig, Barbara Morgan, Chuck Stewart, Eduard Van Der Elsken, Edward Steichen, Gjon Mili, Gordon Parks, Jonas Dovydenas, Lisette Model, Marc Pokempner, Michael L. Abramson, Milton J. Hinton and William Gottlieb.

This exhibition has been loaned through Bank of America Art in our Communities®. Bank of America supports a wide range of local and global nonprofit organizations with funding and programming to drive engagement, promote cultural sustainability and make the arts more accessible and inclusive in the communities we serve. This support includes offering its art collection to communities through curated exhibitions that museums and nonprofit galleries may borrow at no cost. Since launching this program in 2008, Bank of America has loaned exhibitions over 175 times to cultural institutions around the world.

Ticket Information

Visit Cheekwood.org to reserve tickets. Reserving a timed-entry ticket in advance is required for all guests. During busy seasons and events, Cheekwood may reach parking capacity. If parking capacity is reached, walk-up tickets will only be available for those utilizing rideshare services.