All That Jazz by Jasmine Bell

In Maxwell Taylor's Jazz II, two men are shown playing saxophones, while a third man is hidden behind the two, playing an unseen instrument. There is also a drum hidden in the bottom left corner of the painting. This painting showcases the importance of woodwind and percussion instruments to Jazz. The artist's use of bold complementary colors brings both unity and variety to this work, making it a more complete and visually appetizing work of art, overall.

Jazz Born Here, a tribute mural painted by Gene Pendon, depicts the famous pianist, Oscar Peterson playing a piano that seemingly leads down his career path. The purples, blues, and blacks used in this painting are in reference to the night life of Jazz, which is very important because Jazz musicians typically played gigs at night.

The Jazz Musicians, by David Park, depicts a group of musicians playing Jazz for a barely noticeable audience. The artist mixed complementary colors together to get a silky brown that represents the smoothness of Jazz music. The subtle hints of black, white, and gold that he used brought balance to this panting.

The Band, a 1934 painting by artist Edward Burra, gives viewers a taste of what Jazz night life really looked like. The painting shows a Jazz band, its conductor, and two women, all dressed up, having the time of their lives. The colors used bring rhythm and variety to the painting, which in turn brings the painting, itself, to life.

Portrait of Ella Fitzgerald, by Beuford Delaney, is a painting that symbolically and expressively uses color to communicate who Ella Fitzgerald was as a Jazz musician. Fitzgerald’s face seemingly pops out of the textured yellow background that has been hiding her. The color yellow is representative of illumination and healing; two attributes of Ella Fitzgerald’s music.

Jazz is an instrumental swirl, of sorts, that requires viewers to look long and hard to find the representations of Jazz music it holds. Its vivid, complementary colors and bold lines create rhythm, variety, movement, and balance. These formal elements also place emphasis on the center of the painting as its focal point.

Ella Fitzgerald, also referred to as the “First Lady of Song”, is one of the most well known Jazz musicians of all time. Yale Joel captures Fitzgerald gracefully performing at “Mr. Kelly’s” night club, in front of an awestruck audience that seems to fade into the background. The red used in the background makes Ella Fitzgerald the central focus of the painting, and onlookers have no choice, but to behold her essence.

Homage to Nina Simone is a tribute painting by Bob Thompson. He utilized bold colors and relaxed nude figures to symbolize Nina Simone’s music. The complementary colors used bring rhythm and life to the painting, while creating variety, unity, and a sense of balance, which are all very characteristic of Simone’s music.

Benny Goodman, also known as the King of Swing, was a very famous Jazz clarinetist. This painting does an excellent job of showing Benny doing what he does best. The contrasting colors used create movement throughout the painting while emphasizing Benny Goodman, and his clarinet, as the focal point of the painting.

Zhang Peili’s Silent Jazz quietly speaks volumes on what Jazz really is. A saxophone is shown on a plain background. Taking a closer look at the bell of the saxophone, one will find what appears to be a flower that has blossomed. Although this painting does not exude bold colors, its blacks, whites, and subtle blues balance out the work and allow the saxophone’s bell to take center stage.