Colorado Jazz Party Button: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This button is from Dick Gibson’s Jazz Party, held at various venues in Colorado since its inception in 1963. The button is a round metal straight-pin back button with yellow and white stripes, and white and black text. These buttons were given to all Jazz Party-goers to simplify the billing for food and beverages.

Dick Gibson, a Denver businessman, began hosting his annual Jazz Party in 1963 as a means to reinvigorate the jazz scene, both in Colorado and around the country. These private gatherings brought together musicians and fans from all over the world in an intimate setting of weekend-long jam sessions. Initially hosted at the Broadmoor hotel, a resort located high in the mountains above Colorado Springs, Gibson eventually moved his party to Colorado Springs and Denver. This Jazz Party format has since inspired multiple other jazz parties throughout the United States.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Object Name: button
• Object Name: pin
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: ink (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 1 3/4 in; x 4.445 cm
• place made: United States
• ID Number: 2011.3087.66
• nonaccession number: 2011.3087
• catalog number: 2011.3087.66
• Credit Line: Gift of Devra Hall Levy
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.