Sweet & Hot Music Charter Member Pin: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This pin is from the Sweet & Hot Music Festival in Los Angeles, California, in 1996.. It is made of cast brass with red, white, and blue enamel, with a butterfly-style clutch. The button is cast:

Founded in 1996, The Sweet & Hot Music Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the music of the 1920s through 50s. The foundation produces an annual event in Los Angeles which support jazz education programs for Los Angeles area high school students.

The foundation also honors legends in classic jazz by placing permanent bronze plaques with their names, in the ground surrounding the pool and garden area at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. Known as the “Sweet & Hot Music Walk of Fame,” it features jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin and Benny Goodman, Cole Porter, Lionel Hampton and Billie Holiday.

Floyd Levin (1922-2007) was a Los Angeles textile manufacturer who turned his passion for jazz into a second career as an influential jazz journalist and historian. His numerous reviews, profiles, and articles were published in magazines such as Down Beat, Jazz Journal International, Metronome, and American Rag. He also authored Classic Jazz: A Personal View of the Music and the Musicians. Items in this collection (2011.3086) were acquired from Levin’s attendance at Jazz Festivals, conferences, and other music events.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1996
• user: Levin, Floyd
• Object Name: pin
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Physical Description: enamel (overall material)
• Physical Description: red (front color)
• Physical Description: white (front color)
• Measurements: overall: 1 in x 7/8 in x 1/4 in; 2.54 cm x 2.2225 cm x .635 cm
• place made: United States: California, Los Angeles
• ID Number: 2011.3086.056
• nonaccession number: 2011.3086
• catalog number: 2011.3086.056
• Credit Line: Gift of Lucille Levin
• 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.