Signed Silk Tie. Gillespie, Dizzy; Count Basie; Dexter Gordon, & Others.

A most unusual jazz souvenir: the owner evidently wore this tie to a number of gigs and assembled a pretty impressive selection of top-line names, around 30 in all. From the personnel involved it would seem that the owner was based in France, groups include all of Bill Coleman's band from European tours of the early 50s, a similar bunch for Mezz Mezzrow, there's a heavy representation of Ellingtonians, a clutch of Basie-ites including the Count, and a number of Black musicians who chose to make their homes in France after the Second World War. Due to the difficulties of signing on the slick or textured silk surface a few have blocked out their names rather than signing fluently, and a couple have resisted attempts to decipher. Starry single names include Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Roy Eldridge, Lil Armstrong, and Lionel Hampton; eminent Ellingtonians, Russell Procope, Don Byas, Kay Davis, Jimmy Hamilton, Alva McCain, Ray Nance, Butch Ballard, Nelson Williams, and Harry Carney; Basie and a pair of bandmates, Wendell Culley and Marshal Royal; Bill Coleman with Zutty Singleton, Buddy Banks, Randy Downes, and Dick Wells; Mezzrow accompanied by Buck Clayton, Red Richards, Claude Sedric, "Taps" Miller and dancer Della Grayson from his '53 tour of France. We've seen a goodly number of discographies, and pictorial histories carried from gig to gig for signatures, but this is the first garment. An exotic and attractive piece of memorabilia. Pale blue silk tie with textured diagonal stripe. Somewhat worn, quite literally, and with a few small spots, some signatures a touch faded but in the main strong and legible, but overall very good.