USPS issues Miles Davis & Edith Piaf Stamps

Ken

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... link below.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57450458-10391698/miles-davis-saluted-with-a-stamp/

Includes brief bios on both.

Born in Alton, Illinois in 1926, Davis attended Julliard School in New York City and performed with jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker during the bebop movement of the '40s. He started leading his own groups and collaborated with arranger Gil Evans on "Birth of the Cool" in 1949.

French singer Edith Piaf (1915-1963) was also acknowledged at the ceremony in remarks made by American songwriter Mike Stoller and producer George Avakian. She is best known for the songs "La Vie en Rose" ("Life in Pink," which was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998) and "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" ("No Regrets"). Piaf's songs were performed at the ceremony by singer Maria Elena Infantino.

France's Postal Service is also issuing the stamps. Neat collaboration. Fine honor to two great musicians. (Will be stocking up on the stamps myself if the post office happens to have them in stock, which they probably won't; sigh.)
 

Priene

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USPS issues Miles Davis Stamps

So what?


(Priene bows and takes round of applause from the audience.)
 

blacbird

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So what?


(Priene bows and takes round of applause from the audience.)

Miles Davis was one of the most important Jazz musicians of the past century. And Jazz is the quintessential American musical art form. Did you somehow miss this minor nuance?

The USPS has previously honored the following artists (among many others) via stamp commemoration:

Ayn Rand
Walt Disney (given a special dispensation to avoid the 10-year wait from date of death)
Grandma Moses
John Greenleaf Whittier
D.W. Griffith
Bud Abbott
Samuel Barber
Desi Arnaz
Albert Bierstadt
William Boyd
Julia de Burgos
John Trumbull
Richie Valens
Lawrence Tibbett
ZaSu Pitts
Charles Wilson Peale
William Johnson (. . . who?)
James P. Johnson (. . . who?)
John H. Johnson (. . . who?)
James Weldon Johnson (him I know)
Eastman Johnson (. . . who?)
Hans Hoffman
Victor Herbert
Carlos Gardel
. . .

You want to argue about the appropriateness of honoring Miles Davis on a stamp?

caw
 

blacbird

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Poetinahat has apprised me of the error of my ways in my previous comment. Well . . . the error of one of my ways, at least. There be others.

Apologies to Priene, who was more cleverer that I am. I should have known better, my son being a professional jazz keyboardist and all.

caw
 
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Ken

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Bud Abbott

... very cool. Had a look, courtesy of Google images. Drawn by Hirshfeld, no less. 29-cent-er. So must have been from about 10 years back? Almost makes me feel like becoming a philatelist. Bet those you've listed cost a bundle. What I wouldn't give to have a Zasu Pitts!
 

Priene

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So Ayn Rand has her own government-issued stamp. Oh, the irony of it all.