Collections

Exciting exhibits include thousands of vinyl albums complete with liner notes, a Ella Fitzgerald, Dance Band, and Big Band rooms featuring a larger than life mural of Ella Fitzgerald, big bands’ music and artifacts and a plethora of trumpets from outstanding artists including Doc Severinsen and Dizzy Gillespie. Many examples of recording equipment spanning throughout the years are on display, beginning with the beautifully crafted phonograph machines, one of which is a Thomas Edison original cylinder player and finishing with an MP3 player the size of a Bic classic lighter. Sherman Jazz Museums’ collections of jazz memorabilia, which rivals many others in the nation, will inspire music lovers of all ages.

Photo of a room with a mural of Ella Fitzgerald

Vocal Room

Featuring a mural of Ella Fitzgerald

Photo of a mural with early big band orchestra with people dancing in front of it.

Dance Band Room

Featuring the big bands of Tommy Dorsey, Chick Webb, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, and others

Dance Band Room

Featuring the big bands of Tommy Dorsey, Chick Webb, Benny Goodman, Fletcher Henderson, and others
Photo of a mural with early big band orchestra with people dancing in front of it.
Photo of a room with shelves of vintage records and large photos of Jazz musicians

Big Band Era Room

Featuring the remnants of the post-war dance bands, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Duke Ellington, and Maynard Ferguson
Image of a large room with folding chair seating, and a stage.

Trumpet Room

Featuring the greatest trumpeters to ever live. Here, much of the Maynard Ferguson estate is displayed, as well as the Roy Eldridge estate.

Trumpet Room

Featuring the greatest trumpeters to ever live. Here, much of the Maynard Ferguson estate is displayed, as well as the Roy Eldridge estate.
Image of a large room with folding chair seating, and a stage.

Individual Items on Display

A photo of Dizzy Gillespie's Trumpet

Dizzy Gillespie’s Trumpet

in its treasures from the height of the Jazz era, collections include those from Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, assorted big bands, and much, much more. Quotes from Buddy Magazine, the Original Texas Music Magazine, tout the museum as a place to put on your “must-visit list, no, ifs, ands or buts,” and commenting on the trumpet collection, “No trumpet enthusiast will want to miss this stuff.”

Dizzy Gillespie’s Trumpet

in its treasures from the height of the Jazz era, collections include those from Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, assorted big bands, and much, much more. Quotes from Buddy Magazine, the Original Texas Music Magazine, tout the museum as a place to put on your “must-visit list, no, ifs, ands or buts,” and commenting on the trumpet collection, “No trumpet enthusiast will want to miss this stuff.”
A photo of Dizzy Gillespie's Trumpet
Photo of a Wall covered in jazz albums

Albums

Explore our collection of thousands of jazz albums. The liner notes in the album will tell you who composed the music, who did the arrangements, and who played on the tracks, along with the times and places where it was recorded. The breathtaking cover art adds to the experience of uncovering the history of jazz, not through a book, but from the back of a record album.

Photo of a vintage record player needle

Record Player & Jukebox

The invention of music playback and recording devices made jazz one of the first music styles to spread like wildfire thanks to mass duplication, and radio. Explore the history of music playback from the earliest Edison phonograph to the modern MP3 player.

Featured Artwork

The Museum features murals and busts throughout to honor the greatest American jazz legends.

Pat Pierce

Pat is a renowned artist from Sherman, Texas and painted the portrait murals in the Trumpet room as well as the portraits in the Dance Band and Big Band Era rooms.
Photo of Pat Pierce painting a Mural
Photo of Pat Pierce signing a mural she painted
Photo of Pat Pierce standing next to a few of her paintings

Scott and Melissa Tucker

a photo of Scott and Melissa Tucker and two others posing in front of their Murals
A photo of three people hanging up a printed mural

Award winning artists from Dallas, TX. Painted the WWII USO Hangar Dance mural in the Dance Band Era room, as well as created the bronze busts in the Big Bands room.

More info on Scott here

Melissa Tucker and her father (Scott) painted the USO mural and all work featured in the Vocal Jazz room as an homage to Scott’s father who had been a WWII pilot.

Melissa completed her father’s work on the featured Tommy Dorsey band with Buddy Rich on drums and vocalist Frank Sinatra.

A photo of four people hanging up a printed mural
Top Image: Melissa Tucker and her father (Scott) painted the mural and all work featured in the Vocal Jazz room.

Bottom Left Image: Melissa Tucker painted the mural featuring Frank Sinatra as the vocalist during his years with the Tommy Dorsey’s band.

Bottom Right Image: Melissa and her father, Scott Tucker, Sr., worked together to paint the USO mural in the Dance Band Era room.

Diana Jelen

Diana Jelen seated beside her in-progress portrait of Tony Bennett
Diana Jelen's framed jazz vocalist portraits on the museum wall
Studio with the musician mural in progress
Pencil sketch of a trumpet player for the mural

Diana graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at Austin, married John Jelen, and moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. She made her career as a graphic designer, working mostly for large companies including JCPenney and Dr Pepper. After a long career, she retired from graphic design and began painting portraits and other commissioned works. Beginning in 2018, she started a series of portraits of jazz vocalists for the Sherman Jazz Museum. Just a note: When she got the commission, she quickly taught herself to paint in oils. Being mostly a watercolorist, she had very little oil experience. Nevertheless, she really wanted to produce oil paintings rather than watercolors for this commission. She now prefers the oil medium to watercolor. The museum now holds thirteen of her paintings, including twelve jazz vocalist portraits and a life-sized mural of Al Hirt and his orchestra.

Diana and her husband have since moved from North Texas to East Texas and continue to paint and
exhibit in Winnsboro, TX.

“Hot can be cool & cool can be hot & each can be both. But hot or cool man, Jazz is Jazz.”

Louis Armstrong