Jazz Funny Papers

What better way to sell horns than with a few good pictures, just like in the Sunday funnies? John Birks' career in panels, that outstanding Martin artist. Ad from Metronome Magazine

By the end of the forties, Dizzy Gillespie was the embodiment of modern music. The "king of bebop," he was the toast of the jazz trades with his big band, his JATP appearances and his antics. The Martin instrument company enlisted him in its roster of star trumpet players, and in 1949 featured him in a comic strip bio ad. Here it is, the first and last time (to my knowledge) a jazz artist got the graphic treatment. Note that Diz and "a few others" created bop at Minton's – did anyone say Charlie Parker? By the way, who the heck is Frank Fairfax?

Showbizz Dizz

The very popular – and controversial – Daz MacVoutorooney, about to embark on a history-altering career, gets the regal sendoff uptown by his pals from The Street. Charlie Parker, never much in the public eye in those days, was doing a rest-cure in Camarillo out west and couldn't make the session.

From Downbeat magazine, summer 1946; unknown photographer