The Chris Barber Jazz Band at Apollo-Theater concert poster
Contributed by Florian Hardwig
on Feb 23rd, 2025. Artwork published in
May 1958
.
A striking concert poster in landscape format made for the Chris Barber Jazz Band’s gig at Düsseldorf’s Apollo-Theater on May 10, 1958. Local designer Wolf D. Zimmermann (1925–2001) combined a depiction of the trombone by band leader Chris Barber (1930–2021) with a portrait of blues singer Ottilie Patterson (1932–2011).
Printed in red and black, the poster features two typefaces: the wide grotesk originated at Wagner & Schmidt in 1914 and was sold by various foundries under many different names, including Fette Edel-Grotesk (Ludwig Wagner) and Hallo (Ludwig & Mayer). After World War II, it was best known as Annonce (Typefoundry Amsterdam) and Aurora-Grotesk V (Weber). The bold geometric sans used for smaller bits is Futura fett.
