What Is Your Favorite Kind of Music?

Richard Kurin, Acting Provost and Under Secretary for Museums and Research at the Smithsonian Institution, discusses the music he loves.

Smithsonian Artifact Featured in this Video

29c Billie Holiday single

Description: Jazz and blues legends were honored with the eight 29-cent stamps in Legends of American Music Stamp Series issued on September 17, 1994, in Greenville, Mississippi, at the Delta Blues Festival. The stamps feature Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, Mildred Bailey, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, "Ma" Rainey, and Howlin' Wolf.; Billie Holiday (1915-1959), born Eleanora Fagan, had an art for graceful phrasing and a distinctively light timbre that enabled her to render popular tunes dealing with heartbreak and despair with a buoyancy that rose above the heavy sentimentality of the words. Holiday's solo hits such as "God Bless the Child" and "Strange Fruit" became standard tunes for many generations of singers to follow.; Howard Koslow designed the images for Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, Mildred Bailey, and Julian Allen designed the images for Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, "Ma" Rainey, and Howlin' Wolf. Ashton-Potter (USA), Ltd., printed The stamps using offset lithography.; Reference:; Postal Bulletin (September 1, 1994).; mint; 11 horizontal perforations x 10.8 vertical perforations

39c Ella Fitzgerald single

Description: The Postal Service issued a 39-cent Ella Fitzgerald commemorative stamp on January 10, 2007, in New York, New York. The thirtieth stamp in the Black Heritage Series honors Ella Fitzgerald, the singer who was widely known as "the first lady of song." Art director Ethel Kessler lauds the stamp portrait by illustrator Paul Davis, of New York, for the way it captures the joy and excitement of Fitzgerald's art.; The 150 million stamps were printed in the offset process by Ashton-Potter (USA), Ltd., with microprinting "USPS".; Reference:; Postal Bulletin (December 7, 2006).; single