The mural “Big 9 Legends,” recalling the musical heritage of Ninth Street, adorns the Live and Let Live Barbershop on M.L. King Boulevard.Musicians from the heyday of the Big 9 are playing again on the west side of the Live and Let Live Barbershop on M.L. King Boulevard.
Thanks to a project engineered by Mark Making and being completed in cooperation with the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults and Children’s Home/Chambliss Shelter, a mural depicting artists from the former jazz and blues hub once called Ninth Street has been installed on the side of the red brick building.
The project was ambitious, said Frances McDonald, founder and executive director of Mark Making, a collaborative dedicated to creating public art.
“It’s a process we’ve never done or anybody else has ever done,” he said.
Today, larger-than-life musicians such as Bessie Smith, Frazier Benefield, Mary Bessie Brown, Dorothy Courtney, Cortez Greer, Tiny Kennedy, Wilfred Middlebrooks, William Price, Johnny Schreane, Willie “Papa” Stubb and Rick Upshaw sing or play instruments in a club setting. The mural measures 60 feet by 18 feet and is titled “Big 9 Legends.”