Walk Through History at Paul Serrato’s Jazz Poster Exhibition

July 28th, 2025

What makes a poster? Could it be the colors, the lines or the subject? For composer, producer, and pianist Paul Serrato, a poster is not simply interesting to look at but is also an important piece of history. Serrato’s extensive collection of jazz posters will be exhibited at Roberta and Bob Rogers Gallery August 8.  

Serrato’s interest in graphic design began at a young age. As a child, Serrato would watch his aunt play the piano. The colorful designs of the sheet music covers that she would bring out for practice sparked a fascination that would drive him to begin collecting posters later in life.   

As an adult, Serrato settled into his music career in New York, where he began frequenting and performing at the Village Gate nightclub. In anticipation of each act, posters would be displayed advertising the performances. Serrato took home many posters from the club alongside subways, lamp posts, building sites and anywhere else he would spot them.

Over the years, Serrato continued to amass his poster collection. Posters in Serrato’s collection date back to the 1960s and span decades of jazz history.  Although he does not collect as many today as he used to, his collection contains posters both rare and common. Rather than the artist’s name or how rare the poster might have been, it is the design that drew Serrato’s attention to each poster he picked up. 

Serrato’s posters will be exhibited at Roberta & Bob Rogers gallery from August 8 through August 30. The exhibition will also include vintage jazz LP records related to many of the artists on the posters. The posters and records chosen for the exhibition will also be available for purchase.