 |
John Abbott's photo of Sonny
Rollins, which won the 2011
JJA Photo of the Year. |
Over the next few weeks, I want to highlight some of the categories from the Jazz Journalists Association's recently announced
nominees for the 2012 JJA Jazz Awards.
The first category that I want to look at is Photo of the Year. A slide show of the nominees is available at
Flickr and is well worth spending some time with. While jazz is, of course, primarily something we hear, its visual side is often as inspiring, touching, and beautiful as the music itself.
Some of the entries — like Mary Kent's photo of
Roberto Fonseca at the keyboard or Michael Jackson's photo of trumpeter
Wadada Leo Smith — capture the sheer ecstasy of playing jazz. Tony Graves catches keyboardist
Rhoda Scott, eyes closed, biting her lower lip, lost in the music. Steven Sussman shows
Benny Golson, eyes closed, pointing to the sky, loving what he's hearing.
Esperanza Spalding is laughing wildly in Gulnara Khamatova's shot of the young bassist.
Others capture a more contemplative side of jazz, like David Stacey's photo of trumpeter
Tom Harrell or Wilbert Sostre's shot of saxophonist
Miguel Zenon. Andrea Carter shows a beautiful, thoughtful
Lizz Wright, eyes closed, cooling herself with a fan in her right hand.
Others — like Marek Lazarski's photo of sweat-drenched drummer
Paal Nilssen-Love or John Fenton's shot of bassist
Tom Botting, hair flying every which way — show the hard-working, gritty side of jazz.
Still others — like Marc PoKempner's shot of
Benny Jones counting out his money on top of a drum or Perez's photo of
Mark Murphy's hands, autographing a photo — remind us that sometimes jazz is just a way to make a living.
The photos reveal the many aspects of the musicians, from the sartorial elegance of trumpeter
Terell Stafford (photographed by B.A. Arnwine) to the quiet pride of
Roy Hargrove (Farrad Ali) to the ultimate cool of trumpeter
Andre Mali (Jim Rice) to the ageless wisdom in the eyes of keyboardist
Cecil Taylor (Ana Isabel Ordonez) to the sadness etched on the tired face of
Charles Lloyd (Jos L. Knaeper). In some cases, it's hard to put a name on the emotion that's written across the musician's face, but you know that something is going on deep inside — what is
Houston Person feeling in the stunning photo by Andrzej Andre Pilarczyk?
Some musicians appear more than once, and the photos capture different aspects of their personalities. John Watson's photo of drummer
Roy Haynes shows a man caught up in the music, mouth open, pounding away as if his life depended on it. By contrast, Carol Friedman captures a quieter, more thoughtful
Haynes, holding his cymbal in front of him, like a shield.
The photos themselves vary widely in technique. Some are black and white, like John Whiting's stunning photo of the legendary
Sonny Rollins. Some take advantage of color, as in Andrzej Andre Pilarczyk's photo of
Houston Person, which captures the gold of the saxophone, Person's tie, and Person's pocket square. Some use silhouettes (Becky Yee's photo of trombonist
Joe Beaty against what appears to be a Japanese screen). Others use reflections (Pavel Korbut's photo of
Chick Corea, with the keys of the keyboard reflected in his glasses, or Skip Bolen's photo of "
Trombone Shorty," with the audience reflected in his shades). Others focus on just one thing, like Neal Santos's brilliant photo of pianist
Jimmy Amadie from the back side of his talented, ageless hands.
All are worthy of your attention and remind us that sometimes jazz is as much about seeing as it is about hearing.
Robert
http://www.facebook.com/corejazz?sk=wall
