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| John Abbott's photo of Sonny Rollins, which won the 2011 JJA Photo of the Year. |
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
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