No Room For Squares

I’m looking forward to covering the 30th Annual Chicago Blues Fest….yow!!!

This is an image of mine of the legendary vibist Bobby Hutcherson.  It was used to illustrate a feature on Bobby in the April 2013 issue of Downbeat magazine.  I made this image in February 2009 when he appeared at the Portland Jazz Fest.

Though now called the Crystal Ballroom, it was originally built as Cotillion Hall,  a historic building in Portland.  Cotillion Hall was built in 1914 as a ballroom, and dance revivals were held there through the Great Depression.  Starting in the 1960s, the hall hosted many popular pop, rock, folk, blues and jazz artists, as well as beat poets and other entertainment.  The early to mid 60′s saw James Brown, Marvin Gaye and Ike & Tina Turner play there.  In the late 60′s, band such as the Grateful Dead, Blue Cheer and the Electric Prunes performed as well.  The building sat vacant from the 70′s though most of the 90′s.  The building was bought and re-opened in the late 90′s and has remained so since.

One cool feature of the Crystal is the “floating” dance floor on the main floor, which I think is built over ball-bearings.  You can literally feel it bounce when you walk on it.  I’ve shot in there many times and when the crowd gets going, it’s difficult to shoot in there because the floor moves so much.  It’s a beautiful building, if you’re ever in Portland, check it out.

I was saddened to hear that friend and amazing musician Davey Adkins passed away  last night.    This image was made at possibly Davey’s last performance at the Jazz Kitchen in Indy.

This is the limited edition poster, produced for the 2012 Indy Jazz Fest.  It’s features the legendary trombonist, composer and band leader, Slide Hampton.  Prints signed by the photographer may be purchased for $12.00 + $3.00 shipping.  Please reach out to me here and I’ll get one out to you.

I made this image several years ago for a Northwest Airlines publication called World Traveler.  They were doing a multi-page feature on Jazz in Indy.    Musician Rob Dixon is standing on a ledge with a 20′ drop to his right.  In an effort to place him where I needed him in the frame, I was shooting off a tall ladder.  I had been searching for a location to get some of the downtown buildings in the background and found this spot.  I shot this image of Rob in the late afternoon and another image later in the late evening to catch the lights on in the buildings.  This was my first of many projects for this publication.

This image of Cedar Walton was made at the world famous Jazz Showcase in Chicago.  Thanks to Cedar for giving me a few minutes to make the image.

In the early 1960s, Cedar along with the late, great Freddie Hubbard joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, where he played along side another legendary player, Wayne Shorter.   Walton left the Messengers in 1964 and by the late 1960s was part of the house rhythm section at Prestige Records, where in addition to releasing his own recordings, he recorded with Sonny Criss, Pat Martino, Eric Kloss, and Charles McPherson. For a year, he served as Abbey Lincoln‘s accompanist, and recorded with Lee Morgan from 1966 to 1968.

From the 1980s until the present day, Walton has remained active, and many of his compositions have been adopted as jazz standards, including “Firm Roots”, “Bolivia” and “Cedar’s Blues”. “Bolivia” is perhaps Walton’s best known composition, while one of his oldest is “Fantasy in D”, was recorded under the title “Ugetsu” by Art Blakey in 1963.

In January 2010, he was inducted as a member of the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters.

I had never seen Morris Ardoin before so when the Jazz Kitchen booked him for their Back Room concert series, it was a great opportunity to check him out.

Born in 1935 in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana,  Morris Ardoin is the oldest son of legendary Cajun/Creole musician Alphonse “Bois Sec” Ardoin. He began learning to play music at thirteen years old by listening to his cousins and has been going strong for over 60 years now. Although many people know him as one of the last Louisiana Creole fiddlers, few have had the opportunity to see him as the accomplished accordionist and singer that he is. At long last, I had the chance to get an up close and personal look at this unique performer.

I had the opportunity to spend some time photographing Syl Johnson, the legendary Chicago based Soul singer.   Syl has played with many of the great soul/blues musicians of the 50s-60s including Magic Sam (another Mississippi transplant and Chicago neighbor of Syl’s), Howlin’ Wolf, Billy Boy Arnold and Junior Wells.

This image was made backstage at Space, a beautiful venue in Evanston, IL where Syl and his big band were performing two sets.   Syl spoke to the crowd about his life, his new guitar endorsement and other musicians sampling his music (something that has made him quite a bit of money) but more importantly, he performed several tunes that fans had come to here including Take Me to the River and Is It Because I’m Black.   A warm man with a big smile, I asked Syl to play through a tune or two during session which he was happy to do.   The photograph below is one image from that session.

Mike Stern paid an overdue visit to The Jazz Kitchen last week.  Along with Mike, Tom Kennedy and Ritchie Morales round out the trio.   Generally smiling and having a great time, Stern played a great mix of tunes from his recent recording and some vintage tunes as well.