For close to twenty years, I had the privilege of photographing some of the greatest jazz musicians in the world.
This collection is a visual document of that period. It is also a personal expression of my deep feeling for the music and the musicians who keep it alive.
Growing up in rural Iowa (Reasnor, Pop. 100) during the Depression years was not conducive to hearing much in the way of jazz. Radio, the main source of both information and entertainment, brought us country-western and hymns. The exception was Saturday and opera from the Met, which I must confess was of little interest at the time.
I was fortunate, however, in that my mother taught piano and played organ in church. She saw to it that I took weekly piano lessons in nearby Newton from Miss Beard, a lovely lady whose local fame, in addition to her teaching skills was her being a Juilliard graduate. I was not a very good student, described by Miss Beard as "doing well for someone who never practiced."
However, in high school, my teacher discovered that I had vocal talent, enough it seems, that I was accepted at Simpson College (Indianola, Iowa) as a music major and four years later graduated with a B.M. degree in Vocal Performance. My dream was to become a world-famous mezzo-soprano, giving voice recitals on two continents!
My reality was that I was lucky enough to land a job as a promotion copywriter at KRNT-TV, the CBS television affiliate in Des Moines. It was during my time at KRNT that I was exposed to live jazz. Des Moines was not noted for its club life (Iowa being a dry state), but I was exposed to the single acts of road bands that came through on tour.
Memorable was a Count Basie concert featuring a skinny singer named Joe Williams. It blew me away! (Years later I had the pleasure of visiting with Mr. Williams, and later photographing him in concert.) Not until I moved to New York City and started working for Columbia Records as a promotion copywriter did I set foot in a "real" jazz club. It turned out to be the Vanguard. The Vanguard looked properly tacky. Anita O'Day sounded great.
My real jazz education did not start until I married. My husband had long been a jazz devotee and strong advocate of putting jazz studies into the curriculum of William Paterson College (now William Paterson University) where he was a member of the music faculty. Considering his heavy involvement with jazz at the College, it was inevitable that this would become a major factor in my life. I heard more and more of the music and met the top players who came out from the City to perform. Some of the early artists included guitarist Jim Hall, trumpeter Donald Byrd, trombonist Garnet Brown, etc.
But the most significant factor in my personal appreciation of jazz was the result of an acquaintance with Thad Jones and Mel Lewis (founders of the fabled Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra) and having the opportunity to hear live many performances of their quartet and quintet. Here were two men completely devoted to the music. When they were not playing it they were talking about it. A number of these conversations took place at our house, where they were frequent visitors.
I would like to mention that as outgoing as they may appear on stage, many performers are uneasy about being photographed in their private moments. I can understand this. And since I never got around to photographing him during performance, I never took a single shot of Thad Jones.
My entree to the world of jazz photography was as accidental as it was logical. My husband, who was by now involved in establishing a series of professional jazz concerts at the College, thought it would be a good idea to photographically document the performances and asked if I could consider doing it. What could be more convenient?
While for years I had been an avid amateur photographer, working out of my own rather primitive black and white dark room, this was a bit of a stretch. My work up to that point was more of the peeling paint school and objects that did not move. On the other hand, I had nothing to lose and decided to give it a try. Armed with a Minolta SLR, a couple of borrowed telephoto lenses and a few boxes of TriX film, I dove in. It was the turning point in my personal and professional life.
These concerts, which became the long-running William Paterson College Jazz Room Series, were from my first shots of pianist Joanne Brackeen, to my last of the great tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, a continual source of inspiration.
Influenced by the Jazz Room experience, throughout my career I rarely if ever photographed in clubs, preferring the concert setting, which in my mind offered a wider range of possibilities, such as the sound check. Sound checks (where a number of my photos are taken) are in no way comparable to live performance with its high energy and adventurous solo improvisations. They have a life of their own.
Jazz photography is nothing to work at unless you love the music and the musicians who play it. If this is the case, just remember: 1) no flash: you work in available light; 2) no clicking during a ballad; 3) no tripping over monitors or mike cords, and 4) stay out of the way. The rest is magic.
JoAnn Krivin