Detroit International Jazz Festival 2008
Below are some images I made at the 2008 Detroit Jazz Fest. I’ve been shooting at the festival for a few years now, but this time, thanks to the great people behind the scenes at this year’s festival, I had the access that I wished for in the past.
Jack Dejohnette peruses a play list prior to the afternoon’s performance.
Ravi Coltrane waits in the wings during a solo.
Brandee Younger, as beautiful as the music that emanates from her harp, shortly before the perfomance. I have black and white images of her also, but this one demanded color.
Jazz great Charlie Haden prepares for the performance.
I don’t know how many times the words “transcendental” and “Coltrane” have been used in the same sentence, but, judging from this weekend’s performance, they are as appropriate as the pairing of the words “pancake” and “syrup.” I was listening to John Coltrane (A Love Supreme) on the way to the festival, wondering why nobody was even trying to make such spiritually soothing music today. The answer to my inquiry was made crystal clear, in no uncertain terms. It was as if the essence of John and Alice Coltrane’s collective musical acumen was being channelled by the artists on the stage. A truly magnificent performace, that cannot possibly be sufficiently conveyed through the written word. My only criticism is that we were not able to hear the perfomance a second time, nor a third.
More to follow…
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Greetings and salutations dear readers, photo perusers, purveyors of fine art and surfers errant. As promised, I have returned with a few more images from the Detroit International Jazz Festival. The images displayed above were created digitally. I am an avowed purist at heart, however, and prefer greatly the volume, clarity and presence achieved by medium and large format film. Unfortunately, even though the scanning process is able to achieve a level of quality light years beyond that of digital capture, one cannot experience the true beauty of a well executed, black and white silver gelatin print by looking at a low resolution image on the net. Inkjet prints, even though potentially very, very good, still fall short, in my slightly less than humble opinion. The following images were created by shooting black and white film and digitizing the frames. For web images, I often use a mid-level flatbed scanner with a transparency adapter. This allows for a “quick and dirty” workflow, for the purposes of proofing and posting in ether. To get files suitable for printing, I use the same process, but substitute a dedicated film scanner, a Nikon Coolscan 9000, for the flatbed. The difference in quality is significant, especially when considering issues such as dynamic range and the ability to enlarge the image. My apologies for having to break geekster on your ass; but I haven’t done so in some time now. So, without further delay…
This is actually a severe crop from a 6×6 cm negative. I could have gotten closer to photograph Ms. Younger, but inserting myself between the stage and the mesh that was adjacent to it was just too intrusive for my tastes. Oh well, fortunately, Zeiss lenses provide a great deal of micro detail and contrast, even when shot from a considerable distance. Film used was Tri X, pushed to 1600 and souped in Tmax. Thus the grain.
Charlie Haden looks cool enough to freeze fire in the Sahara. I love making images of him. Please pardon the dust…as indicated before, these are preliminary scans. I refuse to spend hours cleaning up proofs! Again, for the gearheads: Hasselblad 500 CM, 250mm Carl Zeiss Sonnar, Tri X @ 1600 iso.
September 3, 2008
I almost left the festival after the phonomenal tribute to Alice Coltrane alluded to above. I was hot, dehydrated, and frankly, sick and tired of being bumped, stepped on and questioned about my equipment. I shoot with a Hasselblad, a big, metal camera, as well as a dslr, and for some reason every gearhead wants to know why–when I am working. I was on my way out. Fortunately, I ran into an acquaintance who informed me that missing the Kenny Garrett perfomance would be a mistake. I cannot tell you how much of an understatement this was.
Mr. Garrett during one of his (rare) less kinetic moments.
Kenny Garrett is one of the most energetic jazz musicians I have ever seen. Pardon the colloquialism, but they say pimpin’ ain’t easy; neither is photographing Kenny Garrett during a performance, especially with a manual focus lens. Mick Jagger has got nothing on this brother.
As for the music…well…let’s just say I will be collecting Kenny Garrett’s music from now on. I was fortunate enough to be able to secure a copy of his latest cd as well as his autograph. During the course of the day, I was able to photograph, meet, and shake hands with Ravi Coltrane, Jack Dejohnette, and Kenny Garrett. I guess this makes up for not being able to see Miles Davis perform before his demise. And to think, I almost didn’t attend the second day of the festival.
As promised, more images from the 2008 Detroit Jazz Festival… and a couple from the 2006 Festival.
The lovely Ms. Younger once again…
… the inimitable Mr. Coltrane …
… the great Kenny Garrett …
… these three again…
… Christian McBride …
… Mr. Randy Brecker …
… unidentified drummer. I couldn’t resist, having taught 5th grade for more than a decade.
… From the 2006 Detroit Jazz Festival…one of the greatest musicians who has ever walked the earth, Mr. McCoy Tyner. His music, a bottle of wine and a canvas have contributed to some of my best work as a painter.
Also from the 2006 festival… Joe Zawinul.
Still more to follow…thank you for viewing.
