The changing face of my jazz photographic practice
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.27310Keywords:
jazz studies, British Jazz, Photography, West Midlands, BirminghamAbstract
This article is a reflection on my jazz photography practice and how it has changed with my involvement in academic research after becoming actively involved in the Jazz Studies cluster at the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research (BCMCR), Birmingham City University and starting a close collaboration with jazz scholar Dr Pedro Cravinho. My practice evolved from photographing musicians playing at gigs to visualising the jazz scene and musicians from a different perspective which includes aspects of their off-stage lives. Through our discussions and common interests in the local jazz scene(s), Cravinho and I began developing a research process in which photography is the visual driver but is underpinned by Pedro’s rigorous academic input. Our collaboration is built on my documentary photography practice and Pedro’s ethnomusicological research background.
References
Claxton, William, and Joachim E. Berendt (2013) Jazzlife: A Journey for Jazz Across America in 1960. Rev. edn. Koln: Taschen.
Cravinho, Pedro (2020) ‘“Jazz, Revue, and a Thriller”: The Response of the Birmingham Press to Duke Ellington’s 1933 Tour’. Blue Light 27/3: 5–12.
Cravinho, Pedro, and Brian Homer (2019) ‘Everyday Jazz Life: A Photographic Project on Contemporary Jazz Musicians’ Lives in Birmingham’. Jazz Research Journal 13/1–2: 238–64. https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.39943
Cropper, Stephen (2023) ‘Transientlife’. https://www.transientlife.uk/ (accessed 2 October 2023).
DeCarava, Roy (2003) The Sound I Saw. Reprint. London and New York: Phaidon Press.
Gorilovsky, Tatiana (2023) http://www.tatianajazzphoto.com/ (accessed 2 October 2023).
Hinton, Milt, and David G. Berger (1988) Bass Line: The Stories and Photographs of Milt Hinton. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Hyde, Carl (2023) ‘Welcome to My World’. https://carlhyde.wordpress.com/home/ (accessed 2 October 2023).
Stephenson, Sam (2009) The Jazz Loft Project: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene Smith from 821 Sixth Avenue, 1957–1965. New York: Alfred a Knopf.
Stock, Denis, and Nat Hentoff (1960) Jazz Street. New York: Doubleday & Company.
Watson, John (2023) ‘Jazz Camera’. https://jazzcamera.co.uk/ (accessed 2 October 2023).
Wilmer, Valerie (1989) The Face of Black Music. 3rd edn. New York: Da Capo Press.
Wilmer, Valerie (1990) Jazz People. 3rd edn. New York: Da Capo Press.
