A Night At The American Jazz Museum

Two years ago I began work an a documentary about an unjustly unheralded jazz photographer by the name of Bob Barry. The result was what I called a jazzumentary titled Bob Barry – Jazzography In Black & White. Even though he was fairly well known in the jazz community the public at large was largely unaware of his work. The film was completed about a year ago and was subsequently screened for thousands of people at a variety of venues and theaters including the Tupelo Film Festival, the Arclight Hollywood Documentary Film Festival and The Brand Library in Glendale. It won an Accolade Award, a Tupelo Film Festival Award and a Los Angeles Movie Award.

To paraphrase the lyrics from Vanessa William’s song, they saved the best for last. On Thursday, July 11, 2013, Bob Barry – Jazzography In Black & White was screened at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. If you’re unfamiliar with the American Jazz Museum let me tell you a little bit about it. The AJM is located in a historic part of Kansas City on 18th & Vine, a location long considered one of the “petri dishes” of jazz in addition to Basin Street in New Orleans, Beale Street in Memphis, 52nd Street in New York City and Central Avenue in Los Angeles. It includes The Blue Room which has been a perennial pick by Downbeat Magazine as one of the top jazz clubs on the planet and across the street is the Gem Theater, the AJM’s concert venue. Not coincidentally, Bob Barry’s photography has been on exhibit in the museum’s Changing Gallery for the last three months.

Greg Carroll is the CEO of the AJM and he makes sure it runs with the precision of a Swiss watch. From the exhibits at the Changing Gallery to the children’s jazz poetry sessions to the permanent exhibits chronicling the history of jazz it’s a one of a kind artistic masterpiece that has to be seen to be appreciated. So if you’re ever in Kansas City, make it a point to drop by. I have no doubt that if you asked him to, Greg would take you on a tour himself, such is his love and dedication to jazz and his work at the AJM. Knowing him as I do now, I’m confident he doesn’t even consider it work.

Hopefully the pictures and video I shot while there will give you a vivid perspective of my night, well, two days and a night, at the American Jazz Museum.

THE AMERICAN JAZZ MUSEUM

GEM THEATER

THE BLUE ROOM

BRAM WIJNANDS

THE BRAM WIJNANDS SWINGTET

THE CHANGING ROOM

BOB BARRY & FANS

Liberace Where Art Thou?

Photo-Allan Warren

As a jazz photographer I get a chance to hear lots of musicians, mostly in night clubs. On a recent evening I looked forward to seeing a highly touted young jazz pianist in an upscale jazz “joint.” He took the stage clad in a horizontally stripped t-shirt and slacks.

I guess my first question is do performers have any obligation to dress for the occasion? A suit and tie or maybe a jacket, dress shirt and slacks?” Maybe I’m living in the past but could you possible imagine Nat King Cole, Count Basie or to take it to the extreme, Liberace, striding on stage in a t-shirt?

The second thing that struck me about this pianist is during the entire performance he didn’t once acknowledge the audience. Not a hello, a hi, how’s everyone doing, nothing, he literally said nothing. Not only that he didn’t even look at the audience, not even a peek. He was tremendously talented but he might as well have been performing alone in his bedroom.

The point I’m trying to make is doesn’t a performer have some obligation to the audience beyond their talent? To engage the audience in some way? The audience seemed to enjoy his playing but how much more would they have taken away from the experience if he had engaged them in some way, dressed to fit the venue demonstrating he appreciated them spending their money to see him perform?

Maybe I expect too much.

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What Would Ansel Do?

The one photographer that most people can name off the top of their head is…

Ansel Adams.

So I pose the question, “In our digital age, to market and promote his photography art, what would Ansel do?”

I believe Mr. Adams would do what many smart photo artists are doing.

They’d market, promote, and sell their art on a website like this one.

Fine Art America http://FineArtAmerica.com

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It provides all the tools for a photographer to not only sell their photos but to create “shops” at other websites like Facebook where their photos can be purchased. Not only prints, but framed and matted, on canvas, even on aluminum.

Also,for a small fee an artist can also create a quality website where people can view their art, in my case jazz art. http://AllThatsJazz.com

In addition, the galleries, groups, community and blog features (like the one you’re reading right now) are valuable marketing tools.

So in my humble opinion, to promote, market, and sell his work, that’s what Ansel would do.

Source: Wikipedia – Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American photographer and environmentalist best known for his black-and-white landscape photographs of the American West, especially Yosemite National Park.

With Fred Archer, Adams developed the Zone System as a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. The resulting clarity and depth characterized his photographs and the work of those to whom he taught the system. Adams primarily used large-format cameras despite their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, because their high resolution helped ensure sharpness in his images.

Adams founded the Group f/64 along with fellow photographers Willard Van Dyke and Edward Weston. Adams’s photographs are reproduced on calendars, posters, and in books, making his photographs widely distributed.

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