John
Coltrane, Hackensack, NJ, 1957
Art Blakey , Westbury, NY, 1958
16 ELIZABETH STREET
PADDINGTON 2012
02 9380 7080
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 6pm.
Blender Gallery, in association with Morrison Hotel Gallery in the US, delighted to present “No Room for Squares” an incredible collection of classic Jazz Photography by Francis Wolff from the legendary Blue Notes Recording music collective.
This collection features iconic imagery of some of Jazz music's greatest names in history – John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Hank Mobley, Thelonious Monk, George Benson, and Sonny Rollins. The exhibition, No Room for Squares, will be displayed at Blender Gallery from May 6th – June 1st 2010.
Born in Berlin in April 1907, Francis Wolff’s lifelong passions for jazz and photography began as a teenager. His escape from Nazi Germany on the last boat from Berlin bound for New York in October 1939 saved his life and changed it in every conceivable way. An accomplished photographer at home, Wolff came to New York without means. He got a job in photographic studio by day and reunited with his boyhood friend Alfred Lion to work on Blue Note Records by night.
His passion for jazz ran as deep as his love of photography, and soon he was completely immersed in the record company.
By the end of World War Two, Francis and Alfred were able to make a living working solely on Blue Note. Two men running a small, struggling business is an all-consuming affair. For Wolff, photography took a back seat to the demands of Blue Note (which, in that era of the 78 single records in plain brown sleeves, did not include artwork or photographs).
Still, he took his camera to each Blue Note session, taking candid shots of the proceedings while Alfred produced the sessions. His eye was as remarkable as his technique. He captured wonderful, evocative moments, perfectly framed.
By the mid-fifties, Wolff's photography suddenly had a use, albeit a functionary one. In the hands of designer Reid Miles, Wolff’s heavily cropped and tinted images would become an integral part of the Blue Note's album covers. What could not have been divined from those covers was that Francis Wolff, while running a record company 16 hours a day, had evolved into a master photographer.
Wolff built an archive of great photographic value and a visual documentation of jazz history unmatched at any other record company. His ability to light, frame and capture a shot was astonishing.
Francis Wolff had an instant with a preoccupied musician. And he didn't waste shots reaching for an image. His eye and his technique nailed it, usually in the first shot…..not unlike the way great jazz soloists can nail a masterpiece on the first take.
“Here is an artist at work, capturing artists at work. The majesty and power of the music and the personality of the musicians come alive through Francis Wolff's loving and caring eye. These images sing with the music that he heard when he shot these photographs” - Michael Cuscuna founder of Mosaic Records and leading Blue Note Records Discographer
Blue Note Records www.bluenote.com
2009 marked
the 70th Anniversary of the Blue Note Record label. German publishing
house Jazzprezzo published A History Of Blue Note Records In Photographs,
covering the entire life of the label through the photographs of Wolff
and Jimmy Katz. This magnificent hardcover book, imported from Germany,
is available EXCLUSIVELY from Blender Gallery for this very special exhibition
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