The great US improvisational jazz musicians of the mid 20th century inspired a generation of photographers. For more than 50 years names such as Herman Leonard, Frank Wolff, William Claxton, Lee Tanner, Dennis Stock and even Guy Le Querrec of Magnum found new creative dimensions to their work.
All have published fine jazz photography collections - including
Leonard's classic The Eye of Jazz, which, for me, ranks above all
others. Most make a surprising omission, however: Mose Allison.
The Mississippi-born pianist and singer-songwriter, who is
now 80, appears to have slipped through the net, despite continuing
to be a member of jazz's inner circle.
As Rolling Stone said in a review of one of his concerts:
"Allison has become a classic, a cool comic sage offering ironic
advice for survival. His show was fun . . . a happy jumble of
bebop, Delta blues, boogie-woogie, careening chromaticism and
Beethovian drama".
Having spent more than 20 years photographing Cork Jazz
Festival for my archive, it is a great pleasure to discover that
this year, at last, Allison is a headline act. After all, he has
influenced Van Morrison, Bono, Georgie Fame, Elvis Costello and
Bonnie Raitt; played piano in the style of Thelonious Monk, John
Lewis and Al Haig; and recorded with Getz, Cohn, Sims and Mulligan.
For me, all that remains on a memorable day is to avoid
camera shake in the presence of a jazz icon.