Jazz Greats Gallery:
Original Shots by Martin Connolly
All photographs in this gallery were taken by my brother Martin, and he takes over from here:
“I accompanied my brother Jim to the North Sea Jazz Festival three times. He was the journalist, for Ireland’s only Jazz magazine, JazzNews, while I was supposed to be the photographer. I was as amateur as you could get, so it was really a period of trial and error, with heavy on the error. I believe the first year we attended was 1987: I took a lot of photos, but my skills were close to zero, and I used the wrong kind of film –daylight for mostly night (or enclosed place) shooting etc…– so imagine my horror when I had them developed… I was, however, in the process, around that time, of doing a little bit of photographic skills training. I later learned how to develop my own photos and I started to think of colour as strictly for tourists. If I was going to get the chance again, I would be not an amateur, but an auteur! Of course, for someone who also wants to really listen to and enjoy the jazz music being played, taking photographs while the action unfolds can be both exciting and annoying. Throw in intense and frustrating. But never boring. I had to think about f-stop, apertures, lighting, film speed and which lens to attach just as some jazz genius was creating a never-heard-before solo over some exotic rhythm or funky happening music. I had to bluff. We would be allowed up to the area right up at the stage and I would pretend I was a wunderkind with a lens. Blokes all around hawking lenses longer than my forearm, waist-coat vests stuffed full of film, smaller lenses and mysterious tools. One guy I remember looked like Jimi Hendrix –I’m talking about the photographers,not the people on stage– complete with Afro and moustache with attitude. Sometimes these would look at me –sizing me up, I thought, until one actually spoke to me: he asked me if I had any spare film. Only that.
Which reminds me: my biggest moment of stress concerned shooting Miles Davis. He was never easy to get, often standing with his back to the audience, being a cool conductor of his troupe. So there I am, banged up right against the stage, nearly eye-level with the players feet. And there’s the Man with the Horn, and he’s just beginning to turn round, and amble over to where we all hoped he would come. And didn’t he just! Yes, amazing, within a few brief strides, I could see that Miles Davis, living legend, would soon be right where we were, at the edge of the stage and wasn’t this a once-in-a-lifetime occasion to get off a few shots for the album. And yet, I was only feeling stress: I had only just discovered that my camera, a Pentax ME-Super, a wee beaut, had run to the end of the roll of 36 exposures (remember those things?)! I would have to rewind the film back and replace it with a new roll (which, ever the well prepared chap that I was, I had in abundance), and that would take me two minutes at least, fumbling away and looking like an eejit before the eyes of the world’s real auteurs of the photographic world, not to mention the Man himself. So, what else could I do? Yes, that’s right, as Miles Davis towered over us, and, at one point directly over my Irish head, blowing on his trumpet like a demon, I did what I had to do and bloody well pretended I had film in my camera, and shot away, looking like Bejaysus himself with a lens. Thankfully, because I managed to see him a few other times, I was able to capture an image or two in other less stressful circumstances.
I can never forget my time of proximity to the greats. Please enjoy checking out the few shots that have survived the ravages of Time.”
Martin Connolly
“I accompanied my brother Jim to the North Sea Jazz Festival three times. He was the journalist, for Ireland’s only Jazz magazine, JazzNews, while I was supposed to be the photographer. I was as amateur as you could get, so it was really a period of trial and error, with heavy on the error. I believe the first year we attended was 1987: I took a lot of photos, but my skills were close to zero, and I used the wrong kind of film –daylight for mostly night (or enclosed place) shooting etc…– so imagine my horror when I had them developed… I was, however, in the process, around that time, of doing a little bit of photographic skills training. I later learned how to develop my own photos and I started to think of colour as strictly for tourists. If I was going to get the chance again, I would be not an amateur, but an auteur! Of course, for someone who also wants to really listen to and enjoy the jazz music being played, taking photographs while the action unfolds can be both exciting and annoying. Throw in intense and frustrating. But never boring. I had to think about f-stop, apertures, lighting, film speed and which lens to attach just as some jazz genius was creating a never-heard-before solo over some exotic rhythm or funky happening music. I had to bluff. We would be allowed up to the area right up at the stage and I would pretend I was a wunderkind with a lens. Blokes all around hawking lenses longer than my forearm, waist-coat vests stuffed full of film, smaller lenses and mysterious tools. One guy I remember looked like Jimi Hendrix –I’m talking about the photographers,not the people on stage– complete with Afro and moustache with attitude. Sometimes these would look at me –sizing me up, I thought, until one actually spoke to me: he asked me if I had any spare film. Only that.
Which reminds me: my biggest moment of stress concerned shooting Miles Davis. He was never easy to get, often standing with his back to the audience, being a cool conductor of his troupe. So there I am, banged up right against the stage, nearly eye-level with the players feet. And there’s the Man with the Horn, and he’s just beginning to turn round, and amble over to where we all hoped he would come. And didn’t he just! Yes, amazing, within a few brief strides, I could see that Miles Davis, living legend, would soon be right where we were, at the edge of the stage and wasn’t this a once-in-a-lifetime occasion to get off a few shots for the album. And yet, I was only feeling stress: I had only just discovered that my camera, a Pentax ME-Super, a wee beaut, had run to the end of the roll of 36 exposures (remember those things?)! I would have to rewind the film back and replace it with a new roll (which, ever the well prepared chap that I was, I had in abundance), and that would take me two minutes at least, fumbling away and looking like an eejit before the eyes of the world’s real auteurs of the photographic world, not to mention the Man himself. So, what else could I do? Yes, that’s right, as Miles Davis towered over us, and, at one point directly over my Irish head, blowing on his trumpet like a demon, I did what I had to do and bloody well pretended I had film in my camera, and shot away, looking like Bejaysus himself with a lens. Thankfully, because I managed to see him a few other times, I was able to capture an image or two in other less stressful circumstances.
I can never forget my time of proximity to the greats. Please enjoy checking out the few shots that have survived the ravages of Time.”
Martin Connolly
Jazz Greats Gallery
Miles Davis. North Sea Jazz Festival, 1990.
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Red Rodney. North Sea Jazz Festival, 1990.
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George Benson. North Sea Jazz Festival, 1990.
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Lester Bowie, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, North Sea Jazz Festival, 1990.
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Miles Davis. North Sea Jazz Festival, 1990.
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Wayne Shorter. North Sea Jazz Festival, 1990.
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Larry Coryell. North Sea Jazz Festival, 1990 (appearing with Wayne Shorter).
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Cab Calloway. North Sea Jazz Festival, 1989.
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Pat Metheny. North Sea Jazz Festival, 1990 (appearing with Jack DeJohnette,
Dave Holland, and Herbie Hancock).
Dave Holland, and Herbie Hancock).
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Stanley Clarke. London, 1989, in concert with George Duke.
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Taken during the performance of the concert which was made into the CD 'John McLaughlin Trio, Live at the Royal Festival Hall, November 27th 1989.' Kai Eckhardt and John. One of the all-time best concerts I have ever seen, with a sound which belied the fact that it was only three (Trilok Gurtu just out of shot.)
(Previously unpublished.)
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John McLaughlin. Soundcheck at Royal Festival Hall, November 27th, 1989.
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Portrait of Miles. North Sea Jazz Festival, 1990.
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Jaco Pastorius Tribute Band. Tetsuo Sakurai (bassist), talking to Gene Jackson (on drums), with Yuya Komoguchi (guitarist) looking on. December 11th, 2013. Other musicians were Toshiyuki Honda (on sax), and Ken'ichiro Shinzawa (on keyboards). Wonderful, amazing renditions of Jaco and Weather Report material. Motion Blue, Yokohama. (Photography was forbidden!)