In celebration of the 75th anniversary of Blue Note Records, the Kennedy Center is working with digital learning organizations around the country to explore the music, history and impact of this important cultural resource.
Developed by ARTSEDGE -- the Kennedy Centerâs digital learning project -- the Blue Note Experiment asked young people to explore and extend the Blue Note aesthetic. Participating organizations include the Digital Youth Network, Northwestern Universityâs FUSE Studio, DesignPrep at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, and the Hirshhorn Museumâs ARTLAB+. Young people from each organization will attend Jazz- and photography events at the Kennedy Center, and see their work integrated into the Blue Note @ 75 exhibition in the Centerâs Hall of States.
Working with an all-star lineup of jazz musicians, Blue Note founder Alfred Lion and sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder are credited with creating a âBlue Note sound.â Through the talents of Francis Wolff, the labelÂ
developed a âBlue Note look,â as well. Wolffâs black-and-white photographs captured performers in ways that linked lasting images with the music, and have helped define jazz style to this day.
The Partnership
Francis Wolff and Alfred Lion had been childhood friends and shared a love of American jazz. Wolff trained as a commercial photographer as a young man in Berlin. But he fled Germany in 1939, getting out as his fears about Nazi persecution and violence toward Jews were turning into nightmarish reality.
Once in New York, Wolff joined Lion in the Blue Note venture. He took on much of the business endâproduction, accounting, marketing, distributionâfreeing Lion to concentrate on the artistic. The partnership played to each of their strengthsâLion the energetic go-getter, Wolff the quiet, steady presence. Said Ruth Lion, Alfredâs wife: âThey knew what each other was thinking before they had to speak âŠ. They were close, close friends.â
Picturing Jazz
Wolff, though, had not lost his photographerâs eye. He enjoyed the energy and mood he saw in the recording studio and began to document it. He would shift around the musicians and their gleaming instruments, sometimes kneeling or laying on the floor, peeking from under the piano or music stand, freezing moments in black-and-white with a snap of the shutter. He photographed virtually every recording session in Blue Noteâs early history.
Most musicians were amused by Wolff snapping away around them, and after a while he disappeared into the background. A few times, though, his camerawork interfered with the studio session itself: âFrank,â Lion would shout in his German accent, âyouâre clicking on my record!â
Wolff was creating a fascinating photographic record of the top artists of modern jazz. But it wasnât just who he captured on film, but how. In the dimly lit world of the recording studio, Francis Wolff embraced the interplay of light and shadow, angle and reflection, expression and mood. He made jazz musicians look particularly beautiful and mysterious, like high priests practicing a mystical art.Â
In many instances, faces, hands, and instruments seem to emerge from a black velvet background. There is the shot of a young Miles Davis, lounging with closed eyes as he brings his trumpet to his lips. There is a pensive John Coltrane sucking on what appears to be his saxophone reed (itâs actually a lollipop), an arm cocked behind his head. There is Lee Morgan punching a high note on his âbentâ trumpet, and Art Blakeyâs sweat and concentration as his sticks flash over the drums. Thelonious Monk is caught leaning over his keyboard in one of his funky hats; Grant Green flashes a knowing smile behind his guitar; Sonny Rollins stands with his tenor sax and sunglasses, looking both imposing and impossibly cool.Â
Here are the jazz giants of their time warming up, playing, consulting, concentrating, trading jokes, reading each otherâs eyes, even battling boredom. And taken together, the photos reveal the family-feel and camaraderie that helped make Blue Note Records a special place to create.
In the beginning, Wolffâs in-session photos had been more or less a personal hobby. Occasionally, his photographs appeared in advertisements for the label. Then in the mid-1950s, the company began adding his images to the album covers. It added visual style to accompany the jazz within.Â
More recently, Wolffâs finest photos have been reprinted in books that celebrate the artistry of his work. Each one captures a remarkable moment, and as a collection they create a visual testament to Blue Note Records and modern jazz.Â
How did Drew Xeron recapture the Francis Wolff look?
Photographer Drew Xeron tells us a little about the process of recreating Francis Wolff's iconic style, with Blue Note Recording Artist and Kennedy Center Artistic Adviser for Jazz, Jason Moran as the subject of the Blue Note Experiment's record album cover.
ARTSEDGE: How did you go about trying to recapture the Francis Wolff âlook?â
Xeron: Francis Wolff shot in film. His style was very raw and gritty. To recreate this look I had to finesse a combination of creative lighting, camera settings, as well as angles. We used a high wattage stage light from behind to create a lens flare.
ARTSEDGE: What equipment did you use, and what were your camera settings?
Xeron: We brought a couple older high wattage stage lights along with the actual stage lights at the Kennedy Center. I shot this with a Canon Rebel T3i. While the T3i is a camera you will find in the hands of most tourists, it creates a hi res image with 18 megapixels. Paired with a Canon 70-200 is 2 lens (around $2500) it was more than sufficient to get the job done.
My average setting for this shoot was about 800 iso F top set at 4 and 1/80.
ARTSEDGE: How do you work with an artist who is used to being photographed, but isnât necessarily a model?
Xeron: Photographing people in general I follow a simple formula. Find a common bond, a comfort zone with your subject in a very short amount of time. Being a portrait photographer requires camera skills, but equal parts human skills. If your subject is comfortable around you, you will have a much better success rate of capturing them at their best. Keep them calm and relaxed. Even laughing if you can.
ARTSEDGE: How do you choose when to actually press the shutter button? What motivates that decision?
Xeron: Knowing exactly when to press the shutter button is something that is zero percent technical, and 100% artistic. The beauty of capturing what only YOU see at that precise moment, is why I love my profession. You can't learn this in any books. It's a very primitive form of expression, yet still one of the best ways to capture someone's spirit in a photo. For me it's harnessing all the energy between you and your subject and going completely on instinct. There is no right and wrong time to capture an image. Your subject is your inspiration, and you are the artist. I never put boundaries around my work.
In the 1950s, Blue Note Records experimented with adding another element to its identityâsuper cool album art.Â
After more than 10 years in the industry, Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff had come to realize they werenât just selling records, they were marketing an experienceâa style, a look, a sense of boundary-busting creativityâas well as the sounds of modern jazz. Art on the 12-inch-square album covers offered a chance to present expressive images and design to match the music.
In 1956, Lion hired the artist to fulfill the vision: Reid Miles. Miles, who had created graphic design for Esquire magazine, might have seemed an unlikely candidate for the job. By his own admission he was not a jazz fan. In fact, he traded away his complimentary copies of Blue Note records for the classical music he preferred. Instead of trusting his own ears, he came to rely on Lionâs descriptions of the music to power his design ideas.
Like a jazz master, though, Miles could take a couple cues and improvise an entire creation. He built designs from big, block letters (Unity, Larry Young) and by stringing small script through abstract art (Patterns in Jazz, Gil Melle). Art Blakeyâs tinted, somber profile might fill the space (Moaninâ, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers), or a portrait could be tucked into modern design elements (Hub-Tones, Freddie Hubbard). Miles had free use of Wolffâs fantastic photos from Blue Note studio session. Just as often, though, he emphasized geometric patterns and letters that echoed the pop art styles of the 1950s and 1960s. He followed where his imagination led.
Made in honor of Blue Note's 70th anniversary, this video recreates a number of iconic album covers in motion...The video was directed by Bante (real name Stefano Tinti), and stars Moussa Kaba and the Fox Terrier Ultimo.
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