As part of WBGO’s continuing celebration of the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records, the WBGO Gallery presents The Photography of Francis Wolff, an exhibition of iconic photographs by one of Blue Note’s founders, Francis Wolff, now through June 6th at the WBGO studios in the downtown Newark, New Jersey arts district. Wolff’s photographs capture the essence of the music and the musicians and the exhibition features jazz greats such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and more. The exhibit is on loan from Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York.
Francis Wolff was a professional photographer in Berlin when in 1939 he caught the last ship from Germany to America. He joined his boyhood friend, Alfred Lion, and together they built Blue Note Records into one of the great labels in jazz history. Wolff photographed almost every Blue Note Session from 1939 to 1967. He died in 1971 after having shot thousands of images, many of which have been established as classics. Francis Wolff never thought of his work as important or immortal, but merely as a resource for Blue Note to utilize for cover art. He is now widely recognized as one of the great artists of jazz photography.
To celebrate the exhibition, WBGO will host a reception on Thursday, May 28 (6 – 8 PM), which will include music and refreshments, and is open to the public. Michael Cuscuna, a key figure in the world of producing classic jazz record reissues, will be a special guest. Cuscuna, who played drums, saxophone and flute early on in his career, later wrote for Jazz and Pop Magazine and Downbeat. He became a producer for Atlantic in the ‘70s, working with Dave Brubeck and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. He has also worked with Motown, Freedom and Novus labels, reissued Impulse records for the ABC label, produced sets for Arista and Muse, and unearthed scores of important sessions for Blue Note. In 1983, Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie founded Mosaic, reissuing complete sessions in limited-edition box sets. He has been voted Producer of the Year in Downbeat's Critics Poll on several occasions.
On Wolff, Cuscuna states, “For two decades, Francis Wolff shot photographs of every jazz session that Blue Note Records made. He not only preserved a major part of jazz history, but with his remarkable eye, he captured amazing candid portraits of great artists that reveal the joy and intensity of jazz at the point of creation."
The WBGO studios and photo gallery are located at 54 Park Place in Newark. Visitors may view the exhibit during the week, Mon – Fri, from 9 AM to 5 PM until Friday, June 6.
WBGO would like to thank the Morrison Hotel Gallery, Michael Cuscuna, E&J Distillers, Barefoot Cellars and Whole Foods Millburn-Union for making this exhibit possible.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
