The Jazz of Art
Music, Paintings, Dylan and Dilys
The current issue of American Scholar, the arrival of which brightened my Monday, pointed me to an exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, a perpetually interesting institution that originated an exhibition of Edward Hopper I would have loved to have seen a few years ago.
The accompanying magazine essay by Steve Yarbrough is a great counter melody to the original theme of the images themselves and is well worth a thoughtful read.
Which got me to thinking about some of my favorite art and photography images from the world of jazz. Most of these are album covers (you may need to explain the concept of an “album” to youngsters in your home) and they never fail to get a rhythm going in my mind.
In no particular order:
Al DiMeola’s album Cielo e Terra from 1985.
Brad Mehldau, Highway Rider from 2010, photo by Richard Misrach.
Poster from the film Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary.
Crystal Silence from Gary Burton and Chick Corea, 1973.
Pat Metheny and John Scofield, I Can See Your House from Here, 1994.
Maynard Ferguson’s New Vintage, 1977. Photo by Ulf Skogsbergh
Star People by Miles Davis. Cover art by Miles Davis, 1983
Wynton Marsalis, The Majesty of the Blues, 1989. Art by Henri Matisse, Icarus, from the illustrated book Jazz.
Perhaps no modern artist is more associated with jazz than Romare Bearden. Here is the cover from Branford Marsalis’s album Romare Bearden Revealed, 2003.
From the aforementioned Virginia Museum of Fine Arts show, here is a non-jazz collage by Bearden, Three Folk Musicians, 1967.
I’m going to cheat here including this in a jazz article, but I can’t help but think Bearden was heavily influenced by Picasso’s Three Musicians, 1921. It’s also not a huge stretch to think Picasso might have encountered quite a bit of jazz in Paris during the 20s and 30s. The musician on the left is clearly playing a clarinet/saxophone. Also note the dog’s tail between the legs of the guitar player/harlequin.
Whenever I see this painting, this theme always runs through my mind.
I could easily list two dozen more and depending on my frame of mind that day, the selections above might or might not make the list.
Extended Solos:
“You just point the camera at him and things happen.” The most iconic American Nobel laureate since Papa Hemingway.
A long overdue tribute to the creator of the first mystery bookstore.
For all those WFH warriors, from Morning Brew.
