Thursday 7th November is publication day for this collection of jazz photography, in which seven Havana-based photographers shared the images they have capture over the years of the many Cuban and international jazz artists who have performed at Havana’s Jazz Plaza Festival. The book is coming out at the same time as London’s Jazz Festival, and an exhibition at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Havana of the work of these seven photographers.
These photographers present very personal, subjective views on the jazz performances that they document. The images themselves becoming silent participants int he events they show, demonstrating that without photography, jazz would not be the same. The book includes a Prologue by the founder of the Jazz Plaza Festival, himself a renowned musician featured in the photographs – Bobby Carcassés. And an Introduction by Pablo Rigal.
Abel Carmenate: “It was during the coverage of the 2010 International Jazz Festival in Havana that I discovered what an amazing source of inspiration comes from photographing the great Jazz musicians (Cuban and foreign), in the very act of performing. From that moment on, I have not ceased to be interested in photographically recording Jazz happenings, this being the best way that I have found to contribute to the enormous legacy that Jazz has left in Cuba, through many decades of musical creation.”
Xavier Carvajal: “For me it is impossible to go to any cultural happening without my camera. It is as if in whatever artistic event, the act of my being there and my camera merge into one. The world of Jazz could not be absent from this. Just as the music enervates and excites my spirit, my lens also seeks to vibrate in tune with the effort that the performance is showing – the pleasure or the dominion of the instrument shown by the musicians in the band, as much as the composition of the space or the contrast produced by the lights.”
Maité Fernández: “For me, Jazz is peace and harmony. I always try to recreate in my photos the same emotion I felt with that symbiosis of sounds. When I am at a concert, the enjoyment comes in two ways : the music; and capturing unique and unrepeatable moments, the details of the hands on the instrument.”
Elio Miniello: “Music recorded on vinyl, live shows in the Italian jazz festivals (Umbria, Pescara and Rocellalonica), the foundation of a Jazz Club, and culminating in the discovery of the incredible musical culture of Cuba, these were the steps that I climbed in the growth of my passion for Jazz, which has found visual expression, to this day, in photography.”
Enrique ‘Kike’ Smith: ” The single notion of capturing and taking with me a unique and unrepeatable moment, the naturalness of live spontaneity, is what keeps me photographing concerts.”
Gonzalo Vidal: “Roamingn about the stage, attently observing the musicians , crossing paths with a host of photographers searching for a good shot, this was and continues to be a unique experience. In a concert, I am hunting for the moment in which the musician or group offer me a different viewpoint, and if after taking hundreds of shots, the result leaves me with just a couple, then I feel fulfilled.”
Jorge Villa: “That climate of complicity and intimacy seduces me. Although there are hundreds of people in the room when I am behind the lens, I feel the musicians are only playing for me , and so I can capture every sublime, unforgettable moment – conveying in images the notes and silences.”
Publication date: 7th November 2024
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