Musicians
Here are a few photographs of musicians in NYC, most of whom I got to know personally. I began studying with the great percussionist Andrew Cyrille in his Times Square studio in 1975. I photographed him often and, having worked as a graphic designer earlier in my career, I designed some of his promotional materials. He kindly allowed me to begin on congas and after a year or so I added trapset. We remain friends to this day. After a year or so Andrew suggested that I might enjoy studying with the late Milford Graves in Jamaica, Queens which he arranged for me. Both Andrew and Milford — and indeed the entire “free jazz” world of musicians who had either recorded on the French BYG/Actuel label or those coming from Chicago (like the Art Ensemble) or St. Louis (BAG) who played extensively at places like Sam Rivers’ “Studio Rivbea”, Rashied Ali’s “Ali’s Alley”, The Brook (Charles Tyler’s loft) or The Tin Palace — ALL of these musicians were my heroes. To study and hang out with them was a dream come true for me. I also had an opportunity to study Jdembeh with Guinean master drummer Ladji Camara in his “Fort Apache” Bronx studio as well as Mridingam with Tanjore Ranganathan (briefly) at Wesleyan. (I had studied tabla at the University of Washington with Zakir Hussain in 1968.) The Mutuel Jazz Ensemble was my own free jazz ensemble. We often added Sam Feldman on 5-valve tuba and performed in lofts and venues in Spanish Harlem and elsewhere in Manhattan, etc.. I continue to study seriously and play music every day and have included some images from my musical adventures in the Seattle area and beyond. Please note that the title of each image appears or disappears in the lower left corner as you “hover” over the image with your cursor.