John Edwin Mason: Documentary, Motorsports, Photo History

Nikon Packs It In, iPhone Bails Me Out: Shooting a Sound Check with the Free Bridge Quintet and Hod O'Brien

No excuses.

When somebody gives you an assignment, you come back with photos.  No excuses.

So, yesterday evening, I'm shooting the sound check for the Free Bridge Quintet's concert "A Celebration of Dizzy Gillespie," and my Nikon D7000 decides that it doesn't want to autofocus with the Nikon 35/2 that I was using or with the Nikon 85/1.8 that I had in my bag.  Each and every image was off -- some by a lot, some by a little, but all unusable.  The only other lens that I brought to the gig was a Nikon 70-200/2.8, a lovely piece of glass, but not exactly the horse for the course.  Manual-focusing?  In dim light with the D7000's small viewfinder, that was simply not going to work.

But I had my iPhone with me.  Thank God.

 

Robert Jospe.  Sound check.  University of Virginia, 21 October 2011.  [All photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2011.  Click on any image to see a much larger version.]

I've sung the praises of the iPhone more than once.  Using the wonderful QuickPix app, I've even used it to shoot professional drag racing.  Seriously, check it out.

So, I had an idea that the iPhone might come to the rescue, but I also knew that it likes good light, the brighter and more even the better.  Bright and even doesn't come close to describing the light on the stage of the University of Virginia's Cabell Hall.

 

Pete Spaar.  Sound check.  University of Virginia, 21 October 2011.

Where the light on the stage is bright, it shines down from directly overhead, and sharp contrast between light and shadow would challenge any sensor or film.

 

Guest artist Hod O'Brien.  Sound check.  University of Virginia, 21 October 2011.

Mostly, however, the stage is darker than you'd want it to be, and faces are often in shadow.  None of this boded well for the iPhone, but I had no other choice -- use it or come back with nothing.  My other cameras were at home, far enough away that going to get them was out of the question.

 

John D'earth.  Sound check.  University of Virginia, 21 October 2011.

Turns out that the iPhone saved my behind.  The photos that you're looking at here have been lightly tweaked in Photoshop, but they didn't require more than an couple of minutes each to make them perfectly presentable.  I'm not going to print any of these at 20x20, but they'd make nice 5x5s.

 

Jeff Decker.  Sound check.  University of Virginia, 21 October 2011.

Yes, I should have had a backup body with me.  My D300 wasn't doing me any good lying around my house.  The D7000, however, is new and had performed well, up until last evening.  The D300, on the other hand, is battered and bruised, having seen a lot of heavy action at race tracks up and down the east coast.  It didn't seem possible that that I'd run into trouble during a simple 60-minute shoot.

It occurs to me that most of the shooting that I've done with the D7000 has been with lenses that have built-in autofocus motors.  I wonder if D7000s, in general, have trouble focusing with older lenses.  I'll be happy to hear from anyone who's had similar (or dissimilar) experiences with D7000s.

* * *

By the way, I stayed for the concert, and it was terrific.  Jeff, John, Robert, and Pete, all regular members of the Free Bridge Quintet, played up to their usual high standards.  Robert brought out the Latin side of Dizzy, Jeff occasionally went off in some gloriously soulful, gut-bucket directions, John was elegant, and the foundation that Pete laid down was as solid as rock.

Hod, who once spent many hours listening to Dizzy perform in New York clubs and who has played with everyone from John Coltrane to Oscar Pettiford to Stan Getz, offered a series of dazzling, rapid-fire solos.  But it was the gentle ballad that he played, accompanied by just bass and drums, that was the thriller of the evening.  Damn near brought tears to my eyes.

 

Celebrating Dizzy: The Free Bridge Quintet & Hod O'Brien, in Concert, 21 October 2011

It's short notice I know, but, folks, you'll want to hear this...  Tomorrow night, the Free Bridge Quintet will welcome guest pianist Hod O'Brien to the stage of the University of Virginia's Cabell Hall for a celebration of the life and music of Dizzy Gillespie.  The gig starts at 8:00, and, trust me, it's going to be terrific.

I've been singing the praises of both Hod, a charter member of "the underground of the jazz renowned," and the Free Bridgers for years.  Hod was a major force in New York's jazz loft scene, in the '50s and '60s, and he's still a monster musician.  Over the years, he's performed with the likes of Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Oscar Pettiford, and Stan Getz, to name just a few.  The members of the Free Bridge Quintet are all on the UVA's music faculty and are recording artists in their own right.  (The Quintet's regular pianist, Wells Hanley, is on leave this semester.)  Anyone within hailing distance of Charlottesville, Virginia -- and that includes both Washington, D.C., and Richmond -- will want to hear what these guys do with Dizzy's music.

 

 

For more information about the concert, contact UVA's music department box office at (434) 924-3376 or click here.

I'll leave with with this terrific sample of Hod's music-making.  In this video, he's playing an impromptu duet with the great young pianist Gerald Clayton.

 

 

Hod O'Brien and Gerald Clayton at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, New York City, 2011. 

Update, 22 October 2011:  Just a few days ago, WTJU -- Charlottesville's fine listener-supported radio station -- interviewed Hod during one of it's jazz programs.  It's great to hear him talk about Dizzy's music and about all the cats he's played with over the years.  You can listen in, here.

All Night Jazz Jam at Fellini's for the George Melvin Educational Fund

Last Saturday, the Charlottesville Jazz Society and Fellini's #9 (a great restaurant and my neighborhood pub) hosted an all night jazz jam session to benefit the George Melvin Educational Fund.  George, who passed away last year, was a truly beloved figure on Charlottesville's musical scene -- a wonderful teacher and mentor, and one of the great masters of the Hammond B3 organ.  The money raised will help students pay for lessons and instrument repairs, and it will allow the Jazz Society to provide resource packages to local schools.

 

 

John D'earth (trumpet) and Pete Spaar (bass).  23 July 2011.  [All photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2011.]

I didn't last much past midnight (the jam really did stretch into the wee, small hours of the morning), but I managed to hear some terrific music.

 

 

Devonne Harris.  23 July 2011.

But it wasn't just about the music.  I also ran into a lot of friends at the jam.  It seemed that everyone in Charlottesville who cares about jazz (and who cared about George) turned out to support the fund raiser -- musicians, fans, producers, radio hosts, writers, and at least one photographer.

 

 

Pete Spaar.  23 July 2011.

 

 

Donations were gladly accepted.  23 July 2011.

 

 

Michael Elswick (sax) and Graham Daby (drums).  23 July 2011.

 

 

Tommy Bibb (flugelhorn) and other members of Jazz Collective #9.  23 July 2011.

 

 

Bob Hallahan (left) and Gary Funston (right).  23 July 2011.

WTJU, a local radio station that airs a lot of jazz, was broadcasting from Fellini's during the jam.  Here Gary Funston interviews pianist Bob Hallahan, who performed during the jam.

 

 

Regggie Marshall.  23 July 2011.

Reggie is a booking agent with an impressive list of clients, including Cindy Blackman-Santana and Patricia Barber, both of whom I saw last March at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

 

 

Fans.  23 July 2011.

 

 

Jeff Decker (sax) and a band member.  23 July 2011.  [Update:  That's Jim Ryan on bass.  Many thanks to Gary Funston for the ID.]

Jeff opened his set with a brilliant, moving performance of "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime."  It was an unusual choice, but appropriate, on all sorts of levels.

(By the way, you probably noticed that I wasn't able to identify all the musicians by name.  If you can help, please shoot me an email or leave a comment.)

The Free Bridge Quintet @ the University of Virginia, 22 October 2010

(Note:  This post is appearing about two weeks after I had hoped that it would, so I'm going to ask you to pretend that it's still sometime in late October.)

The Free Bridge Quintet presented its fall concert, on the 22nd, and the whole evening was spectacular.   Top to bottom, start to finish, the band was simply on fire.  My guess is that the energy was coming from two sources.  First, the group was welcoming Wells Hanley, its new pianist, into its midst, making this concert an especially important event.  Second, the band was continuing its multi-year exploration of "The Art of the Quintet," performing classic repertoire by the likes of Richie Powell, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, and Horace Silver.  With tunes like that to work with, it's no surprise that there was a little magic in the air.

 

 
John D'earth, trumpet, and Jeff Decker, tenor sax.  [All photos copyright

John Edwin Mason, 2010.]

The quintet's front line of John D'earth and Jeff Decker was in typically fine form.  Both men also compose and lead bands of their own.  Towards the end of the concert, D'earth's gorgeous ballad "In Memory" almost made my heart stand still.

 

Wells Hanley, piano, John D'earth, trumpet. 

Like all of the quintet's members, Wells Hanley teaches in the University of Virginia's department of music.  (In both the quintet and at UVA, he's succeeding Bob Hallahan, who's left to take a position at James Madison University's school of music.)  Hanley's got chops to spare, no doubt about that.   He's also bringing a new sensibility to the group, one that's more open to influences from rock and other contemporary music.

 

 

Robert Jospe, drums, Jeff Decker, tenor sax.

Drummer Robert Jospe was in fine form, laying down propulsive grooves and adding a variety of complex textures to the band's sound.  Like D'earth and Decker, he leads a band of his own, when he's not playing with Free Bridge.

 

Jeff Decker, tenor sax, John D'earth, trumpet.

I was lucky enough to have been hanging out with the band during the sound check, just before the concert.  With no audience in the house, I could roam the stage with my Rolleiflex, looking for photographs (and occasionally finding them).

 

 

Pete Spaar, bass.

Pete Spaar has been anchoring the quintet since the beginning.  The first thing you notice about his playing is the rich, warm sound that he gets out of the instrument.  (Must be all that classical training.)  Then you start paying attention to his terrific technique.  But, in the end, it's his understated, yet inventive soloing that really gets your attention.

 

 

John D'earth, trumpet, Wells Hanley, piano.

So, the Free Bridge Quintet, Hanley edition, is off to a fine start.  But don't take my word for it.  Their next concert is in the University of Virginia's Old Cabell Hall, on Saturday, 2 April 2011.  You can check them out for yourselves.

Saturday Night @ Fellini's: John D'earth, Miles Griffith, & Stephanie Nakasian

It's the twenty-first century, and scientists still aren't very good a predicting when magic will happen.  Maybe they should talk to photographers, especially those who moonlight as historians.

I knew -- or, at least, I had a strong hunch -- that magic would happen last Saturday night at Fellini's #9, my neighborhood pub.   Miles Griffith, the brilliant New York-based jazz singer, was in town to perform in concert with the University of Virginia's Jazz Ensemble.  The best musicians in town would be there to see him.  Later that night, the Jazz Ensemble's director, John D'earth, was scheduled to play a late night gig at Fellini's.  Chances were awfully good Miles and some of his fans would show up and that they'd sit in with John's band.  Mix together heaping helpings of talent and post-concert energy, and something good was sure to happen.  Call it magic.

 

 

Miles Griffith sings, John D'earth listens, Fellini's #9, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1 May 2010.  (All photos copyright John Edwin Mason, 2010.  Click directly on any of the images to see larger versions.)

Miles's singing blends harmonically sophisticated improvisation, high-wire risk taking, and exuberant good humor.  It's wonderful, and there's nothing quite like it.

 

Miles Griffith, vocals, Bob Hallahan, piano, Pete Spaar, bass, Fellini's #9, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1 May 2010.

John's band included Bob Hallahan, on piano, and Pete Spaar, on bass.  Like John, both are members of the University of Virginia's music faculty.  Devonne Harris, who was sitting in deep shadows and isn't in these photos, was playing drums.  You couldn't ask for a better rhythm section.

 

Stephanie Nakasian and Miles Griffiths, Fellini's #9, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1 May 2010.

Stephanie Nakasian, who also teaches in the University of Virginia's music department, was one of the musicians who was at the concert to hear Miles and the jazz ensemble.  When Miles saw her at Fellini's, there was no question that they'd end up singing a duet, or three.

Stephanie Nakasian, Bob Hallahan, and Pete Spaar, Fellini's #9, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1 May 2010.

Stephanie's a major singer in her own right.  Just a couple of weeks ago, Terry Gross interviewed her on National Public Radio's Fresh Air.  You can listen to the interview (and hear Stephanie sing a couple of songs), here.

John D'earth, trumpet, Bob Hallahan, and Pete Spaar, Fellini's #9, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1 May 2010.

It's worth remembering that this was John's gig.  Besides being a miracle worker, as director of the jazz ensemble, he's a terrific trumpet player.  You can listen to him play with the Thompson D'earth Band by clicking, here.

Roberta Keil, the best bartender in town, Fellini's #9, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1 May 2010.

Last, but far from least, is Roberta, the barista who always keeps everyone happy.