John Edwin Mason: Documentary, Motorsports, Photo History

Hod O'Brien Trio: It Don't Mean a Thing

Seeing your photo on the cover of a new CD never gets old. (On the inside, too.) I just received my copies of Hod O'Brien's new CD, It Don't Mean a Thing, and really like the design and the way the photos from the recording session were reproduced. All photos... Read more →

Easter Sunday in Black Chicago, 1941: Russell Lee, Edwin Rosskam, & the Farm Security Administration

This is one of my favorite photos. I love the kids, the clothes, the car, and the moment. It's April 1941, Easter Sunday, and the five poised black boys are as much in control of the situation as is the photographer, a white man named Russell Lee. Russell Lee: Negro... Read more →

Hod O'Brien & Stephanie Nakasian at C'ville Coffee, 23 April 2010

If you're anywhere near Charlottesville, Virginia -- say, in Richmond or Washington, DC -- you owe it to yourself to stop by C'ville Coffee, tonight, to hear jazz greats Hod O'Brien and Stephanie Nakasian. The gig starts at 8 pm, and I can just about guarantee that the eight bucks... Read more →

Glenn Wilson & the University of Virginia Jazz Ensemble, 15 April 2011

Baritone saxophonist and Jazz Maniac Glenn Wilson is in town to lead a masterclass and play a concert with the University of Virginia Jazz Ensemble, tonight at 8:00, in the university's Old Cabell Hall. Yesterday evening, I heard Glenn and the band rehearse, and I can pretty much guarantee that... Read more →

Stacey Evans: Trainscapes

I've wanted to write about Stacey Evans' evocative and quietly moving new series Trainscapes ever since I saw some of the photos in a gallery last fall. It's a meditation on the American scene from the point-of-view of a railroad passenger -- landscapes and cityscapes photographed through the window of... Read more →

Cape Town Jazz Festival, 2011: Featured on African Lens

I'm happy to say that African Lens, a terrific web magazine that showcases photography from Africa, has just published a selection of my photos from the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. A brief article about the festival accompanies the photos. To see the photos and read the story, click here.... Read more →

Cape Town Jazz Festival, 2011: Esperanza Spalding

Esperanza Spalding's concert, last Saturday night, at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, was something of a puzzle. After easily winning the informal prize for best press conference earlier in the week, with her dazzling mix of wit, modesty, intelligence, and charisma, I and everyone I spoke to expected nothing... Read more →