You know when you have those moments in life when you think there must be more than just going to work everyday, I must be good at something…..I had photographed a few gigs locally but I was still looking to find myself photographically, I had not photographed for a good 20 years. I had this memory of an Athena poster I had on my wall when I was in my late teens early twenties, It was photograph by Goeff Stern of a Jazz dancer shot by a railway arch in London wearing a Mark Powell suit. Funny enough I ended up photographing Mark Powell some years later for an article in Rake magazine. “see below”
I digress, the feel and the mood of the poster was just so cool it made me want to know more about Jazz. I popped into Our price records in Basildon and picked up a copy of Miles Davis – Around Midnight, around the same time I had started to use a record shop in Upminster called Crazy Beat Records run by a Dj from Grays, Gary Dennis. A real vinyl pusher of the deadliest kind. He knew his customers and would present you with a pile of records as you entered, also dropping the finest tracks on the turntable at the same time. He had a great selection of dance floor jazz that was buzzing at the time, as it turned out with an Italian vibe from labels like Right Tempo, Schema and London’s very own Acid Jazz. At this point the camera was put away and I just wanted to dance and DJ. I was so blinkered I did not even think of combining the two, even with some of the Totally Weird album covers with rich black and white shots of jazz dancers at Dingwalls. Fast forward god only how many years and I find myself sitting on the toilet soul searching trying find out where my life was I heading. A few months previous I had purchased a new digital camera, nothing flash but still a good camera. I was kind of exploring taking photos again but it was like going back to page one of photography, it had been so long. ‘Had it been so long or had I just never found my stride in the first place, I think it was the latter.’
Over the years I had played about with my laptop to create mixed images I had framed on my wall by my record collection, mainly scanned from different music publications like ‘Straight No Chaser’. I googled Straight no chaser to see if it was still being published and found ‘Ancient to Future’. This was the new venture Paul Bradshaw was involved with. I ended up reading about a up and coming gig at St Georges Hall, Bloomsbury. ‘Im going to photograph some jazz’ I thought. A few emails later and I was on the list, fucking hell that was easy I thought. The gig was “Nexus jazz warriors International” the rest they say is history! This was my first Jazz Gig. The performance involved Adriano Adewale, Rowland Sutherland & Robert Mitchell and presented by Bonnie Greer.
On this evening I was approached by Michael Edwards who turned out the be the most gentle giants I’ve ever come across. He asked if he could see the photographs once they where ready. It was a life changing direction, I’m still not sure if it was for the right direction. Michael had be writing for UK Vibe for years, it would turn out to be a partnership that lasted a good few years. I ended up photographing a few nexus gigs at St Georges a met some fantastic musicians and photographers who I’m still friends with today.
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