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| The Jazz Gallery In New York City Opens 10th Anniversary Season The photo exhibit Los Musicos en Cuba, the initial visual arts component of The Jazz Gallery's 10th Anniversary Season, opens on Tuesday, September 6, 2005, with a reception from 6:00 -8:00 PM. The show brings together the work of three dedicated photographers - two Cuban and one American - who, in recent years, have focused their talents on portraying musicians in Cuba. Ernesto Dos Santos (b. Havana, 1970) has been working as a freelance photographer since 1998, and in recent years has caught the public's eye on the strength of a number of striking black and white images of jazz musicians performing in public venues in and around Havana. In both 2002 and 2004 he won First Prize in the Jazz Photo Contest sponsored by the Cuban Institute of Music and The Society of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). His photos have appeared in Rolling Stone (Spanish edition), Salsa Cubana and Prisma Internacional, among other publications, and he has had exhibitions at a number of galleries and public spaces both in Havana and in Santo Domingo. Dos Santos' work is broadly representative of the wide range of musicians, including American jazz musicians, active in Cuba in recent years. David Garten (b. New York City, 1954) has traveled frequently to Cuba since 1994 and his images have been published in a wide variety of magazines and newspapers in North America, Europe and Japan, including Jazziz, JazzTimes, Drum, Latin Beat, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Miami Herald. His work has also appeared in a number of books and on the CBS News magazine Sixty Minutes II. In addition, his photos have been shown in a range of galleries across the US and Canada as well as in Cuba where his most recent exhibit, in late 2004, was part of the 19th International Havana Ballet Festival. Garten's images in this exhibit give some idea of how determined he has been to seek out both leading members of the eldest generation of Cuban musicians as well as some of the country's most significant younger artists now breaking through to broader international recognition. Leslie Sinclair (b. Havana, 1976) has been a ubiquitous figure on the live music scene in Havana since the mid 90's. He has worked regularly with the magazine Salsa Cubana that first published his work, as well as with an expanding list of international publications like Jazz Magazine (France), The Guardian and The Times (UK). Since 1998 his work has appeared in a wide variety of galleries and public expositions in Havana, Washington D.C. and -- in the summer of 2005 -- Arles, France. Like his contemporary Ernesto Dos Santos, Sinclair's work has received awards from the Jazz Photo Contest sponsored by Cuba's Society of Writers and Artists. Many of his best jazz pieces are part of the permanent collections of, and on display in, Havana's two premier jazz venues -- La Zorra y el Cuervo and Jazz Café. He has been eager to represent major figures of the Cuban musical pantheon as well as their emerging heirs and those ! from other lands influenced by them. Given widespread and longstanding political problems between Cuba and the U.S., it may go without saying that mounting the present show has presented certain challenges. In the end, the many constraints that dwell in the gulf between Cuba and America serve to test the mettle and measure the depth of commitment of all artists whose aspirations -- explicit or implied -- are to bridge that gulf. The work displayed by the three photographers in this exhibit succeeds in the face of these constraints and reminds us of the insight voiced some years ago by Valerie Wilmer, that music like this is "...as serious as your life." The Jazz Gallery is located at 290 Hudson Street (below Spring), in lower Manhattan and can be reached by the IRT #1 train to Houston Street or the IND C or E trains to Spring Street. This event is free and open to the general public. The Jazz Gallery's performances are supported, in part, by a grant from The New York State Council on the Arts, Presenting Program, and by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, with additional support provided by Meet the Composer, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, and the National Endowment for the Arts. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |