Mosaic Records Releases
Blue Note 75th Anniversary Portfolio
Featuring Seven Photo Series by
Label Co-Founder Francis Wolff
Mosaic Records
has made a profound impact upon the jazz marketplace with its
unparalleled boxed sets, but there is another aspect of the Mosaic brand
that is equally important. Mosaic Images maintains the complete collection of the art of the peerless photographer and co-founder of Blue Note Records, Francis Wolff.
His brilliant imagery is as much a part of the Blue Note mystique as
its wonderful music, and in conjunction with the iconic label's 75th
anniversary, Mosaic has assembled the Blue Note 75th Anniversary Portfolio,
a commemorative portfolio of seven of Wolff's most outstanding
photographs of artists from the label's classic era. Nothing posed,
everything in the purity of the moment, yet every image is so impeccably
balanced that it looks like Wolff could have spent hours framing it.
Art Blakey,
drum master and founder of the Jazz Messengers - one of the music's
most important "universities" - is perfectly framed by cymbals, snare
and toms, his face in concentrated intensity as he presses his elbow
into his snare to get the ideal pitch for the drumstick poised to
strike.
The ice-hot turbulence of the immortal Miles Davis
is caught in a moment of relaxed focus, the model of the cool attitude
that he embodied in that era as he blows smoothly into his trumpet. Horn
bent forward in his familiar manner, framing J.J. Johnson in the
background, and casually but elegantly dressed as always.
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Herbie Hancock
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A young Herbie Hancock,
one hand hovering over the piano keys, looks over his shoulder; his
eyes, viscerally communicative behind his glasses, clearly sending a
meaningful look of unspoken instruction to whoever was its recipient.
The utterly singular Thelonious Monk
at his first session as a leader, sitting calmly in front of the piano,
pointing to his musicians to drive home a concept; the shadow of his
body and arm smears against the wall behind him and wraps itself around
his chest in a gentle embrace.
Horace Silver,
one of Blue Note's signature artists, bent forward over the piano, his
ultra-long fingers poised to strike, wisps of hair dangling over his
forehead and deep shadows making transforming his eyes into endlessly
deep pools of smoldering heat.
Jimmy Smith,
who redefined the B3 organ's modern jazz vernacular in a series of
groundbreaking Blue Note albums, is captured at a Philadelphia club,
huge hand spread like a lion's paw ready to viciously strike, his face
contorted in a rage of agonized joy, screaming to match those of the
audience that were undoubtedly accompanying him in the fury.
From the legendary Blue Train session, the magnificent John Coltrane
preaching through his tenor in brooding profile, with Curtis Fuller in
the background, his eyes framed between the neck of the tenor and his
trombone's slide. The photo splendidly captures the intense depth of
Trane's vision as he focuses on that miraculous place that only he could
see.
Francis
Wolff's genius was his innate ability to portray every aspect of the
making of music - playing, discussing, looking over charts, sharing a
joke, relaxing between takes - and simultaneously depicting the essence
of the musicians with the clarity and depth of Yousuf Karsh. Even more
remarkably, he was able to do this with an almost voyeuristic privacy
that simply seemed to go unnoticed by the subjects of his artistry. The
moments he froze in posterity are so sublimely real and immediate that
they make the viewer feel exactly what it was to have been there at that
very moment, sharing in an intimacy that is incredibly enriching and
transcendent.
This limited edition portfolio (only available through December 31, 2014)
comes in a fine, hand-made folio designed as a stylish brief, with a
folded-over flap secured with a magnetic closure. They are constructed
of archival binder board (.098), bound in smooth, black, linen-textured
fabric. The lining is of acid-free paper in bright white. Each folio
contains a vellum sheet commemorating Blue Note Records' 75th
Anniversary with information about all 7 photographs. These 11" x 17"
fine art prints with an image size of 10" x 10" are made with archival
pigment inks on 100% acid-free Hahnemuhle watercolor paper with a matte
finish.
This limited edition set is available exclusively from Mosaic Records.
complete track listing and discography.
For media information, please contact:
DL Media · 610-667-0501
Maureen McFadden · maureen@dlmediamusic.com
Don Lucoff · don@dlmediamusic.com
Information and press materials (including album covers, promotional photos
and bios) on all DL Media artists can be found at our website: dlmediamusic.com
Serving the finest in jazz since 1988
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