The DUREV gallery space presents, in association with Jazz Magazine, “Jazz To Remember”, a selection of the most beautiful photographs from the archives of the magazine which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. Pascal Anquetil writes.
“There is no love, there are only proofs of love” wrote the poet Pierre Reverdy. We can paraphrase this adage by saying: “There is no jazz, there are only proofs of jazz”, those that each musician gives at each concert in the moment’s risk. We can have fun extending the aphorism: “There is no jazz photo, there are only jazz prints”, black and white prints on paper which act as “revealers” of a truly photogenic musical world. Jazz is a music that can be seen and read in the bodies of the musicians, their gestures, their hands, their postures, their gait, their gaze, their intimate relationship with the instrument, etc.
As proof, all the photos from this exhibition: the backlit profile of Monk facing the tenor of Charlie Rouse (masterpiece by Guiseppe Pino); Keith Jarrett with his head buried in the bowels of his piano; the solitude of Ben Webster in his dressing room before a concert; Stan Getz resting on a bed in a hotel room with his saxophone on his stomach; Dizzy Gillespie blowing, into his bent trumpet, his cheeks inflated like balloons, etc.
Looking at this entire gallery of portraits, let’s not forget William Claxton’s enlightened advice: “Listen to my photos with your gaze, with your eyes.”
Pascal Anquetil
Jazz Magazine will celebrate its 70th anniversary on May 27 at the Théâtre du Châtelet with a “Women in Jazz” concert, a tribute to the women who make jazz today.
Jazz To Remember
from April 10 to May 11, 2024
DUREV
56, Boulevard de La Tour-Maubourg
75007 Paris
www.durev.com
