Abdullah Ibrahim, 1998Abdullah Ibrahim, 1998
Womad Festival, Reading 1998
Journalist Sineeta asks the first question as I set up some lights in a tiny hotel room in Hyde Park. "What was it like to leave South Africa?" My heart sank. Abdullah said, "I cannot answer that. How can I answer that question?" He blew the interview. I was devastated. I loved his playing and had been really excited about the shoot. He took my hands, rested his forehead on mine and said that there would be another time. Eight years later at Womad, I got this shot.
Alison David, 1998Alison David, 1998
London Bridge, London 1998
Singing with Red Snapper at the time, she came along to the shoot with a wonderful level of concentration and settled in easily to the tough street location.
Andy Sheppard and John Parracelli, 2003Andy Sheppard and John Parracelli, 2003
Hotwells, Bristol 2003
John, the sweetest of guys was a little shocked by this image with him looking moody and tough but I like the feel of it. A cold steely blue sky day in Bristol, two great musicians and a Fiat Dino Coupe, same as the black version used by the mafia boss in the original 'Italian Job' I had no intension of making it all look like a Sweeney shoot but it just turned out that way.
Busi Mhlongo, 1996Busi Mhlongo, 1996
Borough Market, London 1998
This shoot produced so many pictures that I like, it was difficult to print only one, hence the two shown here. Busi gave a focus and a tireless energy to the shoot which was remarkable. I enjoyed the time with her especially the gentle portraits that I took later at the record label, Melt 2000 farm in Sussex.
Busi Mhlongo 2, 1996
Cedric Brooks, 2003Cedric Brooks, 2003
Ladbroke Groove, London 2003
Cedric Brooks joined the Skatalites after Rolando Alphonso the original sax player died and it was another great moment to be able to spend some time with a player like Cedric. It was a rambling afternoon on the west London streets sort of looking for locations but mostly just chatting. It's a pretty fabulous thing to here about the origins of Ska right from the source.
Chico Buarque, 1993Chico Buarque, 1993
The Lyceum, London 1993
We didn't really talk much. He was sat on a chair at rehearsals sometimes singing and at other times he would be more camera aware and try and pose a little but he was clearly preoccupied and with no knowledge of the complex and wonderful Portuguese language I could only assume that it was a difficult song for him. I finally managed to take a picture which seemed to touch on some part of what was going on in his mind that day.
Chris Bowden, 1991Chris Bowden, 1991
Rotherhithe, London 1993
Incredible saxaphone player. A true great, this shot was taken at such an exciting time with the London music scene so diverse and experimental. I'd met Chris down at Bar Rumba in the early days of the 'That's how it is' sessions with live music when I documented the first six months of the club run by Janine Neye with Giles Peterson and Patrick Forge at the decks. Chris played live a few times and I always thought that the atmosphere on those Monday nights was probably similar to the beebop scene in New York in the early forties. This picture was taken as part of the Freedom Principle tour to Japan. We shot it in Rotherhithe near the Thames. With it's dark moody past the location helped produce the atmosphere leading to this picture. Shot on beautiful Polaroid negative film, sadly no longer made.
Chris Bowden at Bar Rumba, 1994Chris Bowden at Bar Rumba, 1994
Bar Rumba, London 1994
Hot sweaty, tight jammed in can't breathe heart pumping centre of the universe Monday night action in town. Racing down to Bar Rumba at midnight through the blearing siren wailing darkness of south London to the tinsel town wet streeted fakeness of the west end and the 'That's How it is' sessions, Giles Peterson, James Lavelle, UFO, Patrick Forge, Roni Size spin, two months in and Galliano play the claustrophobic stage and tonight Chris Bowden plays with Bro Spry, Simon Richmond, Andrew Missingham and bass man Ike. Chris Bowden up there on stage, singing like an angel. Chris Bowden, 1994.
Courtney Pine and Cassandra Wilson, 1996Courtney Pine and Cassandra Wilson, 1996
Queensgate, London 1996
Maybe it's 1973 and Courtney has the funk, the only shoot with his full on afro and beautiful Cassandra Wilson. We all ran around the streets, laughing, Brit Pop was raging but right now Sly and the Family were with us.
Courtney Pine and Cassandra Wilson 2, 1996
Courtney Pine, 1988Courtney Pine, 1988
La Prison Club, London 1988
A dark moody dive in Stoke Newington, winter. Courtney is late, impossible traffic chaos and I'm jammed into the corner of the tiny stage, camera ready and the Mondesir brothers are playing to an increasingly hostile crowd. Eventually Courtney arrives, car breakdown, he's noticeably bothered at making people wait. He jumps up onto the stage, he doesn't even take his coat off but rips the soprano out of it's battered case and suddenly beautiful music fills the club, calming the crowd and softening the edge.
David Byrne, 1998David Byrne, 1998
Soho, London 1998
"Is that a fisheye lens?" enquires DB. "Pretty much" I say. "Oh great!" he says and immediately moves about the enclosed space as a dancer creating his own choreography. I follow him capturing his extreme movements, until he slows and stops. I take this shot. Later at the gig, I give him a metre long contact print, with all his moves on film. "Wild" he says.
Dee Dee Bridgewater and daughter Tulani, 2005Dee Dee Bridgewater and daughter Tulani, 2005
Barbican, London 2005
It's a tribute gig for Billy Holiday. Dee Dee Bridgewater is waiting to take the stage. Yolande Bavan starts singing 'For All We Know' We all stand back stage staring at a screen, silent in a state of awe. I take this picture of Dee Dee and her daughter Tulani just, before they start to cry.
Dennis Rollins, 1993Dennis Rollins, 1993>
Rotherhithe, London 1993
Another shot for the 'Freedom Principle' gigs in Japan. I'd never met Dennis before but we got on right away and that's great as it enabled me to get close. Shot again on glorious Polaroid negative film.
Denys Baptiste, 1999Denys Baptiste, 1999
Barbican, London 1999
This was a quick dressing room pre-gig shot which mostly included Denys and horn but when I looked at the pictures, this portrait stood out. I printed it with a more illustrative and abstract approach, in so doing it made a move away from the often literal style and opened the door to an increasingly more intuitive printing technique, which in turn enabled a faster and less clinical shooting method.
DJ Shadow, 1994DJ Shadow, 1994
London Bridge, London 1994
A lurking, uneasy Shadow in amongst the debris of one of the road tunnels that travel under the mainline station and take traffic off to Tower Bridge and Bermondsey. We wandered around the area for a while until this disused room appeared half way down. It felt right.
Don Cherry, 1990Don Cherry, 1990
Notting Hill, London 1990
Ten minutes of frantic magic, roaring humour, glowing charisma and edgy brilliance.
Dr John, 1994Dr John, 1994
Jazz Café, London 1994
Mac Rebennack was going through an ill period and it was a huge effort for him to get out into the cold street that day. The portrait I took of him in the club didn't feel right, so I asked him to step outside. He bought his snake head cane and his dark sense of humour with him.
Eliza Carthy, 1998Eliza Carthy, 1998
Islington, London 1998
Twenty three, wild and fantastic fun. She'd just released the Red Rice CD's and the tour gigs were incredible. A month later she played a traditional set at an old bar in Islington. As I walked in Miles the Tropic Record label AR guy came up and shoved a Guinness in my hand and said this gig will be great. Just Eliza and an acordian player, we could have been in a medieval theatre such was the old English steeped music. The longing and melancholy, hardship and toughness of life, so relevent still, but also the harmony, fun and merriment. A wonderful night.
Flora Purim, 1995Flora Purim, 1995
Camden Town, London 1995
Flora Purim as Frida Kahlo. Art director, Robin Brown persuaded her to do it for her forthcoming 'Speed of Light' release on the Melt 2000 label. She agreed but was apprehensive. For me it was simple, a case of one great icon playing another. It just had to be done. I shot on colour polaroid which made sense, but for the show I printed a black and white version.
Gilberto Gil, 1992Gilberto Gil, 1994
Brixton, London 1992
I'd turned up at the Fridge for a portrait session with the Brasilian singer Margareth Menezes which went really well producing a lovely picture. After she played I went back stage and bumped into Gilberto shortly due to perform, in an empty corridor lit by a single bulb. He agreed immediately to a quick shot, fantastic.
Herbie Hancock, 1994Herbie Hancock, 1994
Mayfair Hotel, London 1994
The previous day I had got stuck into a furious argument with Herbie over a sound check photo misunderstanding. He didn't know that I was taking the record label portrait of him the next day.
At the hotel I was dragged into the bar by the fun loving AR girl for a fierce bloody mary. I then walked into his room. It was completely full of people and Herbie shouted out, "Oh man, it's You!" I said "Yes" and proceeded to throw everyone out, at which point Herbie then yelled, "Oh man, what's your problem?" I said, "Why don't you tell me about 'Blow Up" We got talking about Antonioni's film and the music that Herbie wrote for it.
It was the London swinging sixties, centre of the universe. Herbie and Anonioni regularly had breakfast in a Soho café where the film maker would eulogise about the greatness of London culture and then lament the dreadful food. "Man that Italian dude was wild" From that moment the previous days hostilities disappeared and I managed to get this picture.
Hoxton Square, 1998Hoxton Square, 1998
Straight No Chaser Contributors Portrait, Hoxton Square, London 1998
We had Art Trane's classic Harlem shoot in mind when we did this and originally I was going to use the front of the the SNC offices in Hoxton Square as I was only expecting about twenty people to turn up. But as Hoxton Square filled up in the lovely summer sun I had to shift the location to Coronation Street at the west side to accommodate the 100 plus people that appeared. What a show. I used an old 10x8 inch plate camera with no shutter so the exposures where made by taking a cover off the lens for a second and popping it back. I asked everyone to keep as still as possible otherwise they would be blurred and it's fun looking at the image and noticing that most of the high energy and bored kids are on the move. A really wonderful and fun day in Hoxton.
IDJ Jerry, 1998Hoxton Square, 1998
The old Yugoslavian Embassy, London 1988
It's 1988 and the rave scene has exploded, the summer of love is on us. I get the chance to set a mood for my first 'Straight No Chaser' shoot and use the baroque elegance of the ex embassy building on Kensington Gore to capture extraordinary Jazz dancers, The Brothers in Jazz and IDJ Jerry. Exploding energy. Un-containable brilliance, the space becomes a theatre, a set of shapes and patterns that gets explored with an intensity and power that creates such dazzling beauty the building pumps and shakes and Jerry spirals over a checkered marble floor.
Intethelelo Yabazal Wane, 1994Intethelelo Yabazal Wane, 1994
Johannesburg 1994
It's 4am and Intethelelo is right on it singing in a way that was drenched in the spirit of South Africa. Later that day as Paul Bradshaw and I were chatting to some young guys at a party in Soweto, one of them said ''We want white people to come and live here, we want multicultural integration" Given the horrendous effects of apartheid, it was a humbling experience that we should be invited to their home. An afternoon that has left a long lasting impression on me.
Jazzy Jeff, 2002Jazzy Jeff, 2002
Johannesburg, 2002
Five days in Johannesburgburg for a ten minute shoot. Management, record label, artist disagreements and internal scrapping meant that the fabulous potential of a day's photography in the bush with maybe a Joshua Tree reference went out of the mud window. Wonderful and cool journalist Maxine Kabuubi managed to grab occasional moments to produce a fine article and under a surge of tenacious pressure I grabbed JJ and whisked him off for an intense and edgy shoot, outside the hotel. It's depressing when there is such a chance to produce extremely powerful work but that chance is trashed through reasons beyond control. Having said that, I like the shot. This picture is dedicated to the memory of Maxine who tragically died at such a young age.
Joanna MacGregor, 2001Joanna MacGregor, 2001
St Katherine's Dock, London 2001
On my mates Thames sailing barge surrounded by a make shift studio, virtuoso pianist Joanna MacGregor, a dazzling and colourful presence is sitting for a portrait. Her conversation careers from complex musical compositions to everyday ordinariness and having fun. The barge interior has a major impact on the mood. It's a safe haven, a timeless space. Boundaries disappear and the hours pass without worry.
Joanna MacGregor, 2007Joanna MacGregor, 2007
A second shoot with the phenomenal pianist Joanna MacGregor, produced a more iconic image in keeping with her meteoric rise in world music. Her stable of Bach, Beethoven and Messian has been added to by a fascinating and diverse series of collaborations from Chinese dance to sax supreme Andy Sheppard and somehow fitting in Director of the Bath festival.
Joyce, 2000Joyce, 2000
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 2000
Another fun shoot in Rio, with Joyce an edgy and slightly sntimidating life force. I fumbled around for ages trying to think of something to do with such an articulate and brilliant artist. The light changed and Joyce started to laugh I simply asked her to think of Rio and how much she loved it.
Kurt Wagner, 2001Kurt Wagner, 2001
Kensington, London 2001
"I used to lay floors until my knees started hurting, then I formed the band" Yet another wonderful soulful musician, "Come to the gig tonight, it's in a little Church, just a warm up for Shepherds Bush. We're gonna sit around on the floor and play guitars for anyone who wants to come and listen". That's why Lambchop are such a soulful band.
Leon Thomas, 1998Leon Thomas, 1998
Jazz Café, London 1998
Big, powerful, charismatic, open, funny. A huge wonderful personality and now sadly gone. The gig was charmed, the crowd enraptured. A storyteller of great magnitude and soul.
Linton Kwesi Johnson, 1991Linton Kwesi Johnson, 1991
Brixton 1991
He phoned me and said, "I want to see the pictures from the shoot, come round tomorrow" I liked his house immediately and I liked Linton. He had a graceful air of soulful kindness about him. We sat down, drank tea and looked at the pictures. Before I left, I took this shot of him in his living room.
Macy Gray, 1999Macy Gray, 1999
Lee Valley Studios, London 1999
A quick and harmonious shoot, where Macy was as relieved as I was to get away from the revolting t/v show and it's vile producer that her management had unknowingly got her involved in, over by the moronic big brother studio, lost in it's sycophantic world. In that crowd Macy stood out like the world's last Snowy Leopard, beautiful and full of random energy. I think she gave more to this shoot in ten minutes than an entire day of that mediocre t/v machine.
Max Roach, 1989Max Roach, 1989
Cheltenham Jazz Festival 1989 He spoke as he played, intense focused and brilliant. An early shot for me when I loved the documentary fly on the wall approach. Fans were bashing on the door as the camera clicked.
McCoy Tyner, 1999McCoy Tyner, 1999
Kings Cross, London 1999
This was a shoot that SNC's Paul Bradshaw came along to and we pretty much took the shots and interviewed at the same time just wandering around Battle Bridge Road for an hour or two. It was quiet that day and the open road seemed as a stage to McCoy and he made a performance for us that was fascinating because whilst he pondered a question he would gaze into his extremely diverse and creative past enabling this picture to happen.
Miles Davis, 1989Miles Davis, 1989
London 1989
It was an early job for the mag. The brief was to get something more than the up the nose shot. Difficult as RFH policy was front centre of stage and two tunes only for press. Nobody had been granted an interview, so the live photo was all anyone would get. I arrived late, met a young and nervous stage manager, who asked me to stand in the wings of the stage as it was pandemonium down at the front. An incredible decision and totally against policy. Hidden from view, with only a Steinway for company, I watched Miles walk on stage and start playing. At this time I had little knowledge of his stage choreography in that he would often perform with his back or profile to the audience. On this occasion he spent the entire gig in profile to the audience, staring straight into the wings where I stood. I rested on the grand using the reflection of the closed polished lid to create a hovering composition, shot a roll of film, put down the camera and watched a wonderful icon play.
Nina Simone, 1997Nina Simone, 1997
Barbican, London 1997
The atmosphere is brooding, dark, mesmeric, unsettling and powerful. Nina Simone. So charismatic. I turned on a couple of table lamps. She said, "You may take my picture now, young man".
Nitin Sawnhey, 1999Nitin Sawnhey, 1999
Crucifix Lane, London 1999
Nitin turned up at the London Bridge location, a mass of old brick railway tunnels, with a passion and focus that made the shoot really fun. "I shot a promo here last month" "Did you act or play" "Both" he laughed. "Great, how about acting for stills?" I got this shot.
Oumou Sangare, 1991Oumou Sangare, 1991
Hampstead Heath, London 1991
I'm driving a tiny car with tall, beautiful and majestic Oumou Sangare jammed into the front with her magnificent robes spread around and we're heading up to Hampstead. The record label guy, squashed into the no seats back is giggling as onlookers peer in, curious as to why African royalty has ditched the limo. She walks out onto Parliament Hill, holds out her arms and sings.
Africa 2, 1994Africa 2, 1994
This is a piece that I made from a shoot for Real World Records, for the cover of the Pan African Orchestra's Opus 1 release. There were twenty five musicians in all, too many for a single composition, so I set up a temporary studio in a derelict barn in the beautiful studio grounds and photographed everyone individually, producing a powerful set of portraits that then became the basis for the CD sleeve artwork. After I returned from South Africa in the winter of 1994, I wanted to make a work that somehow captured an element of my experience there, of the wonder and resilience of the people I met. I selected eight images from the shoot at Real World and made these works.
Perry Louis, 1996Perry Louis, 1996
I have photographed Perry many times in or out of a club scene and mostly with his incredible jazz dance company, Jazzcotech. His virtuosity is unmatched it's great working with him as I really feel that time has stood still as the origins of jazz dance go back along way and yet there is still huge interest in it. This shot shows Perry on location in a now closed off British Rail location and was one of the first I shot of him around London Bridge.
Pharaoh Sanders, 1996Pharaoh Sanders, 1996
Regent's Park, London 1996
I'd seen Pharoah play at the Jazz FM weekender at Camber sands in 1990 and been amazed at his power and energy, and I jumped at the chance to photograph him and thoroughly enjoyed his humour as he pretended to be one of his band members when we were trying to set up the interview and shoot. A tougher shot was published but this one was always my favourite as I felt it caught the presence of his sense of mischief and fun.
Randy Weston, 2001Randy Weston, 2001
St Pancras Station, London 2001
We roamed around St Pancras for a while and Randy constantly talked, a random stream of thoughts and pictures. At times strangely he reminded me of a past life, of a great pianist in '60's London, a place of extraordinary diversity, cold war action, how did St Pancras look when Michael Caine made The Ipcress File? Randy had an ease about him that made me realize how much he kept hidden and when back at the hotel I shot this picture, I knew I had only scratched the surface.
Red Snapper, 1998Red Snapper, 1998
London Bridge, London 1998
Another fabulous raw urban industrial location that seemed to suit the band well. At one point I was over in London Bridge all the time as I had studio in Clink Street before all the re-development of Borough Market and this shot was a direct reference to the great American photographer Irving Penn.
Reggie Young, 2004Reggie Young, 2004
Nashville, USA 2004
Ace film maker and DJ, Don Letts and I were in Dan Penn's garage interviewing, filming and photographing musicians for Ross Allen's Casual Records. Reggie Young who was playing guitar on one or two trackscame in. "What was the first record you played on Reggie" "Oh well the Elvis Memphis record" Dan and I looked at each other. "You mean you played that guitar riff on Suspicious Minds?" "Yeah" I did Dusty's Memphis record as well" "You mean you did 'Son of a Preacher Man' ?" "Yeah, it was great" "WOW!" Immediate self portrait with Don, Reggie and myself. Then I just had to ask Reggie to show us his hands. It's a cliché I know but sometimes when a hero is present any effort to remain cool just disappears. Don and I were like screaming kids at a James Brown gig LEAD GUITAR ON SUSPICIOUS MINDS!
Robert Wyatt, 2001Robert Wyatt, 2001
Louth, England 2001
After the shoot we went back to Robert's house, where Alfie, his wonderful painter wife, was rustling up pizza for us all. I persuaded her to sit with Robert for a portrait. She held her long dark hair in front of her face and with Robert roaring with laughter said, "No one gets to see this picture, right?" I printed one copy and sent it to them.
Roni Size and DJ Krust, 2000Roni Size and DJ Krust, 2000
Bristol Docks 2001
"Why are you in such a bad mood, Roni?" "We won a Mercury with the last album. The press had us on all the covers. Now no one is interested and even SNC is not putting us on the cover" He had a point. I said "But often editor Paul Bradshaw changes his mind about covers. The following night we all went to the gig at the Fridge, incredible, no wonder they got a Mercury. Paul put him on the cover.
