Veryl Oakland’s “Jazz in Available Light” — photos (and stories) of Stan Getz, Sun Ra, and Carla Bley

May 5th, 2019

.

.

.
Jazz in Available Light, Illuminating the Jazz Greats from the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s is one of the most impressive jazz photo books to be published in a long time.   Featuring the brilliant photography of Veryl Oakland — much of which has never been published — it is also loaded with his often remarkable and always entertaining stories of his experience with his subjects.

With the gracious consent of Mr. Oakland — an active photojournalist who devoted nearly thirty years in search of the great jazz musicians — Jerry Jazz Musician regularly publishes a series of posts featuring excerpts of the photography and stories/captions found in this important book.

In this edition, Mr. Oakland’s photographs and stories feature Stan Getz, Sun Ra, and Carla Bley.

 

.

.

All photographs copyright Veryl Oakland.  All text excerpted from Jazz in Available Light, Illuminating the Jazz Greats from the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s 

.

You can read Mr. Oakland’s introduction to this series by clicking here
 

.

.

_____

.

.

STAN GETZ (Stanley Gayetsky)

tenor saxophone

Born: February 2, 1927

Died: June 6, 1991

.

.

© Veryl Oakland

After finishing a vigorous swim in the Mediterranean Sea, Stan Getz relaxes on the beach in front of his hotel in Antibes, France

.

 

___

.

 

The Stars Align:

“Stars” Intertwine

.

San Francisco, California

The last time we had visited was a couple of summers earlier.  Stan Getz had been relaxing on the beach in front of his hotel, Le Grand Pavois in Antibes, France, after an invigorating swim in the Mediterranean Sea’s Bay of Cannes.  As a sun worshiper and outstanding swimmer, he relished performing at such waterfront jewels as the Juan-Les-Pins Jazz Festival where he was one of the top headliners.

…..On this occasion, in February of 1978, the tenor saxophonist was back in San Francisco preparing for a new engagement at the popular jazz club Keystone Korner.  I had made arrangements several weeks earlier to do a photo session with him one he arrived in the City, but I could never have envisioned just how fitting the day would turn out to be.  Recalling how the afternoon’s events unfolded, it was almost as if the stars were in perfect alignment.

…..When I picked him up at his hotel, Stan was in great spirits, primarily because he was reconnecting with one of his all-time favorite musical collaborators, Bob Brookmeyer.  The valve trombonist, having last worked with Getz some fourteen years earlier, had just rejoined him for the start of a new tour beginning on the west coast.

…..When we got into the car, I asked him if he wanted to do anything in particular.  He said he just felt like taking in different parts of the city.  We did some sightseeing, driving through North Beach, out along the Marina, and then I headed over to Golden Gate Park.  After parking, we went for a leisurely walk of the grounds, even stopping along the way to pick and eat wild blackberries.  Next we visited the de Young Museum, where we spent quite a bit of time viewing the many artworks, and finally ended up browsing through the grounds of the Japanese Tea Garden, where we stopped to take some photographs.

…..Throughout the day, Getz periodically expressed his delight in being reunited with Brookmeyer after so many years.  It was obvious the two of them shared a strong musical bond.

…..Upon returning to his hotel, Stan asked me to bring my gear and come into the lobby with him while he changed clothes.  Before going upstairs, he picked up a house phone and called Brookmeyer in his room.  “C’mon down,” he told Bob, “we need to take some pictures together.”  When Brookmeyer arrived, the three of us walked a couple of blocks to the financial district for some photos of the utterly compatible pair.

…..During my years of covering Stan Getz, I always found him cordial but occasionally preoccupied, perhaps dealing with something personal.  If I sensed he was distracted or concerned about more pressing matters, I gave him some space.  In part, what made this day so special was how open-armed and “free” he seemed.

…..Thinking back on that memorable afternoon, I often reflect on the absolute good fortune of being so close with the man I consider to be the most distinctive melodious creator of music on the tenor saxophone.  Not only was the day particularly meaningful for me, but also fortuitous in that I got to share some fleetingly happy times with two clearly simpatico artists whose musical minds were so closely attuned.

…..In Donald L. Maggins book, Stan Getz: A Life in Jazz, the saxophonist talked about the close ties he enjoyed with Brookmeyer:  “We seem to be on the same wave-length musically and personally.  We complement each other naturally…[and] have the same yearning for fresh, uncluttered, melodic improvisation.

 

.

.

© Veryl Oakland

.

.

*

.

.

Click to listen to Stan Getz and Bob Brookmeyer play “Who Could Care?” (from 1961)

.

.

.

.

_____

.

.

.

 

 

SUN RA (Herman Poole “Sonny” Blount) (Le Sony’r Ra)

Piano, composer, synthesizer, electric keyboards, leader, educator

Arrival Day:  May 22, 1914

Departure Day:  May 30, 1993

.

.

 

© Veryl Oakland

 

 

.

In His Own “Space”

.

“I play the music of the universe.  If humans should one day hear the sounds of cosmic beings from different worlds, their music will sound familiar, because they will have heard Sun Ra on Earth.”

Sun Ra, from Jazz: A Photo History, by Joachim-Ernst Berendt

.

 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

It didn’t matter that many writers dismissed Sun Ra as a gimmick or a put-on.  He personified and even celebrated his “otherworldly” image and existence.  He delighted in promoting his unique brand.  Wherever in the world he performed, the crowds would follow.  And in the end, he survived as one of  jazz’s most prolific recording artists of the twentieth century.

…..My first couple of sessions witnessing Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra occurred in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-1970s.  During a conversation after he had completed a soundcheck at a Berkeley concert hall, I told him I was expecting an assignment to cover him in his familiar surroundings back east.  We shared contact information and I told him that I’d be in touch.

…..While covering the Newport in New York Jazz Festival in the summer of 1979, I called him at his home in Philadelphia about doing a special photo shoot.  Despite not having any pressing business in New York at the time, he offered to make the long trip by subway.  When I picked him up at Penn Station, he showed me a satchel containing costumes, earphones, head coverings, and other assorted paraphernalia to “…liven up the photos.”

…..After the session, we had dinner together at a Thai restaurant that he liked.  Before he left to check into a hotel for the night, we agreed it would be good to meet once more on his own home turf for a more personal and extended photo session.  I told him I’d be back the following July.

…..The next year prior to the Newport Festival, I tracked him down by telephone while he was in Boston preparing to present what he described as an “…Outer space Visual Communicator light show,” at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (the OVC was developed by scientist Bill Sebastian).  He told me when he would be due back home.  We set the time then for our photo shoot in Philly.

…..The day of our meeting, I took the hour-and-a-half subway ride from Penn Station to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.  As pre-arranged, Danny Ray Thompson, baritone saxophonist and road manager, picked me up, and we drove to Sun Ra’s 5626 Morton Street home in the nearby suburb of Germantown.

…..After we arrived, I was ushered into a long room on the main floor.  It was packed wall-to-wall with recording equipment, speakers, amplifiers, paintings, murals, tapestries, pieces of sculpture, a drum set, two makeshift couches piled high with overstuffed pillows, even a portable television set.

…..While I was photographing the main room’s interior, Sun Ra appeared.  He explained that this was his group’s “rehearsal room.”  He promptly opened a movable divider closest to the street, went around, and sat down on a bench accompanying his large Crumar brand organ.

…..On this occasion, he made five changes of flashy outerwear and headgear.  We took photographs in the main room and around the house, in some outdoor settings, and with several members of his Arkestra.

 

…..After completing the photos, we returned to his rehearsal room and talked for more than an hour.  He discussed many topics, offering opinions on a variety of subjects, fellow musicians, and prior experiences that ran the gamut of believability.  Sun Ra alluded to his “advanced” state and how people were unable to accept him because of it.

…..He referred specifically to a manuscript he had written, The Immeasurable Equation, which he offered to Doubleday, the book publisher.  Doubleday kept it for three months, said they could not decipher it, and finally gave it back to him, explaining, “It might as well have been written in a foreign language.”  Despite this, Sun Ra noted that Impulse Records had re-released one of his albums – the 1973 disc, Astro Black – which included seven of his verses from that manuscript in the sleeve.  He said that what he had written about was the “cosmos” and the “ultimate in truths,” explaining that his words do not relate to human standards.

…..Sun Ra told me that by cosmos standards, he was three years old, but noted that he had existed “…for several lifetimes and one ‘so-called lifetime,’” the latter referring to his current presence on Earth.

…..As if to authenticate what he was saying, he gave me seven pages containing thirty-seven examples of typeset verse printed on both sides of faded blue paper, representing a portion of his manuscript.  The pieces ranged from a short, few lines to others extending a half-page in length, each bearing its own title.  Before finishing up talking about his manuscript, he picked up a simple protractor and, without saying anything, drew a half-inch circle with a dot in the middle of one of his verses title “On.”

…..Far more understandable were Sun Ra’s remarks about other musicians and how they were influential in shaping the future of jazz.  The biggest influence on him and the development of his music was composer/arranger/bandleader Fletcher Henderson, with whom he worked as pianist and arranger in 1946-47.  It was Henderson who prompted Sun Ra to organize his first Arkestra in Chicago 1954 (so-named because the first and last two letters backward and forward spelled his name).  As if implying that some strange bond existed between he and Fletcher Henderson, Sun Ra told me that Fletcher’s band members “…always thought I played weird,” but quickly countered with, “Fletcher played piano; I played piano.  That’s why he hired me.”

…..He recalled how Henderson asked him to bring some of his own arrangements for the band to play.  “I remember bringing ‘I Should Care,’” he said with a smirk, “but the band couldn’t play it, even after two hours.  I’ve had teenage students, thought,” he continued, “who could play the charts because I’m able to bring out musicians’ abilities after working with them.”

…..Several times Sun Ra appeared to enjoy poking fun at Henderson’s band members, but had only the highest praise for Fletcher himself.  Regarding the popular bandleader’s skills as an arranger, he said to me, “Fletcher’s ‘King Porter Stomp’ was the best jazz feeling ever written.  Everything he wrote was meticulously correct.”  Sun Ra’s ongoing dedication to Henderson was obvious.  During our time together, he explained that when he and the band weren’t traveling, the Arkestra members rehearsed in his home almost every day.  “…[and] when we’re not rehearsing, I play them Fletcher Henderson records.”

…..Sun Ra spoke at length about his personal qualities as a teacher, healer, and seer.  He noted that a lot of musicians received the wrong upbringing and weren’t educated properly  Regarding the very diverse styles of pianists Oscar Peterson and Paul Bley, he said, “Oscar plays like a machine, never making a mistake.  Paul Bley will take chances and make a mistake, but it comes off right.”

…..Besides receiving the proper kind of musical education, Sun Ra stressed that artists need to “…do what’s right for themselves.  The most thing for black people,” he said, “is to produce what they feel, not what they think.”

 

.

.

© Veryl Oakland

 

.

.

*

.

.

Click to listen to Sun Ra play “Space is the Place”

.

.

.

.

_____

.

.

.

CARLA BLEY (nee Carla Borg)

Composer, piano

Born: May 11, 1936

 

 

.

© Veryl Oakland

Carla Bley at the Musee Mechanique arcade, San Francisco, 1979

.

___

.

San Francisco, California

When interacting with particularly gifted people, I discovered early on that it was always best to just remain loose – be prepared for the unpredictable.

…..It was early in 1979 that I learned Carla Bley would be making her visit home to the Bay Area in fifteen years.  After tracking down the brilliant composer and explaining what I wanted to do, she set the time, date, and location for our meeting.  Before hanging up, all she said was, “Meet me at the Cliff House…at the Musee Mechanique arcade.”

…..I had no idea why we would meet at a music arcade.  But it turned out that this little playground jewel of Carla’s was the genesis of her most recent album, completed just the previous November, entitled Musique Mecanique:  The Carla Bley Band.  A later review of Musique Mecanique read, “The three-part title piece of the album evokes, in glorious musical portraiture, the marvelous inner workings of mechanical music boxes.”

 

…..Arriving that day at the Cliff House, I found my way down the steps and around the back, which faced the ocean.  At this odd spot was the arcade, a series of glass-enclosed window boxes containing all sorts of mechanical musical contraptions and scores of metallic, moving figures.  People would deposit their quarters and the musical machines came to life.

…..The random displays, featuring one box after another, included the likes of “The Unbelievable Mechanical Farm,” complete with sounds of moving windmills, tractors, and farm animals; the “Laughing Sal” mannequin;  “The Corn Cob Gulch Festival and Volunteer Fire Department;” the “Dueling Buffaloes;” and the “Marionettes, Puppet, and Monkey Band.”

…..Again, I wondered what we were doing here as I watched kids running around playing with the enigmatic machines, and then Carla Bley appeared along with her-then-husband Michael Mantler.

…..Just like the kids, she sprung to life; it was obvious that this place held pure magic and was once again reigniting fond memories dating all the way back to when Carla had first come here with her father at age eleven.  Without uttering a word, the two entered the arcade and began depositing quarters in the different machines.  Flitting about the room with her recorder, Carla captured the cacophony of competing noises blasting from the different machines, while Mantler watched what had inspired her from so many years ago.

…..Sitting down afterwards, Carla explained that what had fascinated her most during her many trips to the arcade was the malfunctioning of the mechanical boxes.  “I loved the broken machines,” she told me.  “Those sounds have remained in my head to this day.  Wrong notes and getting stuck were two of my favorite things.”

…..Listening to that quirky little album some time later, it was almost as if I could hear her fertile mind at work.

.

© Veryl Oakland

.

.

*

.

.

Click to listen to Carla Bley play “Musique Mecanique 1”

 

 

.

.

___

.

.

Click here to read the edition featuring Stan Getz, Sun Ra and Carla Bley

Click here to read the edition featuring Art Pepper, Pat Martino and Joe Williams

Click here to read the edition featuring Yusef Lateef and Chet Baker

Click here to read the edition featuring Mal Waldron, Jackie McLean and Joe Henderson

Click here to read the edition featuring violinists Joe Venuti, Stephane Grappelli, Jean-Luc Ponty, Zbigniew Seifert, and Leroy Jenkins

Click here to read the edition featuring Frank Morgan, Charles Lloyd/Michel Petrucciani and Emily Remler

.Click here to read the edition featuring Dexter Gordon, Art Farmer and Johnny Griffin

Click here to read the edition featuring Thelonious Monk, Paul Bley and Cecil Taylor

Click here to read the edition featuring drummers Jo Jones, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones

Click here to read the edition featuring drummers Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, Tony Williams and Shelly Manne

Click here to read the edition featuring Monk Montgomery and the jazz musicians of Las Vegas

Click here to read the edition featuring Sarah Vaughan and Better Carter

Click here to read the edition featuring Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones and Toots Thielemans

.

.

_____

.

.

.

.

All photographs copyright Veryl Oakland.  All text and photographs excerpted with author’s permission from Jazz in Available Light, Illuminating the Jazz Greats from the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s 

.

You can read Mr. Oakland’s introduction to this series by clicking here

 

Visit his web page and Instagram

 

.

.

.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Share this:

Comment on this article:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

A Letter From the Publisher

An appeal for contributions to support the ongoing publishing efforts of Jerry Jazz Musician

In This Issue

The Modern Jazz Quintet by Everett Spruill
A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Summer, 2023 Edition

A wide range of topics are found in this collection. Tributes are paid to Tony Bennett and Ahmad Jamal and to the abstract worlds of musicians like Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders; the complex lives of Chet Baker and Nina Simone are considered; devotions to Ellington and Basie are revealed; and personal solace is found in the music of Tommy Flanagan and Quartet West. These are poems of peace, reflection, time, venue and humor – all with jazz at their core. (Featuring the art of Everett Spruill)

The Sunday Poem

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
“Fledging” by John L. Stanizzi

Interview

photo courtesy of Henry Threadgill
Interview with Brent Hayes Edwards, co-author (with Henry Threadgill) of Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music...The author discusses his work co-written with Threadgill, the composer and multi-instrumentalist widely recognized as one of the most original and innovative voices in contemporary music, and the winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Poetry

painting by Henry Denander
A collection of jazz haiku...This collection, featuring 22 poets, is an example of how much love, humor, sentimentality, reverence, joy and sorrow poets can fit into their haiku devoted to jazz.

In Memoriam

Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
A thought or two about Tony Bennett

Podcast

"BG Boogie’s musical tour of indictment season"...The podcaster “BG Boogie” has weaponized the most recent drama facing The Former Guy, creating a 30 minute playlist “with all the latest up-to-date-est musical indictments of political ineptitude.”

Interview

Chick Webb/photographer unknown
Interview with Stephanie Stein Crease, author of Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat That Changed America...The author talks about her book and Chick Webb, once at the center of America’s popular music, and among the most influential musicians in jazz history.

Community

FOTO:FORTEPAN / Kölcsey Ferenc Dunakeszi Városi Könyvtár / Petanovics fényképek, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
.“Community Bookshelf, #1"...a twice-yearly space where writers who have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician can share news about their recently authored books. This edition includes information about books published within the last six months or so…

Short Fiction

photo vi Wallpaper Flare
Short Fiction Contest-winning story #63 — “Company” by Anastasia Jill...Twenty-year-old Priscilla Habel lives with her wannabe flapper mother who remains stuck in the jazz age 40 years later. Life is monotonous and sad until Cil meets Willie Flasterstain, a beatnik lesbian who offers an escape from her mother's ever-imposing shadow.

Poetry

Trading Fours, with Douglas Cole, No. 16: “Little Waltz” and “Summertime”...Trading Fours with Douglas Cole is an occasional series of the writer’s poetic interpretations of jazz recordings and film. In this edition, he connects the recordings of Jessica Williams' "Little Waltz" and Gene Harris' "Summertime."

Playlist

photo by Bob Hecht
This 28-song Spotify playlist, curated by Jerry Jazz Musician contributing writer Bob Hecht, features great tunes performed by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Lester Young, Stan Getz, and…well, you get the idea.

Poetry

photo of Wolfman Jack via Wikimedia Commons
“Wolfman and The Righteous Brothers” – a poem by John Briscoe

Jazz History Quiz #167

GuardianH, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Before becoming one of television’s biggest stars, he was a competent ragtime and jazz piano player greatly influenced by Scott Joplin (pictured), and employed a band of New Orleans musicians similar to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to play during his vaudeville revue. Who was he?

Short Fiction

photo via PIXNIO/CC0
“The Sound Barrier” – a short story by Bex Hansen

Short Fiction

back cover of Diana Krall's album "The Girl in the Other Room" [Verve]
“Improvised: A life in 7ths, 9ths and Suspended 4ths” – a short story by Vikki C.

Interview

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
Long regarded as jazz music’s most eminent baritone saxophonist, Gerry Mulligan was a central figure in “cool” jazz whose contributions to it also included his important work as a composer and arranger. Noted jazz scholar Alyn Shipton, author of The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets, and Jerry Jazz Musician contributing writer Bob Hecht discuss Mulligan’s unique contributions to modern jazz.

Photography

photo by Giovanni Piesco
Giovanni Piesco’s photographs of Tristan Honsinger

Poetry

Maurice Mickle considers jazz venues, in two poems

In Memoriam

David Becker, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“Tony Bennett, In Memoriam” – a poem by Erren Kelly

Poetry

IISG, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ella Fitzgerald, in poems by Claire Andreani and Michael L. Newell

Book Excerpt

“Chick” Webb was one of the first virtuoso drummers in jazz and an innovative bandleader dubbed the “Savoy King,” who reigned at Harlem’s world-famous Savoy Ballroom. Stephanie Stein Crease is the first to fully tell Webb’s story in her biography, Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America…The book’s entire introduction is excerpted here.

Feature

Hans Christian Hagedorn, professor for German and Comparative Literature at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Ciudad Real (Spain) reveals the remarkable presence of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic Don Quixote in the history of jazz.

Short Fiction

Dmitry Rozhkov, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“A Skull on the Moscow Leningrad Sleeper” – a short story by Robert Kibble...A story revolving around a jazz record which means so much to a couple that they risk being discovered while attempting to escape the Soviet Union

Book Excerpt

Book excerpt from Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music, by Henry Threadgill and Brent Hayes Edwards

Short Fiction

photo via Appletreeauction.com
“Streamline Moderne” – a short story by Amadea Tanner

Publisher’s Notes

“C’est Si Bon” – at trip's end, a D-Day experience, and an abundance of gratitude

Poetry

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
A Charlie Parker Poetry Collection...Nine poets, nine poems on the leading figure in the development of bebop…

Contributing Writers

Click the image to view the writers, poets and artists whose work has been published on Jerry Jazz Musician, and find links to their work

Interview

Photo of Stanley Crouch by Michael Jackson
Interview with Glenn Mott, editor of Victory is Assured: The Uncollected Writings of Stanley Crouch (photo of Stanley Crouch by Michael Jackson)

Interview

photo of Sonny Rollins by Brian McMillen
Interview with Aidan Levy, author of Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins...The author discusses his book about the iconic tenor saxophonist who is one of the greatest jazz improvisers of all time – a lasting link to the golden age of jazz

Art

Designed for Dancing: How Midcentury Records Taught America to Dance: “Outtakes” — Vol. 2...In this edition, the authors Janet Borgerson and Jonathan Schroeder share examples of Cha Cha Cha record album covers that didn't make the final cut in their book

Pressed for All Time

“Pressed For All Time,” Vol. 17 — producer Joel Dorn on Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s 1967 album, The Inflated Tear

Photography

© Veryl Oakland
John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana are featured in this edition of photographs and stories from Veryl Oakland’s book, Jazz in Available Light

Coming Soon

An interview with Judith Tick, author of Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song; A new collection of jazz poetry; a new Jazz History Quiz; short fiction; poetry; photography; interviews; playlists; and lots more in the works...

Interview Archive

Eubie Blake
Click to view the complete 22 year archive of Jerry Jazz Musician interviews, including those recently published with Richard Carlin and Ken Bloom on Eubie Blake (pictured); Richard Brent Turner on jazz and Islam; Alyn Shipton on the art of jazz; Shawn Levy on the original queens of standup comedy; Travis Atria on the expatriate trumpeter Arthur Briggs; Kitt Shapiro on her life with her mother, Eartha Kitt; Will Friedwald on Nat King Cole; Wayne Enstice on the drummer Dottie Dodgion; the drummer Joe La Barbera on Bill Evans; Philip Clark on Dave Brubeck; Nicholas Buccola on James Baldwin and William F. Buckley; Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong; Dan Morgenstern and Christian Sands on Erroll Garner; Maria Golia on Ornette Coleman.

Site Archive