Mr. DeCarava taught photography at Hunter College in New York City. A friend of mine majored in Art and Photography at Hunter and became quite friendly with Mr. DeCarava, something of a mentoring relationship. My friend, Jason, knows my passion and love of jazz and asked me if I wanted to meet Roy DeCarava. Heck yes, I did. So one day about three years ago we went to the eleventh floor at Hunter College and we had a few minutes with the great photographer.
I told him the Porgy and Bess cover photo was one of my favorites and asked him to tell me about the photo. This is how I recall the story.
Roy DeCarava said that he had been trying to track down Miles for some time to get the cover photo because the album was done and Columbia wanted to get it out there. Only thing missing was the cover photo. Miles kept dodging him, not showing up for appointments, not returning his calls, etc. So, finally, Mr. DeCarava just shows up at Miles‘ house one day and knocks on the door. Miles answers the door, looks at him for a minute and just says, „ahh shit, Roy“. So Miles invites him in and they shoot the photo in the back yard of Miles‘ upper west side brownstone with Miles‘ wife. I think he said it took no time at all, very quick.
I am enough of a jazz nerd to have brought my CD copy of Porgy and Bess that day and asked Roy DeCarava to please sign it for me. He gladly obliged. I’ll scan and post it here as soon as I get a chance.
I made a post on this forum about Roy DeCarava soon after he passed away, just a little more than a year ago. He was a very humble, warm person and loved to share his knowledge and experience with his students.
stammt von Chris Thompson, aus dem AAJ Forum
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"Don't play what the public want. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you doin' -- even if it take them fifteen, twenty years." (Thelonious Monk) | Meine Sendungen auf Radio StoneFM: gypsy goes jazz, #164: Neuheiten aus dem Archiv, 10.6., 22:00 | Slow Drive to South Africa, #8: tba | No Problem Saloon, #30: tba