NYCPMI Hosts Stage: Jazz Greats At Birdland Exhibit 3/18

The New York Center of Photography and the Moving Image (NYCPMI), the newest addition to New York City's museum and cultural landscape, will present an exhibition of new and never-before-exhibited color and black-and-white photographs by photographers Ryan Paternite and Richard Conde featuring some of the 20th century's greatest jazz musicians in performance on the legendary Birdland stage. The exhibit runs from March 15th through April 9th, 2011. NYCPMI is located at 580 Eighth Avenue (38th St.) 7th floor and is open to the public Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11am to 6pm. An opening reception will be held on Friday, March 18th, from 7-10 p.m.

Ryan Paternite's color jazz images have been described as "performance portraiture" because they combine the visual textures of studio and environmental portraiture with the fortuitous timing of documentary performance photography. Richard Conde's luminous black & white jazz photos are a unique modern interpretation of the jazz performer's art, evoking the classic feel and chiaroscuro of the jazz photography of Herman Leonard and Francis Wolff. Both Paternite and Conde exemplify the natural congruence between jazz and photography. As A.D. Coleman has noted: "Jazz, as it happens, is the musical form whose philosophical basis is most akin to photography... in its emphasis on intuition, spontaneity, and improvisation." (Light Readings, 61-62) Although Paternite and Conde often work in tandem, sometimes photographing the same artists on the same stage at the same time, the results are as distinctly different as the hot and cool trumpet sounds of Louis Armstrong and MiLes Davis.

The exhibit includes over 40 images commissioned by Birdland for its 60th Anniversary. On view are meticulous large scale prints produced between 2008 and 2010 depicting contemporary jazz greats including Terence Blanchard, Ron Carter, James Carter, Freddy Cole, Paquito D'Rivera, Al Foster, Joe Lovano, Charlie Haden, Roy Haynes, Jimmy Heath, Jon Hendricks, Dave Holland, Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008), Bobby Hutcherson, Hank Jones (1918-2010), Wynton Marsalis, Pat Martino, Brad Mehldau, Nicholas Payton, John Pizzarelli, Pharoah Sanders, John Scofield, Ralph Towner and many more.

About The New York Center of Photography and the Moving Image

Founded by H.P. Garcia, NYCPMI is an emergent museum with a mission that includes the exhibition, screening and collecting of important works of contemporary photography, film and video art by established, mid-career and emerging artists of outstanding talent from around the world. NYCPMI's Permanent Collection numbers more than 600 pieces from the second half of the 20th century to the present. As part of its long-term acquisition program NYCPMI is committed to adding up to 1,000 new works annually. NYCPMI's advisory board is composed of distinguished publishers, collectors, critics and curators including: Henry Rasmussen, Nathan Lyons, Kim Levin, A.D. Coleman, Milton Fletcher, Koan Jeff Baysa and Simon Esterson. NYCPMI's future plans include a comprehensive website and digital magazine.

About The Photographers

Ryan Paternite (Ph.D., M.A., B.M.) Studied jazz composition as an undergraduate at Berklee and cinematography and philosophy in graduate school at NYU. He has taught visual arts, critical theory, music & entertainment business at Fairleigh Dickinson and New York Universities. His photographs have been published in The New York Times, The Newark Star Ledger, and The Aspen Times and featured in a segment on PBS Channel 13, "Sunday Arts." During 18 years in the entertainment business, Paternite has been a director of photography for film and television, the director of programming and media for the Blue Note & Birdland jazz clubs and a record producer signed to Koch Jazz. His book, "Screen Adaptation as Reading Transaction," was published by the German publisher VDM in 2009. Recent exhibits include: "Pandemonium" at NYCPMI (February 2011) and "Birdland @ 60" at Affinia Manhattan Gallery (December 2009). Paternite is represented by H.P. Garcia Gallery in NYC.

Richard Conde earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees from The School of Visual Arts in New York City. In addition to being the house photographer at Birdland, he is the staff photographer for The Jazz Museum of Harlem. His photos have been published in National Geographic, all the major jazz publications, and as album cover art for numerous jazz record labels, most recently, "Phoebe Snow Live," for Verve Records. Recent exhibits include: "Pandemonium" at NYCPMI (February 2011); "Lowland Gorillas" at St. Peter's Gallery (Spring 2010); and "Birdland @ 60" at Affinia Manhattan Gallery (December 2009). Conde is represented by H.P. Garcia Gallery in NYC.
(Source: richardcondephotography.smugmug.com)

About A.D. Coleman

A. D. Coleman has published 8 books and more than 2000 essays on photography and related subjects. Formerly a columnist for the Village Voice, the New York Times, and the New York Observer, Coleman contributes to ARTnews, Art On Paper, Photo Techniques and Technology Review. His syndicated essays on mass media, new communication technologies, art and photography are featured in such periodicals as Juliet Art Magazine (Italy), European Photography (Germany), and La Fotografia (Spain). His work has been translated into 21 languages and published in 30 countries. American Photo namEd Coleman one of "the 100 most important people in photography in 1998." In 2002 he received the Culture Prize of the German Photographic Society - the first critic of photography ever so honored. And in 2010 he received the J Dudley Johnston Award for "lifetime achievement in writing about photography," from the Royal Photographic Society (UK).
(Source: nearbycafe.com)
About Birdland Jazz Club

Named for alto saxophonist and jazz pioneer Charlie "Bird" Parker, who dubbed it "The Jazz Corner of the World," Birdland opened on December 15th, 1949. For 60 years it has been home to jazz legends, from Parker, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie to Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, Diana Krall, and everyone in between. The original 52nd Street location was a cultural barometer and meeting place, inspiring the songs "Birdland" and "Lullaby of Birdland" and serving as a regular haunt for celebrities and cultural figures. The modern incarnation is a state-of-the-art nightclub presenting a who's who of contemporary musical artists.