As February is Black History Month, the annual celebration of the lives, work and influence of Black Americans to U.S. history, culture and more specifically to the world of music, we are very excited to present “Move On Up!”, a new virtual exhibition that features a wide and varied selection of historic photos (many presented here for the first time) to honor this special month.

“Move On Up!” covers over 60 years of Black music, featuring some of the giants of Blues, Folk, Jazz, Soul, Funk, Rock, Pop and Rap, portrayed (somephotographed in different eras) by a unique group of photographers from various generations.

Art Kane is responsible for the most iconic image in Jazz history, “Harlem 1958”, which captures 57 Jazz legends in front of a Harlem brownstone. This image was originally published in a special Jazz issue of “Esquire” magazine. Sixty years later Wall Of Sound Editions published a book by the same name that presents for the very first time all the frames from that photo shoot with forewords by Quindy Jones, Benny Golson and Jonathan Kane.”Move On Up!”also features Kane’s other Jazz portraits that were published by “Esquire – Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker’s grave as well as beautiful portraits of Aretha Franklin hitting her prime in 1967.

Joe Alper was very active as a photographer from the mid-Fifties to his untimely passing in 1968. In 2014 we rediscoveredhis archive and launched the “Dylan before Dylan” exhibition which also included many of his Jazz, Folk and Blues photo, many of which had been used on landmark album covers. For this show we have picked his photos of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Quincy Jones and Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong, Odetta, Howlin’ Wolf, Son House, Mississippi John Hurt and Elizabeth Cotten, Charles Mingus, Muddy Waters, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Sonny Rollins and Roland Kirk. Many of these photos are presented here for the first time.

Early Blues champions like Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and John Lee Hooker were captured in a timeless fashion by Norman Seeff in the Seventies. Norman also contributed to the show some of his most iconic studio portraits of Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield, Sly Stone, the Jacksons, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston and will.i.am.

Jim Marshall is best known for his rock ‘n roll photography of the San Francisco psychedelic era and the famous Sixties festivals, but his Jazz and Soul photos are monumental too. We could not resist featuring here several of his beautiful Miles Davis images from the Sixties as well as some of Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Muddy Waters, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles, and Jimi Hendrix. On the subject of Jimi, we also added to the show the iconic studio portrait that Gered Mankowitz took of Hendrix in 1967 prior to his incendiary performance at the Monterey Pop Festival.

In the Fifties and Sixties Gianni Greguoli was shooting and designing album covers for all majorItalian artists and record companies. In 1957 he had shot Maria Callas’ historic “Medea” at La Scala and in 1959 was among the few who photographed Billie Holiday during her only Italian concert in Milano. Gianni also captured Miles Davis and Lester Young, Ella Fitzgerald, and several others. His photographs are presented here for the very first time.

Over the years Guido Harari has photographed legends like BB King, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Jimmy Scott, James Brown, Prince, Miles Davis, Tracy Chapman, Michael Jackson, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, Aaron Neville, Mavis Staples, George Benson, Hannibal Peterson, Stevie Wonder, Vernon Reid of Living Colour. Several of his photos are presented here for the first time too.

Luciano Viti has worked for many years as staff photographer of Casa del Jazz in Rome. great portraits of Miles Davis, BB King, Ray Charles.

Last but not least, Kevin Westenberg is the youngest photographer of the group. He established himself in the Eighties with a highly sophisticated and distinctive style which sets his photos apart from the less studied approach of his older peers, as you can see in his images of BB King, Erykah Badu and Mary J. Blige.

Have a look now at the exhibition pdf and enjoy. We suggest you do this spinning your favorite Blues, Folk, Jazz, Soul, Funk, Rock, Pop or Rap LP’s on your turntable!