JAZZ PORTRAITS
by
Susan O'Connor

Since the early 1980s, Susan O’Connor has used her hand-held analog camera in available light to record compelling black and white images of jazz musicians in performance. Internationally recognized as a chronicler of improvising and free-jazz artists like Barry Guy, William Parker and Carlo Actis Dato, her archive also includes images of such jazz greats as Art Blakey, Milt Jackson and Betty Carter, along with blues artists including Etta James and Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson.

O’Connor has made both documentary and interpretive photographs in venues ranging from the St. Lawrence Centre to Preservation Hall; from churches to art galleries to open-air stages, and basements lit with a few incandescent bulbs. Her work has captured the attention of critics, musicians, collectors and lovers of jazz and improvised music in Canada, Europe and the U.S.

Susan O’Connor’s evocative images have been published in CODA, Music Works and the Globe and Mail (Canada); JazzHalo (Belgium); Wire (U.K.) and ArtVoice, Signal to Noise, Woove, JAZZIZ and All About Jazz New York (U.S.) Her jazz photos have been used by musicians and producers for promotional purposes in print and on line, and in discographies and books including New York is Now: The New Wave of Free Jazz and Steve Lacy: Conversations. A wide selection of images is displayed in Gallery O and on Jazzword, a website dedicated to information and reviews of jazz-oriented improvisation.

Licensing inquiries may be directed to CTSIMAGES or to the artist via e-mail at jazzword@hotmail.ca.