M. Lea Rudee San Diego Jazz Photographs, 1981-1991 (MSS 71)

These photographs were all taken during live performances of jazz in San Diego. A few were taken in night clubs. Most were taken at performances of either the San Diego Jazz Festival, when I served on its board of directors, or the Jazz Society of Lower Southern California. This latter organization held private performances in members' homes or other private venues and organized fund raising events to provide scholarships for the jazz program in the UCSD Music Department. Unfortunately, both organizations are now dormant. The performers in these photographs include both local and visiting artists.

Photography and jazz have some artistic elements in common. Of all musical forms, jazz places the highest emphasis on instantaneous, intuitive improvisation by the performer within a predetermined musical context. Photographs can be "made" in highly controlled circumstances, e.g. an advertising shoot, or the self-portraits by Cindy Sherman. In another form, the photographer "takes" a picture by instantaneously arranging images within the viewfinder, accepting what is seen rather than directing. Henri Cartier-Bresson, the great master of this latter form of photography, described the camera used in this manner as "an instrument of intuition," a term that could just as well apply to the jazz soloist.

-- M. Lea Rudee