Collection Guide
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Rudee (M. Lea) San Diego Jazz Photographs
MSS 0071
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Table of contents
Languages:
English
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: M. Lea Rudee San Diego Jazz Photographs
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0071
Physical Description:
2 Linear feet
(24 matted photographs in one flat box)
Date (inclusive): 1981-1991
Abstract: A collection of twenty-four black and white photographs (1981-1991) taken of jazz performers in concert in San Diego by M.
Lea Rudee.
Scope and Content of Collection
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 improvision 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
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
M. Lea Rudee San Diego Jazz Photographs, MSS 71. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquired 1994.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Jazz musicians -- Portraits
Photographic prints -- 1980-1989
Jazz -- Pictorial works
Photographic prints -- 1990-1999
Rollins, Sonny
Pepper, Art, 1925-1982
Redd, Vi
McPherson, Charles
McShann, Jay
Marsalis, Wynton, 1961-
McFerrin, Bobby
Lytle, Cecil
Lake, Oliver
Lettau, Kevyn
Jordan, Stanley
Kessel, Barney
James, Ella
Jones, Thad
Cheatham, Jeannie
Cheatham, Jimmy
Hollis, Gentry
Gordon, Dexter, 1923-1990
Brubeck, Dave
Braxton, Anthony
Carter, Betty, 1930-1998
Calloway, Cab, 1907-1994
Bowie, Lester
Biggs, Gunnar