Seattle Photographer

The Charles Lloyd New Quartet with Jason Moran, Reuben Rogers, & Eric Harland playing at Town Hall.

All Photographs on this website Daniel Sheehan © 2009. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission before using.

It was a beautiful new group Charles Lloyd brought to town earlier this month. I have been meaning to post some photos from this performance and here they are. If you missed the show it was a wonderful performance. Charles is one of my all time favorite musicians. And so is Jason Moran. I was happy to get the chance to hear Eric Harland and Reuben Rogers play as well.

These cats were very intense and yet the music was very spiritual.

“Since the 1960s, tenor saxophonist and flautist Charles Lloyd’s life has alternated between periods of musical and personal exploration. After spending a decade or so working as a sideman in different blues and jazz groups, Lloyd hit a goldmine of critical acclaim and popular support in with his quartet’s groundbreaking performance at the 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival (no small feat in a period when jazz’s audiences were largely moving in new directions). This particular group was notable not just for Lloyd’s debut as a fresh and exciting leader, but also because two of its members, Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette, were themselves only a few years away from exploding as widely innovative and influential jazz musicians….

Lloyd’s New Quartet is fortified with relatively young but well-established jazz musicians who are fully capable of sharing Lloyd’s pursuits. A leader in his own right, Jason Moran (piano) brings the group a unique, mature second lead voice. He’s one of those pianists who sometimes convince you that you’re listening to 80 years of jazz piano history rolled into one set of fingers. His heavy left hand will dabble in vintage 1920s stride playing right before flowing through a sequence that breaks into advanced Andrew Hill territory, while his frank, direct solos often develop in unpredictable turns that take full advantage his repertoire’s diverse influences.

On stage, when Lloyd himself isn’t soloing, he doesn’t just stand there; he frequently can’t resist dancing to the pulsing, breathing rhythms provided by his fellow musicians. Reuben Rogers (bass) and Eric Harland (drums/percussion) form a reliable, gregarious backbone that’s perfect for bringing the exotic structures in Lloyd’s compositions to life. Whether the tune is funky, swinging, Latin, or has no definable rhythm at all, the team decorates it with outbursts that always feel natural and appropriate….” – Nathan Bluford from the Earshot Jazz program guide. Jazz Photography by editorial photographer and photojournalist Daniel Sheehan who covers jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and corporations. He is also a Seattle Wedding Photographer at A Beautiful Day Photography, a wedding photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.

We are going to try and take a little time off but we will be back soon. Daniel, Jana, Ema and Claire, wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We were lucky to get our picture taken by a photographer’s photographer Michael Craft. Photos for this holiday’s posting are from the Studio of Michael Craft. Editorial Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan who specializes in people, portraits, and places. Seattle editorial photographer Daniel Sheehan shoots assignments in a photojournalistic style that is real, straightforward, subtle and unobtrusive.

I was assigned to make an environmental portrait of Seattle real estate agent Jan Sewell who also runs a successful staging business for other real estate agents recently for a magazine piece about her beautiful home in Madison Park. Her place is like a museum with incredible art on all the walls and sculpture scattered all around the place. She does decorate homes for a living after all, so it is no surprise her place is drop dead gorgeous. Making a portrait of her was more of a challenge as she like a fair number of people do not like to have their picture made. I can not tell you how many times I hear from subjects the” I can’t take a good picture.” and I respond that not to worry, I would be taking the pictures and they should just relax. That is what Jan did and all involved were happy with the results.

Editorial Photography by Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan who specializes in people, portraits, andplaces. SEATTLE EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHER Daniel Sheehan shoots assignments in a photojournalistic style that is real, straightforward, subtle and unobtrusive.

This is Seattle photographer Daniel Sheehan’s photo of Larry Ochs that the Guardian (UK) used without permission and without a photo credit on their website with an article headlined “Spanish fan calls police over saxophone band who were just not jazzy enough” All Photographs on this website Daniel Sheehan © 2009. All Rights Reserved. Please inquire for permission before using.

After discovering their unauthorized use a day or so afterwards I wrote to their music editor at music.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk but he has not yet seen fit to respond. I am now pondering what my next move will be. UPDATE: I have received word from the Guardian that they are sorry they used the photo without permission and offered payment and then some for for their use.

Click on jazz photography to see the original blog post on my jazz photography website eyeshotjazz where the photo was first posted last year.

Here is their story:

“Jazzman Larry Ochs has seen many things during 40 years playing his saxophone around the world but, until this week, nobody had ever called the police on him. That changed on Monday night however, when’s Spain’s pistol-carrying Civil Guard police force descended on the Sigüenza Jazz festival to investigate allegations that Ochs’s music was not, well, jazz.

Police decided to investigate after an angry jazz buff complained that the Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core group was on the wrong side of a line dividing jazz from contemporary music. The jazz purist claimed his doctor had warned it was “psychologically inadvisable” for him to listen to anything that could be mistaken for mere contemporary music.

According to a report in El País newspaper yesterday, the khaki-clad police officers listened to the saxophone-playing and drumming coming from the festival stage before agreeing that the purist might, indeed, have a case. His complaint against the organisers, who refused to return his money, was duly registered and will be passed on to a judge.

“The gentleman said this was not jazz and that he wanted his money back,” said the festival director, Ricardo Checa. ”He didn’t get his money. After all, he knew exactly what group he was going to see, as their names were on the festival programme. He added: “The question of what constitutes jazz and what does not is obviously a subjective one, but not everything is New Orleans funeral music.”

“Larry Ochs plays contemporary, creative jazz. He is a fine musician and very well-renowned.” ”I thought I had seen it all,” Ochs, who reportedly suffered a momentary identity crisis, told El País. “I was obviously mistaken.” ”After this I will at least have a story to tell my grandchildren,” the California-based saxophonist added.”

Jazz Photography by editorial photographer and photojournalist Daniel Sheehan who covers jazz performances, and creates portrait photography for publications and corporations. He is also a Seattle Wedding Photographer at A Beautiful Day Photography, a wedding photographer with an artistic photojournalist style.

Tim Narby and family in the winery of Nota Bene Cellars, Seattle.

It is the time of year when I get asked a lot to come and make family portraits for business and personal use. Here is Tim Narby’s family photo for the winery to send out to friends and clients. Tim makes some really great wine in the bordeaux style, blending the traditional varieties into a new world version of a classic bordeaux. Tim is the owner and winemaker at Nota Bene Cellars making some of the finest wine to come out of the best vineyards of Eastern Washington.

Just a note about this picture. I usually do not go into technical talk but I have been working with an old Hassleblad and black and white film and I really like the look of film. It has been a while since I worked with a film camera every day and I am getting the hang of it again. Last time I worked with the Hasselblad was more than 15 years ago. I gave them up and moved on to a Mamiya RZ 67 when I became tired of the square format. Lately I have been missing it so I got myself a new old camera, the lens was made in 1975 and the body in 1980. The lens is a beautiful 110 f/2 Planar. and it looks tack sharp even after all these years. I will be using it for as many kinds of assignments as I see fit from now on. It is back to the future with film. Family portrait by Seattle Photographer Daniel Sheehan an  editorial photographer who creates portraits for publications and corporations.