Jazz is the closest Western music comes to the Indian musical tradition, blurring the distinction between composer and performer as the raag does, improvising within a formal framework, allowing for passages of virtuosic brilliance amid moments of sadder, deeper restraint.
Farrokh Chothia, renowned for his fashion photography, here demonstrates his mastery of a sort of visual version of that blended Eastern-Western tradition. The photographer too is both composer and performer, capable of virtuoso flashes, seeking darker, more sombre truths.
In these photographs we see the range of Farrokh Chothia’s visual music. Erykah Badu is seen both classically and as an abstract blur of movement. Dave Holland’s is a still and inward portrait; BB King is full of mischief, Elvin Jones all naked emotion.
This is a fine portfolio that captures the spirit of a new Jazz age, one centered not on glamour but on work. Above all these are pictures of men and women at work, masters of their craft. Joe Henderson calm, absorbed, seemingly effortless. Charlie Haden ‒ famous for his association with Ornette Coleman ‒ whom we lost a few months ago. Omara Portuondo looking like Chaplin in old age, singing from a lifetime of experience. Chuck Berry watching his audience watching him. Miles Davis lost in music.
Don’t look at these pictures in silence. They ask for music to be played.
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Farrokh Chothia, renowned for his fashion photography, here demonstrates his mastery of a sort of visual version of that blended Eastern-Western tradition. The photographer too is both composer and performer, capable of virtuoso flashes, seeking darker, more sombre truths.
In these photographs we see the range of Farrokh Chothia’s visual music. Erykah Badu is seen both classically and as an abstract blur of movement. Dave Holland’s is a still and inward portrait; BB King is full of mischief, Elvin Jones all naked emotion.
This is a fine portfolio that captures the spirit of a new Jazz age, one centered not on glamour but on work. Above all these are pictures of men and women at work, masters of their craft. Joe Henderson calm, absorbed, seemingly effortless. Charlie Haden ‒ famous for his association with Ornette Coleman ‒ whom we lost a few months ago. Omara Portuondo looking like Chaplin in old age, singing from a lifetime of experience. Chuck Berry watching his audience watching him. Miles Davis lost in music.
Don’t look at these pictures in silence. They ask for music to be played.
Farrokh Chothia's images are on display at the Sensorium exhibition, at the Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts in Panjim, until February 25.
