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Register of the M. Lea Rudee, "Jazz in San Diego" photographs
MSS 0071
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Title: M. Lea Rudee, "Jazz in San Diego" photographs,
Date (inclusive): 1981-1991
Collection number: MSS 0071
Extent: 2.00 linear feet (24 matted photographs)
Repository:
Mandeville Special Collections Library, Geisel Library, UC, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0175
Shelf Location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
M. Lea Rudee, "Jazz in San Diego" photographs, MSS 0071. Mandeville Special Collections
Library, UCSD.
A collection of twenty-four black and white photographs (1981-1991) taken of jazz
performers in concert in San Diego by M. Lea Rudee.
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