Thelonious Monk
Don
Hunstein
About this photograph :
Thelonious Monk
Born in 1917 in the United States, Thelonious Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer. He wrote many jazz standards and is famous for his style and improvisation ability. He is considered the inventor of Bebop even if his personal development distanced him from it very fast. From the start his very individual style created a stir and attracted attention from the greatest including Charlie Parker. Thelonious Monk was nicknamed ‘Melodious Thonk’ no doubt because of his both melodic and dissonant style of playing. There is a famous anecdote on this subject: when the blind jazz pianist George Shearing was escorted towards the instrument on which he wanted to rehearse before a concert, he heard the unusual discordant music played by Monk and is said to have declared: ‘Oh, I will come back when the tuner has finished.’
About the artist :
Don
Hunstein
Don Hunstein’s photographs are iconic. During thirty years when he worked with Columbia Records, he photographed the famous and the not so famous and has hundreds of album covers and behind the scene photographs to his credit. His work speaks of a time when musicians concentrated solely on their music and paid little attention to their image.
After university where he gained a degree in English, Don Hunstein was enlisted to the US Air Force. He was stationed in England to a desk job. This posting allowed him to travel around the whole of Europe. He began to take photographs that he sent to his family. He then purchased a Leica and a collection of photographs by Henri Cartier Bresson inspired him. What was just a hobby became more and more important in his life. He was then transferred to London where he joined a photography club as well as taking evening classes at London’s Central School of Art and Design.
He returned to New York in 1954. He then started an apprenticeship in a commercial photography studio. As luck had it, he rapidly made interesting contacts. Thus, he met Deborah Ishlon who worked in the publicity department of Columbia Records. She offered him a job and it did not take long for Don Hunstein’s work to be noticed. He climbed the ranks and became Director of Photography for CBS Records.
He became chief photographer at Columbia Records when the aforementioned was at its peak. Directed by Goddard Lieberson at the time, Columbia thought it important to document in photos the cultural history of music of their time. Besides album sleeves and advertising photographs, Don Hunstein photographed recording sessions and intimate personal moments of the musicians. Don Hunstein had the ability to ‘listen’ with his camera. He immediately understood the importance of patience, trust and humility to capture magical moments and immortalise them. He had the ability to set newcomers, as well as established stars, at ease which allowed him to take quintessential portraits which marked the history of music.
(c)
Thread Shop, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
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