Portraits shot at the right moment are like the fermata on a pitch perfect note. Master photographer and jazz pianist Les McCann was able to catch such moments from the greatest of jazz singers and musicians. YOU now have a chance to meet him! Author and historian Pat Thomas (Listen Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975) curated the new McCann retrospective: Invitation to Openness: The Jazz & Soul Photography of Les McCann 1960-1980 and will be with McCann at the book release party at Book Soup on Saturday, March 28th. 5pm is when DJ Adam Dorn starts spinning the soulful tunes to images by McCann. Pat Thomas will host a roundtable with McCann and A. Scott Galloway, music journalist and introduction writer.
The new book featuring his photographs comes out at the same time as rerelease of Les McCann's Invitation to Openness album from Omnivore Records. The Invitation To Openness album (originally from Atlantic Records) has "remained a landmark statement in free-form improvisation mixed with soulful grooves, featuring a 26-minute continuous track with expressive instrumentation from the likes of Yusef Lateef, Ralph McDonald, Cornell Dupree, Bernard Purdie, and Alphonse Mouzon." These beautiful photographs still resonate to this day, an un-diminished harmony of beautiful black and white.
Invitation to Openness is coming soon from Fantagraphics, a refrain you'll read and hear often until, it's March release striking a chord within the hearts of photography fans and lovers of jazz. Be one of the first to enjoy a signed edition by picking up your copy from Book Soup on March 27th.
Book Soup
8828 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA