Karel Appel, the fierce painter beast
The name of Karel Appel (1921 – 2006) is inextricably linked to jazz music. Like many of his Cobra colleagues, the Dutch artist was a passionate jazz lover. To create the right working conditions, he played rousing jazz records in his studio. Listen to the text on my YouTube channel: The documentary ‘The Reality of […]
Henri Matisse’s visual jazz
This text is read aloud on my YouTube channel. Additional video and audio material can also be found there: The working method of the influential French painter, draughtsman and sculptor Henri Matisse (1869 -1954) is very reminiscent of the way jazz music is created. Matisse travelled to the farthest corners of the earth at a […]
David Stone Martin’s applied jazz art
This text is read aloud on my YouTube channel. Additional video and audio material can also be found there: David Stone Martin (1913 – 1992) could be called the inventor of applied jazz art. He was born in Chicago in 1913 and studied art at the School of Art Institute there. During the Second […]
Artist Dante Zaballa lets himself be guided by the moment
The New York Times takes the history of jazz seriously. Every month, the American quality newspaper profiles an artist, group or movement that has played a decisive role in the development of improvised music. Giovanni Russonello highlights the most important achievements in this field with expert knowledge. The jazz critic adds YouTube playlists with recommended […]
Francis Wolff’s photographs bring the glory days of jazz back to life
Francis Wolff (1907 – 1971) did not consider himself an artist, but rather an amateur photographer. Together with Alfred Lion, who, like Wolff, had fled Germany to escape the Nazis, he founded the renowned Blue Note label. The first music they released were records by boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis. From the […]
The roots of Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890)
From Mériel, twenty-five kilometres above Paris, we cross the river Oise to Butry-sur-Oise. There we take the cycle path towards Auvers. It’s quite a climb on this unusually hot day. At a deserted three-way intersection, we are unsure which direction to take. The track to the left seems to lead nowhere. Yet, according to Google […]