WORLD MUSIC JAZZ AND DANCE

Images by JAK KILBY

Having worked in commercial and industrial photography during the 1960’s, and finding that the sessions with Elva cars, even those specially adapted by Bruce McLaren inserting 6.8 litre corvette engines under an extended bonnet in no way compensated for endless detergent packs (etc), went freelance in 1967.

Since then has covered a varied spectrum of work, including, Art, Theatre, Dance, Music, Portraiture, Architecture, and News & Features reportage photography.

Photographs have been published in all the UK broadsheet newspapers as well as specialist magazines on Jazz and World Music.

In the early 1970’s made extensive sound recordings, in the field, of traditional music in Ghana (long before the term ‘World Music’ was coined). These are now lodged with the National Sound Archive (British Library). Photographs from his Ghanaian travels also led to a major exhibition, ‘A Slice of Life – Ghana’ at the Africa Centre, before moving to the ICA and showings in Liverpool and Brixton.

Other exhibitions included, ‘Camden Jazz In Time’, shown at the Shaw Theatre, Half Moon Theatre, Britain in Brugge (Belgium) for the British Council; ‘Palestine – The Holy Land, the Steadfast, the Believers’ toured over 20 countries; ‘The Crown of the Holy City’, on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem made for the Islamic Research Academy (ISRA) opened at the School of Oriental & African Studies, London and is on permanent display in Al-Maktoum Institute, Dundee, Scotland. The most recent exhibit was ‘Jazz Seen’ at the Cultural and Congress Centre in Ljublijana, Slovenia.

Photographs have been used in more than one hundred book titles with major contributions to The Rough Guides music series, particularly ‘World Music’ and ‘Jazz’, and other music volumes such as ‘African All-Stars’. ‘Afropop’, ‘An Eye to the Sound’ (Motion), and ‘Jazz – a Photographic Documentary’ (Williams).

Wearing another hat his work has included major contributions mainly on Religious Education for schools, including ‘Celebrate Islamic Festivals’; ‘Christian Church’; Muslim Mosque’; ‘Jewish Synagogue’; ‘My Muslim Faith’; ‘Islam in Today’s World’; ‘The Times World Religions’; and ‘The Mysteries of Jesus’.

Major and regular clients include BBC television, the British Council, fRoots Magazine, The Wire, Q News, and Union Square Music.

Has been labelled a ‘Jazz photographer’ by some, and a ‘World Music photographer’ by others. But in this respect he hates to be placed in boxes and in terms of music sees all Jazz as ‘World’ music and all ‘World Music’ as Jazz. Principally sees himself as a documentary photographer with an emphasis on an ‘as-it-is’ approach. This has applied to his main body of work, whether the variations within music stemming from the Charlie Parker which captivated him in his childhood or Islam and the Muslim world which is the love of his later years.