OFFBEAT

Mike Gehrke, better known as "Mr Jazz", was a visionary, organiser, and jazz devotee. He wanted to found the first European jazz museum – in Hanover. Part of his vision: portraits of performing artists – with attitude, signature, and in the medium of the time. I was invited to take on this part – as a photographer, independent artist, and web designer. I said yes without hesitation.

TUNE IN

Jazz is movement. A constant process of searching, finding, discarding. An open system – also for the visual arts. For me, it means not merely documenting, but translating what is heard, felt, and seen into my own visual worlds.

CLOSE-UP SET

Most of the roughly 400 "SILENT JAZZ" portraits were taken between 1998 and 2016 at the legendary Orange Club in Hanover. Mike Gehrke passed away shortly before the opening of the first exhibition.
I continued. For another ten years. Up close. Quietly. Watching. Listening.

Now, with some distance, I begin again. I sort – by instrument. And start with the saxophone. Why?
Perhaps because Marilyn Monroe once said: "Tenor saxophonists make me weak."

COOL DOWN

Thank you, Mike. Thank you to all the musicians who brought their sound into the room.

Welcome to SILENT JAZZ - ABOUT SAX ➜

Hans Kahlmopz