Photography Exhibit

Keeps Jazz Alive at the CMAC

By Susie Davidson

CORRESPONDENT

Three veteran photographers are helping to keep the spirit of jazz going this month at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., in an exhibit which continues through Dec. 20 in the upper gallery.

“Keeping Jazz Alive” incorporates the work of Boston Jazz Society members C. Vincent Haynes, Bernie Moss and Florence Lewis, which documents jazz legends over the past 50 years in varied New England locations.

The Society’s mission, since being formed nearly 30 years ago, has been to publicize and promote the historical and sociological impact of jazz music in the Boston area. Information on the Society as well as the significant musical moments captured in the photos is available at the exhibit.

Moss, who died in the early 1980s, donated his collection to the Society, which meets at Sculler’s on weekdays. In the 1930s, he began frequenting local jazz clubs, which included Storyville, Connolly’s, the Jazz Workshop, Pall’s Mall, Lennie’s on the Turnpike and Sandy’s Jazz Room. “Moss befriended jazz artists and invited them to join his Saturday afternoon rooftop parties,” said CMAC Executive Director Shelley Neill. “The parties were a way to alleviate the musicians’ loneliness and to provide an atmosphere of hospitality and warmth.”

The popular jazz tune “Boston Bernie” was written by legendary tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon, in Moss’ honor.

Haynes never picked up a horn himself, but lived and breathed the genre. After serving in the Army in 1941, working for the Veteran’s Administration in its insurance department and at the IRS, he began his career as a longstanding community planner. Head of the Roxbury/North Dorchester Area Planning and Action Council’s community organization department, he later became the organization’s Deputy Director. Prior to his 1984 retirement, he also worked for United Community Services as a planning associate and a senior planner. A dynamic and multitalented literary and athletic contributor as well, he studied journalism and photography at Boston University, was a sports editor for the Boston Chronicle, wrote a community column for the Afro-American newspaper and coached the Eagles AA football team, later officiating at football games for 32 years. With eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild, he remains active today.

“He currently volunteers on several boards,” added Neill, “including Shelter Inc., the BJS, the Howard Benevolent Society and the Special Fund for the United Way. He is also a founding member of the Lower Roxbury Community Corporation and remains an officer of the Madison Park Development Corporation and its affiliates. The Haynes House apartment building is named after him.”

“This exhibit,” said Haynes from his Roxbury home, “gives me an opportunity to show some of the artists who were at Boston Jazz Society events over the years. There are some photos which were taken at BJS annual barbeques. Others are from jazz clubs, the Newport Jazz Festival and other venues.” Any favorites? He names Rebecca Parris, Lou Donaldson and Johnny Nezes.

“I’ve always enjoyed jazz,” he said, “and I think that today’s public doesn’t listen sufficiently to it. There aren’t enough jazz writers today or enough publicity. I hope that this exhibit will encourage more people to explore the idiom of this music.”

Lewis’ sax-playing brother Bill inspired her devotion to jazz music while growing up in Cambridge. “Through jazz,” said Neill, “she met a cadre of friends who were avid fans, usually spending a portion or the whole of every evening in one or more of the clubs.”

There, she met France’s Jazz Hot magazine reporter Denise Jokinen; from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, the two covered the East Coast jazz fest scene. Her photographs, mainly taken at clubs, television studios, concerts and festivals, have been exhibited in the U.S. as well as in Argentina, Poland, and Yugoslavia. Jazz Hot magazine, the NorthSea Festival souvenir program in Holland, and a Selma instrument ad have published her work as well.

The Boston Jazz Society, in collaboration with Berklee College of Music and the Boston Public Library, produces the “Jazz on Wheels” program. “Musicians,” explained Haynes, “are transported to the BPL, Codman Square Library, South Boston and other area libraries so that youth groups and the public can hear the music.” The next event is on Dec. 7 at the Hyde Park Library, at 11 a.m.

The Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center, founded in 1978, is committed to fostering a cross-cultural interchange which presents educational and exemplary arts and humanities programs to counteract racism and other forms of bigotry. Their exhibits change every six weeks within a September-June performance calendar.

“This exhibit,” Neill emphasized, “allows us to take a look at some special jazz moments in history, and learn about the ongoing work of the BJS.”

KEEPING JAZZ ALIVE – Photos by C. Vincent Haynes, Bernie Moss and Florence Lewis

On exhibit through Dec. 20 at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center,

41 Second St., Cambridge. For more information, call 617-577-1400 ext.10, or e-mail office@cmacusa.org or visit www.cmacusa.org.