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I attended a workshop at the Sidney Mishkin Gallery; it’s the second time I visited the gallery. This time, the theme covers the jazz photography of Milt Hinton, who himself is a famous jazz player. The photographs displayed cover many scenes in his career and all of the people he knew. He was someone who carried a camera with him wherever he went; so I guess that’s how he got so many pictures. Most of the photographs seem to take place in New York, which is where he grew up in. To name a few of some of the famous musical artists he met during his career as displayed in the photos were Cab Calloway, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, and Barbra Streisand.

The photographs gave a close look in his life. I thought that the photographs interestingly captured New York from that old era. He took many photographs in various parts of the city. There is a photo of him and some guy in front of a hotdog stand. Then there is a photo of himself and someone else in front of a Broadway theater. Many of the photos took place on a stage, or in backstage rooms, or in jazz clubs in general.

The photographs, which he took, did an extraordinary job in capturing the jazz culture of over half a century ago. They can help anyone to understand the world that they lived in and what it was like to perform on the stage. It is interesting to see such a rare perspective, especially since jazz isn’t so popular anymore. Jazz is like almost completely forgotten. So this particular gallery sheds some light on an important chapter in the history of music. The photos include all of the classic jazz instruments you would expect from drums to the saxophone to the piano.

By Rajendra Jaikaran