Opening: Hank O’Neal’s Jazz People

On January 31, the Jazz Gallery in the South Village area of Manhattan will open a new exhibit of photographs by record producer/concert promoter/recording engineer/photographer Hank O’Neal. Perhaps most well known to jazz fans as the owner of Chiaroscuro Records and majordomo of HOSS’s jazz cruises, O’Neal is no ordinary dabbler in the visual arts. He studied and worked with Andre Kertesz, one of the important figures in 20th Century photography, and he published his own book of photographs. This exhibit includes 50 portraits and action shots of Dizzy Gillespie (pictured left), Benny Carter, Les Paul, Dexter Gordon, Anita O’Day and many more jazz legends. Proceeds from the sale of the photographs will benefit the Jazz Gallery, which, like a lot of arts institutions, has had battles with solvency since the Sept. 11 attacks. Undaunted, the Gallery has continued to mount jazz-related art shows and present a series of performances by jazz greats.

The Jazz Gallery is located at 290 Hudson Street, just below Spring Street, in Manhattan. Phone (212) 242-1063.

Originally Published January 30, 2002