Seattle music photographer Jef Jaisun has been named recipient of the 2007 Keeping The Blues Alive award in Photography by The Blues Foundation of Memphis, Tennessee.
Jaisun, who began shooting in Seattle area clubs more than 30 years ago, has been a mainstay on the national blues circuit for the past decade. His coverage ranges from Chicago to New Orleans, Clarksdale to Los Angeles, and from Seattle to the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. He's amassed an estimated half-million images, predominantly of blues, rhythm and blues and jazz artists. His archives provide in-depth visual documentation of late 20th Century and early 21st Century blues performers.
Jef Jaisun's work has been featured in every major American blues magazine and on the covers of numerous CDs. In 2004, he donated more than 250 images to the Chicago Public Library's Blues Music Archives. His rare 1985 photo of B.B. King embracing the late Luther Allison at Switzerland's Nyon Festival was a highlight of 2006's KBA-winning book, The B.B. King Treasures. Two of Jaisun's post-Hurricane Katrina images were selected for the 2006 Jazz and Heritage Festival Photo Exhibition.
Since Katrina, Jaisun has worked closely with the New Orleans Musicians Clinic and other relief organizations, both as photographer and fund-raiser. He claims close spiritual and musical ties with the Crescent City, and is a member of the New Orleans Photo Alliance.
A selection of Jaisun images is currently on display at Seattle's Highway 99 Blues Club. (Please see below for further information.)
Jef Jaisun has travelled the Blues Highway for three decades in search of the perfect image. His early interest in music photography has evolved into a historical record of the world's foremost musical artists. Here you'll barely scratch the surface of thousands of hours of shooting in hundreds of venues.
This website contains selected images as well as the Jef Jaisun Photo Archive. If you're looking for something or someone specific, especially in blues and jazz, please let us know. Chances are pretty good we've got the image you're looking for. All images are available for purchase. We also license for reproduction, and can send either hard prints or digital images. Please inquire by e-mail for size, pricing and terms.
When the Highway 99 Blues Club, Seattle's first ever club devoted entirely to the blues, wanted photo art, the first person they called was Jef Jaisun. As a result, the club opened with two dozen gallery-framed Jaisun gems on the walls. Many of the images had never before been seen by the public at large. Included in the exhibit is a 1977 photo of John Lee Hooker, a breath-taking 1985 octuple exposure of Bo Diddley, a gallery of late Northwest guitar icons Rich Dangel, Isaac Scott and Dave Conant, the late Mississippi Hill Country blues lady Jessie Mae Hemphill and a 1979 shot of a youthful Taj Mahal backing up the late Elizabeth Cotten. Other artists featured include Brownie McGhee, Pinetop Perkins, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, B.B. King, Etta James, Albert Collins, Johnny and Shemekia Copeland, Honeyboy Edwards, Robert Cray, Gaye Adegbalola and Diane Schuur.
The Highway 99 Blues Club is located at 1414 Alaskan Way, across from the Aquarium on Seattle's waterfront. Check the club's website for showtimes and information.
Ernie K-Doe, late legendary New Orleans recording artist and performer. The above photo was taken at the WWOZ-FM interview tent during the 2001 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. K-Doe checked out for a better universe just two months later, on July 5, 2001. A signed 16x20 enlargement of the photo was presented to K-Doe's widow, Empress Antoinette, on October 6, 2001 at the First Annual K-Doe Fest. Coco Robicheaux made the presentation on behalf of Jef Jaisun. The framed photo now hangs prominently in the Mother-In Law Lounge, 1500 N. Claiborne Ave, New Orleans. Additionally, Jef's photo of K-Doe was transformed into the official K-Doe Fest poster.
Yeah, go ahead and melt. Everybody does when they see Rosie Ledet. Her looks can melt you, and so can her red hot zydeco rhythms.
The above photo was one of the featured images in a 45-print Jef Jaisun exhibition to grace the walls of the French Quarter's Hanson Gallery during Jazz Fest 2001. Presented in conjuction with WWOZ 90.7 FM, the exhibit moved to Generations Hall for the station's annual Piano Night festivities. Mr. Jaisun has been photographing Piano Night since 1998, with his images being used on the 2001 and 2003 Piano Night posters and t-shirts. Selected images from the exhibit were also displayed during Piano Night 2002. Many of the photos, on loan to Eddie Bo's Check Your Bucket club, were lost when Hurricane Katrina hit and the levees failed.
Check out The New Orleans Collection: Hanson Gallery/Piano Night Preview Page. These photos, from past Piano Nights, Jazz Festivals and New Orleans club gigs, capture on film the rich tapestry of the Crescent City's diverse musical culture. Everyone from Fats Domino and Irma Thomas to the Mardi Gras Indians is represented.
And don't forget to bookmark this page and check back. As the intro on the Archives page notes, there are more than three decades worth of photos to sort, scan and upload. That may take a while.
