MUSICIANS
Early on, I discovered that music had a direct effect on how I drew. As luck would have it, one of my oldest friends is a successful music agent. He was kind enough to get me on-stage to draw many bands (ie. The Grateful Dead, The Allman Bros., James Taylor, Eric Clapton, Grover Washington Jr., Little Feat, Dr. John, to name a few). Often I’d get backstage & get to meet the artists & show them the drawing I’d done. All drawings were done live at the shows and the autographs on the signed sketches are the real deal. The coloring (except for Bob Weir & Les Paul) was done in Photoshop, later on.
Drew this live at a Dead & Co. show, in Camden NJ. Had bad seats, so had to draw off of the Diamond Vision screen. (It took a long time, since I had to wait for shots of Bob singing to come around, for only a few seconds at a time.)
Saw Jackie play with Phil & Friends at the Beacon Theater.
This Scofield sketch was from a Knitting Factory gig. When I showed him the sketch he said; “Look at the old hippie”.
This sketch of Dr. John was drawn at the Beacon Theater. He was playing, with Donald Fagen & an All-star band.
Phil at the Beacon, doing his thing.
This one was a watercolor done live at Michael’s Pub. As it turned out, it was Les’s 70th birthday. (I gave him one of the paintings as a birthday gift).
Joe Lovano at the Knitting Factory. He was playing with The Paul Motian trio.
Not 100% sure of his name, but drew this bass player from Ziggy Marley’s band.
The New Orleans Jazz fest is one of my favorite musical events. It offers a wide variety of musical styles…truly fun to wander the grounds & draw. This one of Nobesuthu Mbady, (one of the backup singers for Malatini & the Mahotella Queens), captured the energy & African dance, they brought to the stage.
For the sketch above, I got to the Blue Note hours before the show, to assure a good seat. Got the table directly in front of the stage!