Review Feature: rare pictures | The Blues Anthology | Wednesday | Proud Camden in The Horse Hospital, Stables Market, Chalk Farm

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Published: 13 November 2008

B. B. King milking applause at the High Chapparal club in Chicago during the 1970s.

Go Johnny, go go go

Richard Osley sees rare pictures of the great masters of the blues and less well-known artists who helped push the music worldwide

EYES rolling, guitar at his side and a microphone in danger of being chomped in half – you can almost hear Chuck Berry beating out a rendition of Johnny B. Goode through Joseph A Rosen’s portrait (right).
And his is not the only familiar voice which will be ringing in your head in a visit to Proud Camden over the next four months.
Taking you on a quantum leap back to the steady evolution of blues and jazz music, the gallery’s walls will be plastered with the likes of Ligntnin’ Hopkins, Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.
Most of the rare shots – many never before seen – capture these sorcerous blues masters in action, like the picture to the left of B. B. King milking applause at the High Chapparal club in Chicago during the 1970s.
Behind his outstretched arms are ranks of smiling faces and hands enthusiastically applauding.
But The Blues Anthology is not just about the men and women who made it famous with record deals, the organisers say, and is as much about the hollering field songs and spirituals born out of slavery.
Not all of the faces staring down from the black and white walls will be instantly recognisable, and this is a serious study of a wider struggle for racial equality and ultimately for the music to reach a larger audience.
Rosen’s work is patched together with concert photos and behind-the-scenes shots taken by Herb Snitzer, Charles Sayer, Ralph Fales and Terry Cryer.
There is clearly particular affection in the archiving for Cryer, who left school at 14 with an interest in cameras rather than maths sums.
He made his name turning up jazz clubs in the 1950s with his flashbulb, often striking up friendships with the music. In doing so, he helped illustrate the remarkable trail from the razorblade heartaches of Robert Johnson to the electrified power of Berry, who by coincidence, still kicking at 82, plays two nights just a stone’s throw away at the Jazz Café from Monday night.

• The Blues Anthology was launched last night (Wednesday) at Proud Camden
in The Horse Hospital, Stables Market, Chalk Farm Road, NW1.
The exhibition runs until February 1. www.proud.co.uk/

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