I'm trying to pump out these blog posts quickly to that I can focus on processing more shots from this weekend and being ready for an interesting couple of weeks, including my first photo show! I'll talk about the details in a separate post, but hopefully you're free on Monday, April 20th!

In preparation for the photo show, I met up with Karin Carson, who not only presides over the San Diego Jazz Musician's Guild, but also the Thursday Night Jazz Jam. There are some incredibly talented people in this town who don't have a band together to showcase their music, so this jam gives them a chance to play with each other. I've neglected my jazz side a bit lately, but I'm going to be fixing that.



Other than to say that the singer above is Karin Carson, who runs the jam, I'm not going to name the players. I'm just going to present them as simply as possible, without doing a lot of B&W conversion or crazy color changes. The spirit of this jam is that everyone is equal so as long they can play with at least some level of skill. Anyone, including kids, can share the stage with some top players. This is the sort of thing that nurtures the younger players and motivates them to become great. Plus, I don't know who most of the players are, so I couldn't name them anyway.





The kids play first, presumably so they can be up for school the next day.

I'm partial to more neutral skin tones, but South Park Bar and Grill has a great looking warm spotlight setup which contrasts perfectly against the blue neon sign behind the stage.  There are so many ways to shoot this stage, it's incredible.


Incredible alto sax player. He made the horn giggle, squawk, stutter, and shake- all with the musicality of a seasoned bebop player.









OK, fine, one B&W. I can't help that this stage works beautifully in black and white too.