Green Mill
My view of 2019 included plenty of great music from all over Chicago, especially my photographer debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I braved the polar vortex along Lake Michigan and gazed at the night sky in far west Texas. And right in the middle of all of it, I stepped in front of the camera to ask Bridget a very important question. Wishing you joy and beauty in 2020!
January: My visit with a snowy owl on Northerly Island.
January: the polar vortex gripped the city, so I went outside.
February: the Lunar New Year parade winds through Millennium Park.
March: Punditry in all its glory at the Spertus Institute.
April: Gauthier Dance Company at the Harris Theater, mixing it up with the audience.
May: The Chicago Children’s Choir painting the town red in Millennium Park.
May: David Finckel and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Harris Theater.
May: Marc-André Hamelin in recital against a spring sunset at Northwestern.
May: Jane Glover and Music of the Baroque opening its Musical Feast Gala.
June: My exhibit of jazz photography extends through the summer at PurePoint Financial.
July: the Bitter Jester Music Festival rocking out under Fourth of July fireworks.
July: after a 4-hour photo shoot, I ask Bridget to marry me and she says yes!
August: Kurt Elling belts it out at the Green Mill.
September: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg addresses an adoring audience at the 30th Anniversary Gala for Cedille Records.
September: Music of the Baroque opens its 49th season.
September: Third Coast Baroque opens its season at Nichols Concert Hall.
October: The Chicago Children’s Choir concludes another record-breaking Red Jacket Optional gala.
October: Scott Speck and the Chicago Philharmonic open their 30th season - my 6th as their photographer.
October: Fourth Coast Ensemble sings to a packed room at the Logan Center.
October: Vladimir Kulenovic leads the Lake Forest Symphony.
October: Victor Yampolsky leads the Northwestern Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Beethoven’s Ninth.
October: Wu Man gives a wide-ranging recital on the pipa at the University of Chicago.
November: I make my debut covering the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as Maestro Riccardo Muti honors Acting Principal Horn Daniel Gingrich.
November: Wynton Marsalis drops some wisdom in the schools during the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s weekend residency in Chicago,
November: the Marcus Roberts Trio joins the Chicago Philharmonic for one killer rendition of Gerswhin’s Piano Concerto in F.
November: bonus shot of Marcus Roberts.
November: the Pleiades Cluster (right) and a billion other stars, appear above Big Bend National Park.
November: a magical sky on the border above the Rio Grande and Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend National Park.
December: Ashley Bryan (96) celebrates the release of his memoir, Infinite Hope, at the Univ of Pennsylvania.
A year of big performances, big venues, big voices, and big ovations. Here’s a look at my favorite music photos from 2018. Applause to all!
All photos © copyright 2018 by Elliot Mandel. All rights reserved.
Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano and pianist Shannon McGinnis open the 2018 Collaborative Works Festival (Sept 5, 2018).
Cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han celebrate the Harris Theater’s 15th Anniversary (Oct 3, 2018)
Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard accepts the ovation at University of Chicago (March 6, 2018).
Jane Glover leads Music of the Baroque in its Millennium Park debut (Sept 12, 2018).
Kurt Elling in full voice at a packed Green Mill (June 22, 2018).
Chicago Children’s Choir belting it out in Millennium Park (May 24, 2018).
Fourth Coast Ensemble opens its 5th season in Frank Lloyd Wright’s stunning Unity Temple (Nov 2, 2018).
Soprano Nicole Cabell and pianist Craig Terry melt all the hearts Beyond the Aria (May 17, 2018).
Bella Voce stand and sing as one during their annual gala at the Museum of Contemporary Art (May 19, 2018).
Axe-slingin’ at the annual Bitter Jester Music Festival (July 4, 2018).
Victor Yampolsky and the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra after a blistering Mahler 5 (Feb 3, 2018).
I found a neat little corner at the Copernicus Center for this angle on Scott Speck and the Chicago Philharmonic’s season opening concert (Nov 10, 2018).
Eric Snoza is the bassist in blue for Daren Hagen’s “Orson Rehearsed” (Sept 14, 2018).
Stephen Burns and the Fulcrum Point New Music Project’s annual Concert for Peace at Harris Theater (Dec 19, 2018).
The Zukerman Trio headlines the Music Institute of Chicago’s gala weekend (May 20, 2018).
Maestro Stanley Sperber leads the masses in the International Music Foundation’s DIY Messiah (Dec 17, 2018), though one face stood out from the crowd…
…Applause for Mr. Claus. (Dec 17, 2018).
Summer is even more unpredictable than the rest of the year, but the last three months gave me some wonderful shoots with longtime friends and colleagues, cool kids being their cool selves, lots of great tunes, and a big open look at the Milky Way on a perfectly dark night in Colorado. Behind the scenes, I've made significant investments in my business and I'm looking forward to sharing some big projects, news, and more views in the fall!
All photos © copyright 2018 by Elliot Mandel. All rights reserved.
Here is a selection of my year in music photography, leading off with an image from the Chicago Children's Choir that sums up 2017 in general. It's a pretty awesome privilege to be able to do this for a living.
All photos © copyright 2017 by Elliot Mandel. All rights reserved.
Chicago Children's Choir raising voices at its 61st Annual Red Jacket Optional Gala.
The triumphant Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra performs at its 70th Anniversary Gala.
Victor Goines at the Green Mill. Selected as "Best Photo in a Club" during the Logan Center for the Arts jazz photography exhibit.
Bitter Jester Music Festival
Chuck Webb at Navy Pier
Birds-eye-view of Bella Voce at the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Benny Golson plays his classics at Jazz Showcase.
Kurt Elling lights up the Green Mill.
Myra Huang, Shannon McGinnis, Sarah Shafer, Douglas Williams, and Nicholas Phan at the Collaborative Works Festival.
Susanna Phillips and Myra Huang give a glowing recital during the Collaborative Works Festival.
Jorge Federico Osorio plays Brahms for the Cedille Records gala.
My on-stage view of Jane Glover conducting Music of the Baroque.
Chicago Children's Choir Gala
The Chicago Philharmonic opens its season with Carmina Burana.
Third Coast Percussion premiering a work by Augusta Read Thomas with the Chicago Philharmonic.
Nicholas Kraemer conducts Bach with Music of the Baroque.
Kate Carter and Louise Chan perform on the Dame Myra Hess series at the Chicago Cultural Center.
Steve Reich backstage with percussionists at Northwestern University.
Steve Reich takes a bow with percussion ensembles at Northwestern University.
One of the major highlights of 2015 - three of my photos were selected for inclusion in "Chicago Jazz: A Photographer's View" at the University of Chicago's Logan Center for the Arts. My pictures were featured alongside some terrific images from around the city, and I had a chance to meet some photographers I've long admired - Stan Lee, Jasmine Kwon, Mark Sheldon, Farrad Ali, and Jack Siegel. Many thanks to Bill Michel and the Logan Center for a great show and fun evening. Below, my images from the Green Mill and performance shots of saxophonist Bernard Scavella and drummer Greg Artry.
Photos © Copyright 2015 by Elliot Mandel. All rights reserved.
I wish the Pharez Whitted Group had a standing gig at the Green Mill. These guys played some of the hardest-hitting, soulful music I'd heard at the Mill all year. From my seat down front, I had clean views of most of the band (no music stands!), so I snapped away.
My affinity for jazz has grown in the last year alongside my approach to photography, and I believe the two are related. I've discovered that, for me, photography is largely improvisational. I arrive at a shoot with an idea of what I want, but the final product is often a collaboration between the subject or client and myself. The best images come from on-the-spot decisions, and I've learned to embrace the unknown or unexpected. Jazz teaches me this lesson every time.
Thanks to Pharez Whitted (trumpet), Eddie Bayard (sax), Lovell Bradford (keys), Jon Wood (bass), and Greg Artry (drums) for a weekend of killer music.
I'm pretty lucky to have one of the world's greatest jazz clubs three blocks away from my apartment. Recently, I've seen saxophonist Victor Goines, who performs around the world with the Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra; and accordion virtuoso Julien Labro and the Hot Club of Detroit. Click through the gallery below for some views from my table.
Last Saturday night, I did two really awesome things. 1) I spent 3 hours listening to the great jazz pianist Willie Pickens at the Green Mill while he fired off Thelonious Monk tunes like it weren't nothing. And 2) I met and photographed trumpeter Pharez Whitted, who is a very nice guy but will knock you over with trumpet solos. I love photographing musicians. They do their thing, I do mine, but I've never thought of them as mere entertainers. There is art, there is the moment of creating music, and they've spent years learning how to be really good at it. Photographing musicians is a privilege, and a task I am continually drawn to purely out of respect for their work and for a love of music.
Pharez Whitted blows a mean trumpet at the Green Mill.
