Soweto Kinch: Hockley Circus, Birmingham, 5th August 2011 One LP – Wynton Marsalis: Black Codes From the Underground. Photo Credit: William Ellis. All Rights Reserved

WILLIAM ELLIS is well known for his performance and portrait photography and his pictures are often featured here. His contribution to the culture has been recognised by the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City where his work has been exhibited on two occasions. He writes, about a new project…

 ‘One LP – a study of the artist portrayed with a favourite recording. Each portrait is accompanied by a short interview that explores the album’s meaning and value for the subject.’

That’s the concept that came about following many enlightening parlers about music with players after gigs. So I tried to think of a format to get the kind of fascinating conversations I was having out there so I came up with the One LP idea.

The first person I approached was Stan Tracey and he very kindly agreed – Stan doesn’t waste time with small talk so I knew when he said yes the project had legs! It’s very moving and a great privilege to hear people talk very about the music that is so dear to them – and in some instances helped set out the course of their artistic lives.

I photograph players on the road at venues, hotels, bars and restaurants and sometimes at home. Al Jarreau was photographed and interviewed between sets!

The location, date and links to the artist’s site and chosen album are given in the caption on the website so if people want to learn more about the recording and maybe get hold of it they can do.

I’ve opened it up to players in other genres of music, it’s all good – people like Johnny Marr, Tommy Emmanuel and Anna Gabler – soon figures working in other aspects of the arts will be involved I hope.

Jazz is such a diverse idiom of course; right now you can see styles represented from Acker Bilk to Soweto Kinch along with American artists like Robert Glasper and Terence Blanchard.

It’s an ongoing project – there’s a lot more still to come.

OneLP.com website