UKの ジャズ専門誌”Jazzwise"にマイルス・デイビス写真集「No Picture!」の書評をいただいた。筆者のジャズ・ジャーナリスト:George Cole からは別のインタビューも受けており 近くリリースされる予定
ジャズ・ワイズの原文は以下のとおり・・・いいこと書いてくれています
\(^o^)/♬
No Picture!
Shigeru Uchiyama
Tokyo Kirara £35
Miles Davis was photographed countless times, but few photographers managed to get up close and personal in the way that Shigeru Uchiyama did. The Japanese photographer was just 30 when Miles played his first post-retirement concerts in Japan in 1981, and Uchiyama soon gained the musician’s trust and confidence, to the extent that over the years, he was free to capture Miles onstage, backstage, at home, in hotel rooms and in the studio.
In 1993, Uchiyama’s first collection of Miles photographs was published in a book, Miles Smiles. Now long out of print, the book goes for silly prices online (if you can find a copy). In 2016, this second collection was published in Japan only. Now, publisher and bookseller Idea is distributing No Picture! in the UK (www.ideanow.online/store). At £35 plus postage, it’s not cheap, but if you were to personally import a copy from Japan, it would cost north of £50 when you add postage, import duty and other charges. I should add that the book soon sells out and you may have to go on a waiting list until more copies arrive.
The book is well-produced, with a glossy cover and large obi strip. It’s also slim – just 144 pages – but packed with around 100 colour and black and white photographs, taken between 1981 and 1990 – there are no captions. There are ten pages of text in Japanese, featuring an interview with Uchiyama. Also included is an excellent index, with a thumbnail image of each shot and the date it was taken. This is a small book – A5 size - which is a shame, as these pictures deserve a larger format.
Nevertheless, there is plenty to savour, and you get to see many new sides of Miles, from relaxing in a swimming pool to hanging out in his Malibu kitchen, as well as sitting in his hotel room, catching a train in Tokyo, and recording the Decoy album in a New York studio. Naturally, there are lots of shots of Miles onstage from his various Japan tours, many just featuring Miles, but others including band members. One of my favourite images shows Miles tweaking the nose of a smiling Mike Stern. This is a splendid photo documentary of Miles’s last decade.
George Cole