Why I Paint Jazz Portraits

When I first got into painting in my early 50s, I was excited at the chance to amplify my love of jazz music through the visual arts. As a jazz singer, it felt like a privilege to be able to find new ways to share jazz.

My excitement was soon tempered by the reality that my drawing skills weren’t up to par.

My first attempts at painting and drawing musicians on stage weren’t great, in fact, they were more like caricatures than anything else. One of the most difficult things in painting is portraiture. But the feeling was there, I could see it through the clumsy attempts at drawing musicians at work. This small progress encouraged me enough to get serious.

Practise

I got to work practising and took art classes, all of which supported my technique.

Eventually, I felt more confident and my excitement came back full force as my drawings improved. Here was a new way to celebrate and rejoice in jazz music, one of the most beautiful and consistent presences in my life.

Luckily, I have the chance to see musicians performing at Sarah’s Jazz Club in Nicosia. The graphite drawing below is of a jazz quartet, including Glafkos Kontemeniotis on keyboards, Charis Ioannou on saxophone, Ioannis Vafeas on drums and the bassist Apostolos Sideris.

Jazz Icons

Like most music traditions, jazz music has its icons and my interest is in capturing their essence and spirits. These include American stars like Billie Holiday (1915-1959), whose life was notoriously difficult. Billie overcame all her challenges, rising above them and gaining an international reputation as a jazz singer.

In my charcoal drawing below, I wanted to portray her character, determination and beauty. The background is deliberately left rough to indicate the darkness in her history. Billie Holiday suffered from depression and was sexually abused as a child. Her life experiences informed her singing, which was emotionally intense.

The portrait below is in charcoal on paper.

Annie Ross (1930-2020)

The breezy, cheerful American- British singer Annie Ross had cool freedom and suppressed excitement in her voice. Her supple, expressive and sometimes powerful vocals feel intimate and I wanted to draw her joyful expression when she was singing. The portrait below is in charcoal on paper.

Julie London (1926-2000)

Californian jazz singer Julie London was born beautiful and looked like a doll. But she did not sit on her physical laurels. She became an internationally-known jazz singer and actress, impressing all with her talent, hard work and high standards.

When I painted Julie London, I wanted to capture her lost in a song, flying far into the feeling and vibration of her music. The portrait below is in acrylics on canvas, titled Julie (40 x 30 cm).

Johnny Hartman (1923-1983)

My aim as a painter is to seek out the subject’s soul and if the likeness isn’t quite there, it doesn’t bother me as long as the feeling is well portrayed. That is what happened with my portrait of Johnny Hartman in acrylics on canvas. Halfway through the painting, I realised it had taken a life of its own and I decided to roll with it.

Jazz singer Johnny Hartman was a singer’s singer, the model of what a male jazz singer should sound like. He influenced singers like Frank Sinatra and others.

Johnny Hartman had a deep, poignant, honey-toned voice with tender phrasing and trombone-like slides from note to note. I needed to paint the moment when his soul merged with the music, the moment just before opening his mouth to sing.

The portrait below is in acrylics on canvas (30 x 20 cm). Click here to buy it.

I hope you enjoyed the insights into jazz and the portraits I paint. Art and jazz send me on a journey of discovery with an endless source of inspiration, it’s a pleasure to share it with you.