Jazz in the Top 100 2018/2019

Rahsaan Roland Kirk
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

John Coltrane
14 x 11 inches, oil on canvas, 2019

There's jazz in the Top 100 2018/2019. Perhaps not quite as many as is usual but it's better than how the blues fared; there are none belonging to the latter category. (It's a first, that there's no blues. I like blues a lot, especially prewar blues, but perhaps it becomes harder to discover new old gems. There were only so many recordings made, I may have heard a good portion of it. Nevertheless I'm going to make sure blues will be back next year.) There's the same Don Cherry/Krzysztof Penderecki piece featured the previous year, there's a Sun Ra All Starts recording, and also a place for the two regulars in the Top 100: John Coltrane and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The Coltrane recording is the same as it has been the last two decades: that recording of My Favorite Things that is my favorite track throughout the history of the Top 100. To read about this tune more you can follow this link. The Kirk recording, however, is one that was not previously featured: Theme for the Eulipians. I first heard the tune as an instrumental through a performance together with Gil Evans. A marvelous performance late in Kirk's life. He had already suffered a stroke and could only play with one hand. Still a virtuoso. The song, as it is a song, appears on The Return of the 5000 Lb. Man and is written by Kirk together with Betty Neals, who wrote the lyrics. Neals is also heard on the recording reciting these lyrics and Maeretha Stewart sings. The musicians, besides Kirk: Howard Johnson, Romeo Penque, Hilton Ruiz, Buster Williams, Charlie Persip, and Joe Habao Texidor, The album was recorded in 1976 (the same year as the Gil Evans concert) and released by Warner Brothers.

My Favorite Things

John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders
20 x 16 inches, oil on canvas, 2017

Coltrane's last recorded concert continues to mesmerize. His concert at the Olatunji Center of African Culture on April 23rd 1967 was his penultimate one, he died a day before my third birthday on July 17th 1964. This would be the tenth painting I've done after a photograph by F. Winham that features Coltrane's last combo with Rashied Ali, Jimmy Garrison, Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane. This time I cropped the resource photo to feature Sanders and John Coltrane, Ali is represented by just an arm and a leg. The song from the concert My Favorite Things remains unchallenged at the number one spot of my continued count top 100. This and many other of my paintings are now for sale on eBay: http://stores.ebay.com/Berry-Maria-van-Boekel/VAN-BOEKEL-FINE-ART-PAINTINGS-/_i.html?_fsub=33042515011

The Top 100 2013

John Coltrane and his band
40" x 30", oil on canvas, 2013

The first painting for the Top 100 2013 series is of a John Coltrane ensemble superimposed on a backyard landscape painting. This image of Coltrane is an iconic one in the Top 100 series. I've used the image many times before, but I had never included Rashied Ali and Jimmy Garrison in any of the paintings. It is the last, and my favorite Coltrane line up. Missing in the source photo, and in the painting, is the fifth member of the quintet Alice Coltrane. At the last moment I added her grand piano to the left into the painting to give her some sort of presence. The last time I used the source photo was in 2010. This is what I wrote then:

There's one image of John Coltrane I like better than all others. I believe that this may be the eight painting I've done from a photo taken by F. Winham. I have a copy of it in the book Jazz Heroes by John Fordham. The photo shows Coltrane performing at the end of his career. Gone are the black suit and tie, gone are the conventions of the traditional jazz combo. The photo shows Coltrane with with Pharoah Sanders on tenor, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Rashied Ali, precisely the line-up I cherish most. Of the eight or so paintings from the photo I've only included Sanders a few times, Ali and Garrison remain unpainted, and now again Coltrane is singled out. Funny thing is that of all eight paintings, the one just finished, still wet, is the only one I own. The first one I painted in 2000 and it was one of the first paintings ever to sell from the Top 100 series. Apparently my audience likes this image of Coltrane just as much as I do. If the new one doesn't sell I'll keep it and it will be time to close Jazz Heroes forevermore and find myself a different Coltrane image to paint. 

The painting sold and Coltrane is back in the top 100. That track is Leo, a 45 minute extravaganza that fills up half of the 1973 album Concert in Japan (1966). As a novelty I filmed the process of making the painting. From about 10 hours of raw footage I edited this hour outtake.

Top 100 Exhibition at Pincrest Gardens in Miami

John Coltrane and Miles Davis
13.25" x 10", oil on wood, 2008

While it's too soon to even think about the contents of the current top 100, there's big news concerning the exhibition of paintings that belong to this series. Nearly all of the 2012 paintings that are finished will be on display in November and December at Pinecrest Gardens, in Miami, Florida. The exhibition is a bit a of a 30th anniversary celebration of the Top 100. Besides the paintings from the current year there will be a large selection of last year's paintings on view as well as a selection of paintings from the top 100 dating back to the start of it in 1983. In total there will be exactly 100 paintings. The selected paintings can be considered the top 100 paintings from the Top 100 catalog. This time however it's not according to an objective list, but as a subjective pick from over 2,000 paintings I have made in the context of the Top 100. And... I've got to tell you... picking my favorite top 100 paintings  is the most fun project I've undertaken in along time. Going through all these boxes and boxes full of paintings gives me so much joy, and to select them in terms of visuals in stead of aural favorites gives it a whole new spin. For the first time the paintings are not an illustration of a piece of music but exist as painting. It's an art exhibition and the subject happens to be musicians. So if you happen to be in Miami in November or December be sure to come see it. The opening reception is on November 2nd in the evening and then there's an event on Sunday December 9th in the afternoon, where I will give a Gallery talk. That date, the latter, coincides with Art Basel in Miami. Well... hope to see you there. The above painting from the Top 100 2007 of John Coltrane and Miles Davis will certainly be one of the 100 displayed. At the time if functioned as an illustration for the track All Blues by Miles Davis accompanied by John Coltrane.

The 100 Greatest Recordings Ever: 1–John Coltrane

The 100 Greatest Recordings Ever: 20, John Coltrane

The 100 Greatest Recordings Ever: 50, John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John Coltrane
42" x 22"
oil on wood, 2011

There's one image of John Coltrane I like better than all others. I believe that this may be the eight painting I've done from a photo taken by F. Winham. I have a copy of it in the book Jazz Heroes by John Fordham. As you can imagine the page it's on has quite few paint stains. The photo shows Coltrane performing at the end of his career. Gone is the black suit and tie, gone are the conventions of the traditional jazz combo. The photo shows Coltrane with with Pharoah Sanders on tenor, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Rashied Ali, precisely the line-up I cherish most. It is however not precisely the quartet of musicians featured on the recording of Vigil from 1965 in the newest Top 100. McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones are heard together with Garrison and Coltrane. Of the eight or so paintings from the photo I've only included Sanders a few times, Ali and Garrison remain unpainted, and now again Coltrane is singled out. Funny thing is that of all eight paintings, the one just finished, still wet, is the only one I own. The first one I painted in 2000 and it was one of the first paintings ever to sell from the Top 100 series. Apparently my audience likes this image of Coltrane just as much as I do. If the new one doesn't sell (which I don't think it will—due to its excessive size the price is somewhat steep) I'll keep it and it will be time to close Jazz Heroes forevermore and find myself a different Coltrane image to paint.