Good old analogue B/W photos of giants of jazz!

As a young man in Aarhus in the 1950s, the student of a portrait photographer, my interest for Jazz was awoken in the company of two friends.


We listened to 78 rpm wax records with Bunk Johnson’s Dixieland Jazzband and Boggie+Woogie pianists such as Pete Johnson. Then song and piano followed with Fats Waller and later Mills Brothers who sang ‘In the Shade of the Old Appletree’. Then, Swing with Glenn Miller on trombone and his orchestra. In Aarhus, a place opened with jazz every Saturday evening called ‘Circle Club’. Here we saw a young couple dance the Jitterbug to the music on stage for the first time – truly beautiful. I watched with wide eyes.


At Circle Club, an unforgettable experience for me unfolded; standing face to face with Stan Getz himself in a rather eccentric version – seeing his sax around his neck and him saying ‘Hello’ to me.
I did not photograph this experience. A camera was not something you owned, not even as student of a photographer.


It was not until 1968-69 that I with my own camera came close to the people and musicians I'm now portraying at exhibitions and which are shown on this page.