Page 10
News
Street Roots • April 29-May 5, ¿01 b
A snapshot
of cool jazz
Robert James Campbell died homeless, leaving behind a treasure-
trove o f photographs from a transitional era o f jazz in New York.
Jessica Ferber’s new book preserves the story he captured.
BY BRIAN R. PAGE
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
ortland is almost synonymous with
coffee shops. So it shouldn’t have
been of special significance to meet
Portland author Jessica Ferber at Ford Food
& Drink. However, this is a special spot for
Ferber because that’s where she did much
of the writing for her new book, “Rebirth of
the Cool: Discovering the Art of Robert
James Campbell.”
Robert James Campbell was a
photographer who captured the New York
City jazz scene in the late 1950s and early
1960s. After a series of misfortunes,
including physical and mental health
problems, Campbell ended up homeless, a
virtual unknown. He died in 2002 in a
Vermont homeless shelter, leaving behind a
massive and chaotic cache of photographic
negatives and prints. These materials ended
up in the custody of Ferber, who spent years
making prints - and sense - of the
collection. The result of her labor is now
available, published by powerHouse Books.
The title, “Rebirth of the Cool,” pays
tribute to the seminal 1957 Miles Davis
phonograph recording, “Birth of the Cool.”
Those album tracks marked a major
transition point in jazz music from the
bebop style to what is known today as cool
jazz. Robert “Bob” Campbell saw it all and
now, from the other side of the grave, is
showing us what he witnessed.
In a conversation with Street Roots,
P H O T O B Y B R IA N R. PA G E
Jessica Ferber recounts how this snapshot
Author Jessica Ferber discusses her book “Rebirth o f the Cool: Discovering the A rt o f Robert James Campbell” at Ford Food & Drink in Portland.
of cool jazz was saved from ending up in a
Top: Chuck Berry performs at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island in the late 1950s.
landfill.
B
Brian R. Page: Did you have any idea
what you were getting into when this started?
Jessica Ferber: Not the faintest. No, I
really didn’t. I didn’t have any solid
information about who Bob was. The lead
that I got was from my roommate at the
time. We were living in this apartment in
Burlington (Vt.). I was on my lunch break. I
was working at a photo processing place,
and I came home to get something to e a t
She was on a rim. She came in, ran up the
stairs, poured herself a glass of water, ran
back down the stairs, and had the door open
again, and she said, “Hey, Jess, you should
call Professor Higgins. He’s got this dead
homeless guy and something about jazz
photos. Call him.” That’s all I heard up
front And so I called my professor, and then
he directed me to the Committee on
Temporary Shelter. What they do is offer
temporary housing for people who are
either marginally employed or homeless to
help them get on their feet And so I went
there and met with them and had a quick
interview; and that same day I drove to the
property manager of the apartment that Bob
was living in. And I picked up about six to
eight huge cardboard boxes full of photos.
That was how it started, and I had no idea
what was in the boxes. They were moldy
and smelly.
I took them all home and put them in my
bedroom and then woke up the next
morning. I felt a little uncomfortable. The
funny thing is: I was going to call and
decline the project because I felt like this
wasn’t right, and their office was closed for
lunch, and then I wound up having that
weekend to kind of sit there with it and
started looking through i t And I was
immediately in the thick of it.
B.R.P.: What did you find?
J.F.: A whole lot of nothing at first. A lot
of negatives were matted together. I thought
whatever is in here is going to be trash. But
then in another box I found some contact
prints and paper materials. And I found the
contact prints of the Modern Jazz Quartet,
and that was the first thing I found that
made me think there was more worthwhile
material.
B.R.P.: Until that point, you didn’t know
that this was jazz related and significant?
J.F.: No. I knew that it was jazz related,
but I didn’t know the era. It took me years
to identify people (in the photographs). I
went through a long research process and
had people who were historians confirm
who I thought might have been somebody.
Our generations are 40 years apart, and I
was never around for that kind of jazz. I had
taken a jazz history class after I had
graduated, coincidentally, so I had some
knowledge. I’m not a jazz aficionado, but I
really loved the story of jazz more than the
music itself. So. I started recognizing people
from my textbook. I also got the Ken Burns
box set (on the history of jazz), and it was
like, “I know I’ve seen that guy; I’ve seen
that face.” I was coming from zero. I had no
See JAZZ, page 11