Press Release

NEW ORLEANS - Heriard-Cimino Gallery is proud to present photographs by Frank Jackson honoring Lionel Hampton April 5 - 29, 2008. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, April 5th from 6 until 8 p.m. The public is invited. The Ogden Museum of Southern Art/University of New Orleans, is celebrating the 100th birthday anniversary of Lionel Hampton beginning April 19th. Frank Jackson’s work can also be seen there. Heriard-Cimino Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 until 5, or by appointment.

Frank Jackson, an American photographer living in Los Angeles, through the lense of his Hasselblad camera, gives insight into the great Jazz Musician, Lionel Hampton. From 1995 to 2007, Jackson photographed Lionel Hampton with the same camera that he used on occasions with Muhammad Ali, Stevie Wonder, and Gordon Parks, to name a few. Traveling around the country, Jackson documented Hampton’s performances, his time backstage, in celebration of his 80th birthday party and finally, his funeral at Riverside Church in Manhattan. Jackson remembers, “He was a lot of fun to be around, he always looked sixty years younger when he was playing the vibes.”

Frank Jackson has always carried his camera with him since he first started taking pictures at 15 years old. He never tries to force a picture, he says, he lets his intuition guide him with the camera. “Sometimes I happen to the pictures and sometimes they happen to me,” Jackson explains. Growing up with a father who played the piano and loved jazz music, Jackson developed an affinity for jazz. Combining his love for the camera and his love for jazz, Frank Jackson exquisitely documents Lionel Hampton in the later years of the musician’s life.