Artist Profile

Esperanza Spalding Bassist, Vocalist
16x20"

Joseph Daley, Tuba, piano
16 x20"

Purple Water Lily
16 x20"

Sunrise North Meadows, Hartford, CT
16x20"

Expressions in Sound and Motion Greetings! My name is Maurice D. Robertson photographer, jazz music aficionado and nature lover.

I have been serving the music community here in Hartford, CT as a volunteer, jazz announcer from 1976-present, with a weekly show, Accent on Creative Music, airing from 9-12, Wednesday night's, at WWUH.org, 91.3fm. A cornucopia of sounds from the standard bearers of the art form to the present new contributors. My show includes a comprehensive jazz calendar, interviews and birthday acknowledgements. I am also a board member with the Hartford Jazz Society, based in CT. America's oldest ongoing jazz society, established in 1960 to assist in the flourishing of this music, through concert presentations, educational workshops and assisting in the promotion of the CT Jazz scene. In 2018, I was honored by the Jazz Journalists Association as a national Jazz Hero. With my camera in hand, for the past four decades, I have been chronicling jazz and other music genres.

I am attempting to convey to the viewer, both the flowing dynamism and intimate, meditative qualities of musicians intensely at play. Through strict portraiture and camera speed and lighting experimentation, an attempt to instill rapport and intimacy with the vitality of music making. In my nature photography through similar means, portraiture and abstraction, I attempt to portray its serenity and vitality. I have been on the set, bearing witness since the seventies, with no formal art training, a student of the school of trial and error. Just an avid listener, who grew up in a household where all types of music, notably jazz, calypso, reggae, rnb and movie soundtracks and more were appreciated.

The camera connection came from watching my father document all, family gatherings and a few select vacation sites.Since then, I have been guided by my own research of the masters of jazz photography, such as Herman Leonard, Roy De Carava, James Marshall, William Gottlieb, Charles Stewart and Gordon Parks Sr. to name, but a few and sessions with area mentors and workshops in digital photography and printing. My ongoing photo work is a love affair with nature and jazz and its offshoots. My photo artistry is simply a quest for displaying the energy of nature’s glory and with performance, connecting the audience to some of the past and present contributors to America’s greatest cultural, contribution to the world.

Respectfully Yours, Maurice D. Robertson donaldojamaica@yahoo.com. Facebook/Maurice D. Robertson, Instagram MDRobertsonPhotoarts (860) 478-4964

Tour Location: 69 Myrtle Street #C2

Website: Instagram MDRobertsonphotoarts

Click here to see the 25th Anniversary Video Retrospective produced by CT Public Broadcasting!