☛ Morrison Hotel Gallery: “Charles Mingus, NYC, 1959”, black and white photograph by Don Hunstein. © Sony Music Entertainment, 2012. Some features on the website require Flash.

Original captions from the Morrison Hotel Gallery:

This shot of Mingus at the “Ah Um” and “Dynasty” sessions finds the jazz legend in a genial mood listening to spinning seat-belts of tape, forecast the future in the high-tech state-of-the-art audio control room of fifty years ago. Producer Teo Macero can be glimpsed working his sonic magic in the upper right hand of the frame in this Don Hunstein photograph.

The Morrison Hotel Gallery was founded in 2001 with the mission to preserve and promote music photography as a fine art. Their gallery located in SOHO, New York, is a collection of some of the most iconic portraits of musical artists of the twentieth century. Their website offers large reproductions of some of this collection (searchable by musicians, photographers, bands, etc.) along with detailed informations (year, location, name of the photographer and context). For more about the Morrisson Hotel Gallery one can see their About page and watch the ten minutes profile produced by SundayArts in 2010 to mark the 10th anniversary of its existence.

The Charles Mingus’ portrait shown above was shot by well known music photographer Don Hunstein. From his official website:

Don Hunstein’s iconic photographs have become symbols of an era. In the history of music photography, Don’s work during his 30 years at Columbia records is unsurpassed in its scope and breadth. Through his subtle humor and quiet nature, he was able to record many great moments in music history. He photographed the famous and the not so famous. Hundreds of album covers and behind the scenes work. His photographs documented a rare time when musicians spent time on their art, rather than their publicity.

Check some of his album covers photographs.