Throwback Thursday - In Memory of my Father (10/8/2020)

Today’s Throwback Thursday isn’t about a song, an album or an artist. It’s about Jim Marshall. A rock star among rock stars.

For those not familiar with Jim Marshall – he was one of the greatest photographers ever. I write about Jim today and the impact he had on photography in music because yesterday would have been my dad’s 88th birthday. The thing I admired most about my dad was his photography. He had an amazing eye for all types of subjects. Just like Jim Marshall…

Jim Marshall started taking photos of musicians in high school in San Francisco after purchasing a Leica M2. His early work included jazz greats such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk.

After a quick stint in New York City, Marshall returned to San Francisco and through many local connections, was the only photographer allowed to walk across Candlestick Park to the stage where The Beatles would perform their last concert.

Marshall will always be synonymous though with American rock music in the late 1960s. Joplin, Hendrix, The Grateful Dead and so many more. He captured not only the swagger of rock and roll and all that it was in the 60s, but the vulnerability and sadness of many of these artists. You could be famous, but Marshall could show the regular, scared person that lives in everyone. Look up his famous photo of Janis Joplin cradling a bottle of Southern Comfort backstage at the Winterland venue.

My favorite photo of his, is one of Johnny Cash. Cash was going to be performing at San Quentin Prison in 1968 and Marshall was there to photograph it. During rehearsal, a TV crew stood behind Marshall and Cash was on the side of the stage. He said ‘John, let’s do a shot for the warden.'” Apparently, that’s all the prompting Cash needed to look straight into Marshall’s lens and flip him the bird.

Music is much more than just notes, instruments and voices. It’s about how it looks, how performers project and reject. Jim Marshall’s photos mattered.

I miss my dad, but along with my many memories, I have his photos…displayed in my house. Always.