Black, Blue & True Local, National Musicians Combine in Photo Exhibit

CAPE MAY — The truly American art forms known as jazz and blues are often passed along from one generation of musicians to another and from peer to peer.
An exhibit entitled “Black, Blue & True,” opened on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the Carriage House of the Physick Estate featuring black and white photos of African American jazz and blues musicians from this county and the nationally renowned musicians who inspired them.
A photo of Cape May’s first lady of jazz Lois Smith hangs along side a portrait of Carmen McRae. Not surprisingly, the two met and some advice from McRae to Smith is featured in the exhibit.
“If you can get up there and sing, why don’t you open your mouth? Don’t care if everybody doesn’t like you. Someone ain’t going to like you. Don’t try to copy off nobody, sing like you,” McRae said to Smith.
The portraits were taken by William W. May, who is both a freelance double bass player and a prolific photographer of musicians for 36 years. He has a performing career that includes 26 years with the NJ Pops Symphony Orchestra.
May said some of his photos were taken at the end of performances in which he played bass, others from a 20-year association with WBGO Radio and others from the Lincoln Center Classical Jazz concerts. All the local musicians were photographed at the Franklin Street School and on film rather than a digital format.
May said he hopes to publish books of his photos in the future, which number in the thousands.
Black, Blue & True is a joint project of the Center for Community Arts and the Mid Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities.
A photo of Clifford Buggs, known for leading the Coast Guard Recruit Band in Cape May for many years, hangs along side a shot of one of his influences, Dizzy Gillespie. Buggs has played trumpet for Aretha Franklin and Peter Cetera, formerly of the band “Chicago.”
A photo of drummer Michael Dempsey, born and raised in Cape May, hangs alongside a photo of Latin percussionist Carlos “Patato” Valdes, the man who invented the tunable conga drum.
Dempsey, 34, said he was the “youngest cat in the exhibit.” He thanked his family for tolerating “his drumming on anything and everything before he got a drum set.”
Dempsey recalled seeing a drum set in the band room of Lower Cape May Regional High School and sitting down to play without permission. The band director told him he would have to join the band to play, which happened the following year. Dempsey has played in the Cape May Jazz Festival ever since.
A portrait of bass player Charles Carter of Whitesboro hangs along a photo of Stanley Clarke. He said his other influences came from the funk era: Larry Graham and Bootsy Collins. Carter said much of his playing is now in gospel music in the church.
The exhibit will be open weekends until March 26. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children.