These were not the three minute cellphone videos we’ve come to expect from concert footage, but full shows, filmed from tripods, and going back as far as the 1980s. In many cases he captured combinations of musicians that are not preserved anywhere else. In recent years he concerned himself with making sure that this amazing resource would be available to future generations To that end he began indexing his videos and pictures online. He created a Youtube page of his videos and a Flickr page of his thousands of photographs from festivals.Here is an article about his passing run in his local newspaper, it is not available online.
I met Bob in New Orleans at George Buck’s Place—his record company and Palm Court Café—in the early 80s. Bob had been in academia and the currently he and wife were traveling doing photography, videography and jazz journalism. In fact, when Bob called me a few days before his death indicating that he had a terminal illness and was wrapping up his affairs with the help of his son, he mentioned our original meeting in New Orleans. Our paths crossed subsequently at various jazz parties and events over the years. Bob had written articles for The Mississippi Rag and for subsequent publication in The American Rag. Over the past several years Bob had been making effort to have his jazz documents placed where they would be available for jazz historical researchers. Bob indicated that he was especially proud of the many YouTube videos he had posted and was satisfied that his work would be available for future research. – Norman
Joe Bebco is the Associate Editor of The Syncopated Times and Webmaster of SyncopatedTimes.com
