25 Years of Jazz at Outpost and the New Mexico Jazz Festival: Photographs by Jim Gale

May 2, 2023 | Inpost Artspace

Exhibit Curated by Mark Weber

Music by Dogbone featuring Jefferson Voorhees & Micah Hood

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 8, 5-7 PM.
Exhibition Dates: September 8, 2022-February 24, 2023

To close out the 2022 New Mexico Jazz Festival, the Inpost Artspace hosts a special photography exhibition celebrating the work of longtime Outpost photographer Jim Gale, who, over the past 25-plus years, has generously taken thousands of photos at Outpost concerts and events, capturing Outpost’s musical history in a memorable collection of images. We asked poet, photographer, jazz historian, longtime KUNM Jazz DJ and Outpost member Mark Weber to Guest Curate this show. Mark writes:

Jim’s pictures are reminders that culture is worth saving —- The world moves on, but we have these photographs —- elegant and precise —- Taken as a whole they are about remembering —- And this thing of creativity —- Jazz attracts, if you give it time it grows on you —- Jim’s shots are spirit arrows —- Memories like monsoon cloud formations.

Jim Gale on Jim Gale:

My love of photography began when I was about 12 years old, learning to develop and print B&W in a school art class. For years I used my grandma’s old range-finder camera. By the time I was in high school, I had built a small darkroom in the basement. Throughout college, I worked as a free-lance photographer to help pay the bills, along with being the college paper photography editor for 3 years (the Stylus at SUNY Brockport). As editor, we had complimentary tickets to all music shows on campus, which became my first experience with photographing live music shows. At the end of college, I was at a crossroads. I was considering local jobs in photojournalism. However, many pro photographers I had meet advised me that it would be tough to make a living, especially if you valued things like health insurance or retirement savings. In the end, I decided I loved photography too much to try and make a living with it. This allowed me freedom to pursue only projects I cared about, on my own terms. This boils down to both nature and music. My parents were both music lovers (Dad played some classical piano, even with a damaged finger from the Korean war). Mom found a used copy of The Complete backpacker (Collin Fletcher) which soon motivated my first 4-day solo backpack at 14 years old. One summer in college, I had saved enough money (barely) to hike the entire 2000-mile Appalachian Trail in one long summer (also solo). This has evolved to documenting my adventures to preserve some of the details and try to capture some of the beauty I have seen. It still amazes me how much a single image from 40 years ago can still bring back vivid memories I thought I had forgotten.

I really had not gotten back into music photography until I moved to Albuquerque and discovered the Outpost! After only my first show at the old Morningside location, I was hooked! Although my taste in music is very eclectic, I was drawn deeper into the beauty, improvisation and creativity of Jazz. Since I could never afford all the shows I wanted to see, I approached Tom about an exchange of my show photographs for free admittance. This arrangement as the volunteer “house photographer” has now lasted over 23 years now. At this point, there are few (if any) other clubs or performance spaces that have such a complete and extensive photographic documentation.

Music by Dogbone. The New Mexico duo features the percussive ingenuity of Jefferson Voorhees (drums, percussion, bells, gongs, whistles) and the versatility of Micah Hood (trombone, flutes, talking drum, electronics) who together create unbounded, improvised soundscapes and grooves. Their creative improvisations are inspired by the duo’s collected experiences performing art rock, electronic music, funk, free jazz, fusion, African and Caribbean rhythmic music, and South American sounds. DogBone’s music freely and unabashedly conjoins these influences into one-of-a-kind soundscapes, textures, and grooves for audiences to enjoy. The duo has performed in art galleries and contemporary music festivals in New Mexico, and have released three full-length albums.