David Crosby turns 73 today! When we launched Guido Harari‘s “Classic Editions”, we kicked off exactly with the Croz. Guido originally photographed him in 1989 for Rockstar magazine. Crosby was so over the moon with the shoot that a few years later he picked one of the photos for his Thousand Roads album cover. Two years ago Crosby accepted to sign his “Classic Edition“ edition of only 15 prints worldwide in Milan, at Teatro Smeraldo. Graham Nash of course gave his personal approval and supervision. The Crosby/Harari “Classic Edition”, size 36x60cm, printed on Hahnemuhle Museum Etching paper, can be ordered emailing us at info@wallofsoundgallery.com.

Hear some of the great Italian music photographers talk about their life-long passion in “Passioni. Il suono fotogenico” on RadioTre, around 10.50am. Sat. Apri 19 and Sun. April 20: Guido Harari, Roberto Masotti, Mauro Balletti. Sat. April 26 and Sun. April 27: Cesare Monti (featured here one of his classic photographs of Fabrizio De André), Gianni Greguoli, Paolo Soriani.

We’re deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Francesco Di Giacomo, unforgotten vocalist of Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, one of Italy’s leading prog bands from the Seventies. This photograph by Cesare Monti is culled from the shoot for the band’s historic debut album, known as “Salvadanaio” (“Money-safe”) for its money-safe shaped album cover. Like all of Cesare Monti’s images, it is available as a fine art signed/numbered print.

Goodbye Pete Seeger! We remember the great folksinger and activist who passed away yesterday with this intimate photograph by Joe Alper. It was taken at the Seeger’s household in 1961. Alper and his wife Jackie, who worked as secretary to the famous ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax, were very good friends of Seeger and the very heart of the folk scene of the late Fifties and early Sixties. Alper would shoot regularly at the legendary Caffe Lena in Sarasota Springs and at The Newport Folk and Jazz Festival. We showcased his beautiful work with Bob Dylan and the folk/blues/jazz greats in our Dylan Before Dylan show last year.  

Goodbye Gary Grimshaw, one of our favorite poster artists from the Sixties. Grimshaw became famous for his rock concert posters mostly for Russ Gibb’s Grande Ballroom in Detroit, but was also a radical political activist with the John Sinclair’s White Panther Party (as their Minister of Art!) and the anti-war movement. Heavily inspired by the art of Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse and Rick Griffin, Grimshaw’s most popular images were used by MC5, The Who, The Doors, The Fugs, Cream, The Yardbirds, Jimi Hendrix, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Sun Ra.

Wall Of Sound Gallery commemorates the great singer-songwriter 15 years after his passing with Luca Greguoli‘s historic contact sheet, selected by Fabrizio in 1975 for the inner sleeve of his Volume 8 album. Luca shot the whole album package, but these contacts somehow achieved a life and a popularity of their own. Luca obtained this peculiar montage superimposing images from different negs as a sort of small diary of the album recording sessions. Volume 8 marked a new collaboration for Fabrizio with a very young Francesco De Gregori. This contact sheet, as well as several other extraordinary gems from that same shoot, are being made available now to collectors for the first time as signed/numbered fin art prints.

The Kennedy Museum will honor jazz photographer Herman Leonard with an exhibition of his iconic photographs, starting on January 7. We are pleased to have now on show and in our permanent collection Leonard’s famous 1949 portrait of Billie Holiday.

We celebrate David Bowie‘s 67th birthday anniversary with this spectacular image taken in 1973 by Masayoshi Sukita. Bowie is captured wearing an amazing stage costume designed by Yamamoto or the Aladdin Sane tour. A breathtaking selection of Bowie photographs by Sukita is featured in Speed Of Life, a beautiful limited edition book by Genesis Publications.

Goodbye Martin Sharp. One of our myths of the Sixties’ psychedelic art scene just passed away. Martin Sharp’s true icons have indelibly marked the collective imagination of an era, with his posters of Bob Dylan (Sharp was a big fan of Mr D), Donovan, Hendrix, Cream, Van Gogh, the art direction of the controversial underground zine Oz and the cover of Richard Neville‘s Play Power book. Of the psychedelic era he said: “There was a feeling of optimism, the possibility of the world working. That was definitely part of the experience”. A sense of freedom that was quite evident, with bold vitality and originality, in his designs and day-glo colors.

Born in Australia, Sharp moved to London in the mid-Sixties. His Hendrix Explosion poster (inspired by a picture by Linda McCartney) launched him at the top of the alternative art scene of the time. He soon befriended Eric Clapton and got to contribute the lyrics to the song Tales Of Brave Ulysses for Cream‘s Disraeli Gears album whose cover he also designed. Back to Australia in the Seventies, he generally kept a low profile rarely leaving the family home while maintaining his wide circle of friends in the arts world. You can always find a selection of his works at our gallery.