David Redfern
b.1936 - d.2014
Born in 1936 in Ashbourne Derbyshire, David Redfern began his career in the twilight jazz clubs of London in the early 1960s. He began photographing TV shows such as Ready Steady Go and Thank Your Lucky Stars resulting in now-classic shots of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones amongst others.
Nights were spent at the 100 Club, Ronnie Scott's or the Marquee, where he captured on film all the jazz greats from Miles Davis to Ella Fitzgerald. These pictures were to contribute to what is now the most comprehensive music picture library in the world. Realizing that to break fully into the commercial world he had to chase the big American names, David became a regular visitor to the jazz festivals in New Orleans, Newport, Antibes and Vienne and the big rock festivals, photographing such greats as Hendrix and Dylan.
By the 1970s David had firmly established his name as one of the top music photographers in the business, and in 1980, at Frank Sinatra's request, he became his official tour photographer.
He was the president of BAPLA (British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies) for the 14 years, and continued traveling the world photographing music festivals.
David received the 7th Milt Hinton Award for Excellence in jazz photography at the New York Hilton on January 11th, 2007 as part of the International Association for Jazz Education conference.
He passed away in October of 2014.