Chester Sheard photographed his way through the 60s and 70s, documenting the jazz world and the civil rights movement. He worked as a staff photographer and writer for the Nation of Islam newspaper Muhammad Speaks, and as a freelancer for such publications as Downbeat, Metronome, Time, Ebony, Jet, Der Spiegel and Paris Match. He has photos in Encyclopedia Britannica and World Book. His work graces the album covers of John Coltrane's Infinity and B. B. King's Live in Cook County Jail. From Newport Jazz Festival to the Poor Peoples Campaign to the '68 Chicago Convention, the guy was there.
Chester Sheard ,1999(KM art photo)
Chester was having his hair cut on the Southside of Chicago and heard that Cassius Clay, soon to emerge as Muhammad Ali, was working out at the East 63rd Street Gym just down the street. The classic images below are the result (approximately 1965)
|
|
|
The photo of B.B.King (below) graced the classic album
Live In Cook County Jail (September 10, 1970).
