Alastair Graham’s Jazz Sketches

More jazz pictures, following on from the Gottlieb photos – but drawings this time. A couple of months ago I was in Leamington Spa and darted into a shop selling prints to escape from a sudden downpour. Flicking through the racks I stopped at a rather good caricature of Miles Davis by an artist named Alastair Graham. The smart and observant shop-owner saw me looking, and spotting that I had a Sun Ra LP under my arm (obviously I never go shopping without one) said ‘you can have one of him, if you like!’

It turns out that Alastair Graham is a huge jazz fan, and has published a small book of caricatures of jazz musicians, any of which he would print to a larger size and sign. There just happened to be a copy of the book on the counter, and leafing through it I decided I needed the pictures of Monk, Mingus and, yes, Sun Ra. Monk was already framed and available to take away, the others would have to be made to order. Cursing the rather expensive rainstorm under my breath, I said yes. 

And today I collected Mingus and Sun Ra!