Andrew Lepley Photography
For the month of February on display at the PCPA's Antoinette Harfield Hall, official Portland Jazz Festival photographer Andrew Lepley, will have 30 prints of memorable artists from the past four years of the Festival.
Photos: Chick Corea and Gary Burton; Diego Ramirez
Andrew Lepley's Biography
R. Andrew Lepley, an editorial photographer for the past 20 years, specializes in the coverage of music and the performing arts. He is based in and shoots most of his assignments in the New York City metropolitan area.
After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1981 he was working as a counselor in a group home for developmentally disabled adults outside of Philadelphia. It was during this time that he was given an old 35mm camera by his brother. This began an immediate obsession with photography that would prompt him to enroll in photography school and embark on a new career path. While attending the Antonelli School of Art & Photography, he began to take his camera to various music venues around Philadelphia, documenting the action on stage. After leaving photography school he spent 7 years as the photographer for The Legal Intelligencer, a small daily paper for the legal community of Philadelphia.
He continued to shoot various music events and met Bill Royston, who was programming the music at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia. Royston would go on to become the Artistic Director of the Portland Jazz Festival. Lepley would document many of the music events at Penn’s Landing and at other venues that Royston produced music for. Lepley also began working for Evidence Records, a small jazz & blues label based just outside Philadelphia. One assignment required a trip to New York, to photograph the jazz drummer Ralph Peterson, Jr. This would become his first complete CD artwork package and many more followed, prompting Lepley to move to New York in 1995.
Since that time, Lepley has provided the cover photography and inside photos for more that 75 CD’s, such as George Benson-Live, Best Of (Verve); Houston Person-Thinking of You (HighNote); Joe Locke-Storytelling (Sirocco) and Earl Klugh-Love Songs (Blue Note). His images have appeared on the covers of over 15 different music magazines, from Jazztimes, Gig and Modern Drummer to Batera, Latin Beat & Slagwerkkrant. Lepley’ photos have appeared in various newspapers around the globe. The Village Voice, New York Times, Evening Standard, Irish Times, Juillet and The Independent have all run his photos. He has provided the packaging artwork for 20 video/dvd’s, in association with Hudson Music. For the past 6 years Lepley has been the staff photographer for the Manhattan School of Music. He has documented various music festivals, including JVC Jazz (NewYork); Mellon Jazz (Philadelphia); Berks Jazz Fest (Reading, PA); Portland & Mt. Hood Jazz Festivals (Oregon) and the Havana Jazz Festival in Cuba. He works for various music instrument manufacturers, including Sonor Drums, Vandoren Reeds, Sabian Cymbals & Vic Firth Drumsticks. His work is represented by Redferns agency in London. Lepley has had gallery exhibits at Mellon Bank & The Painted Bride in Philadelphia, Sweet Basil & The Jazz Gallery in New York and as part of a music artists collective in Havana.
Photos: Don Byron; Trygve Seim
Other Photos
Nicholas Payton
Esperanza Spaulding
Dave Douglas
Charles Lloyd
Stefon Harris
Dianne Reeves
