The name Birdland, the legendary Manhattan club, is also the title of Serge Dehaes’ collection of jazz drawings – a visual patchwork dedicated to the passion of rhythm and emotions of music.
“Drawing jazz may seem paradoxical, but it is not. The origins of jazz take us back to the suffering of black people, their labouring in the cotton fields, the songs that gave rhythm to the cotton picking and the dream of being free one day.
Although time has erased some of the pain, this music is still powered by the same thirst for freedom.
And it is this aspect that is echoed in my drawings, a surrendering where a line resembles a musical note, where improvisation governs gestures and where energy comes from the gut.” Serge Dehaes
Drawings & digital prints signed and numbered on half-tone Canson 160 g paper.
This 80-page 4-colour hardcover is published by the author and can be purchased for 28 euros. It will be available on the evenings of the concert at the Marni or you can request a copy by email.
