Hank O'Neal

Hank O’Neal (born as Harold L. O’Neal, Jr. June 5, 1940 in Kilgore, Texas) is an American music producer, author and photographer. He is equally well known in all these disciplines.

Youth

His mother, Sarah Christian O’Neal was a musically and intellectually inclined housewife from Tyler, Texas. His father was a professional soldier and educator in the US Army in Texas and the Pacific (1929-1947) and, following World War II, an educator and public school superintendent in upstate New York (1953-72). O’Neal was raised throughout Texas, primarily Fort Worth, Bloomington, Indiana, and Syracuse, New York. After first attending Renesselaer Polytechnic Institute, he graduated from Syracuse University in 1962.

Early career

In 1960 O’Neal was introduced to a representative of the Central Intelligence Agency and ultimately accepted employment with that organization. He reported for duty in January 1963 and remained with the CIA in Washington D.C. and New York City until 1976. He served in the US Army during the same period (1962-1967), rising to the rank of Captain. The nature of his employment allowed him the flexibility of pursuing other interests during these years.

Music

During a forty year career in music, he formed two record companies, Chiaroscuro Records [ [http://www.chiaroscurojazz.com Chiaroscuro Records] ] [ [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=14777 All about Jazz] ] and Hammond Music Enterprises [ [http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/hammond-john-biography Hammond Music Enterprises] ] , built two recordings studios (WARP and Downtown Sound [ [http://www.downtown-sound.com/index.htm Downtown Sound] ] ), produced over 200 jazz LPs/CDs and - in conjunction with his business partner, Shelley M. Shier and their production company, HOSS, Inc. - over 100 music festivals (The Floating Jazz Festival [Whitney Balliett, The New Yorker, February 8, 1988 p. 82-89,] [Oren Jacoby, Travel and Leisure, January 1997, p. 8-11] The Blues Cruise, Mardi Gras At Sea, [ [http://www.TheAtlantic.com/issues/98jan/jazz.htm Whitney Balliett] ] Big Bands At Sea and others from 1983-2002), published a number of books and articles on jazz, photographed most of the giants of jazz from the second half of the 20th Century, exhibited these photographs regularly and served on the boards of various non-profit organizations that serve the jazz community, including the [http://www.newschool.edu/jazz/ Jazz and Contemporary Music Program of The New School] (1985 to present), [http://www.jazzfoundation.org/ The Jazz Foundation of America] (1993 to present) and more recently [http://www.jazzgallery.org/live/ The Jazz Gallery] The Jazz Gallery (1995 to present).

Photography

His first photographs were taken as a teenager and young man but O’Neal didn’t begin to pursue photography seriously until 1969 when he acquired a professional camera and began documenting recording sessions and jazz concerts he was producing. Long before Berenice Abbott [Berenice Abbott - American Photographer (McGraw-Hill, 1982)] admonished him to always have a project, he undertook his first, in rural East Texas during the years 1970-1973. These photographs led to his first exhibition in September 1973, at The Open Mind Gallery in New York City.

In the 1970s he became friendly and associated with a diverse group of photographers, notably Walker Evans, André Kertész and most importantly, Berenice Abbott, with whom he worked for the last 19 years of her life.

Between the years 1970 and 1999 in addition to undertaking many photographic projects, O’Neal also published numerous books related to photography. In 1999, at the urging of Evelyn Daitz, the gallery director, he had a major retrospective of his work to that point at The Witkin Gallery. [ [http://www.witkingallery.com/ The Witkin Gallery] ] The focus of his activities have been more directed towards photography since then. He has had many exhibitions since that time. In 2003 his photographic career was summarized in a major profile [ [http://www.hankonealphoto.com/hanktimes.html Career summary] ] in The New York Times.

Selected publications

Books (text and illustrations)

[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/condon_Jazz_scrapbook.pdf The Eddie Condon Scrapbook of Jazz] (St. Martin's Press, 1973)
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/a-vision_shared.pdf A Vision Shared] (St. Martin's Press, 1976)
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/berenice_abbott_american_photographer.pdf Berenice Abbott - American Photographer] (McGraw-Hill, 1982)
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/life_is_painful.pdf Life Is Painful, Nasty and Short ... In My Case It Has Only Been Painful and Nasty - Djuna Barnes] L 1978-81 (Paragon, 1990)
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/charlie_parker.pdf Charlie Parker] (Filipacchi, 1995)
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/ghosts_of_harlem.pdf The Ghosts of Harlem] (Filipacchi, 1997) French language edition
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/ghosts_of_harlem_2009.pdf The Ghosts of Harlem] (Vanderbilt University Press, 2009) English language edition
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/oneal_portraits.pdf Hank O’Neal Portraits 1971-2000] (Sordoni Art Gallery, 2000)
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/handmade.pdf Billie & Lester in Oslo] Billie & Lester in Oslo (A Play with Music, 2005)
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/gay_day.pdf Gay Day – The Golden Age of the Christopher Street Parade] (Abrams –2006)
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/berenice_2008.pdf Berenice Abbott] (Steidl, 2008)
100 Jazz Pianists (Vanderbilt University Press, 2009)

Books (photographs only)

[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/kents_water_beauty_book.pdf Allegra Kent's Water Beauty Book] (St Martin's Press, 1976)
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/all_the_kings_men.pdf All the King's Men] (Limited Editions Club, 1990)

Portfolios

Berenice Abbott - Portraits In Palladium (Text Only, Commerce Graphics/ Lunn Limited, 1990)
Hank O'Neal - Photographs (Text and 12 gravure prints), Limited Editions Club, 1990)
[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/ghosts_of_harlem.pdf The Ghosts of Harlem] (Text and 12 photographs), Glenside Press, 2007)

References

External link

[http://www.hankonealphoto.com/ Hank O'Neal Photo]