MACON — In a museum gallery where the doors open to a grand hall that houses a relic of an upright piano — “Do Not Attempt To Play Little Richard’s Piano,” a sign warns. “He Will Know” — photographs line the walls of other legendary musicians who have graced Georgia concert venues through the years.
The photos, on display through September here at the Tubman African American Museum, are the work of Atlanta photographer Bud Smith. The exhibit, named “Thrillers! Black Music in Atlanta 1960s-1990s,” features images of famous performers, many while in their heydays, as they passed through the state on tours.
Some of the stars pictured include Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Rick James, Ray Charles, Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Beyonce, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, James Brown and Miles Davis.
“One thing about music is it brings all cultures together,” said Harold Young, the museum’s executive director. The photographs “put your mind back in time. It’s like, ‘I remember this group. I remember the Commodores. I remember Miles Davis and the Jacksons when they came.’”
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr.
Credit: Joe Kovac Jr.
On a recent morning, a young man passing through the gallery said he only recognized a handful of the artists pictured. The name Miles Davis, the jazz giant, meant nothing to him.
That’s why the display is important, said Jeff Bruce, director of exhibitions for the downtown Macon building that bills itself as the Southeast’s largest museum for educating people about the art, history and culture of African Americans.
“I just assumed that people knew who these artists were,” Bruce said. “But I’m talking to young people and they’re like, ‘I don’t know who that is.’ And I’m like, ‘How do you not know who Miles Davis is? How do you not know who Stevie Wonder is?’ But they don’t.”
Smith, 76, says he remembers snapping pictures of Davis at an Atlanta show in the 1980s.
“Everyone knows him for never smiling and always having a stern look and so forth,” Smith said of the legendary trumpeter. “And I have pictures of him smiling at one point back in his dressing room. I was like, ‘Wow, this is unusual.’”
Other photographs by Smith that are on display date to 1968, the evening of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral. It was there, at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium, that he took pictures of the likes of Wonder, Diana Ross and the Temptations. The King family also attended. Smith photographed not only the musicians but also the mourners.
“What I thought would be interesting to people,” Smith said, “was to see how (the Kings) were reacting to things.”
Smith befriended Lionel Richie around the time the Commodores got their start in Alabama. When Nelson Mandela visited Atlanta in 1990, Smith was granted up-close access. More recently, Smith was lead photographer for Congressman John Lewis’ funeral. Smith’s photos of Hank Aaron’s historic 715th home run are on display in an exhibit at the Atlanta History Center.
Smith said he captured candid photos by being unobtrusive, genuine, human.
“It’s a matter of how you handle yourself,” he said. “I always tried to be the person that blended in with what the situation was so that I wouldn’t stick out or they wouldn’t feel offended by somebody being where I was.”
Access can be harder to come by these days.
“Things tend to be a lot more closed because people are trying to make (stars) look bad,” Smith said. “I was the opposite. I always felt my role was to show the better side of someone, the natural person. If it was a bad shot, I wouldn’t let anybody see it.”
