Watch a short documentary of The Richard Hambleton Retrospective featuring the photography of Hank O'Neal at Phillips de Pury , New York City from September 9 through the 13th, 2011 presented by Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld and Andy Valmorbida in collaboration with Phillips De Pury & Giorgio Armani.  Click here   Hank's photographs of Richard Hambleton as featured in the June issue of Bliss Magazine.  Download the PDF here: Bliss article   Hank's latest show: Portraits 1970-2010 at The Lancaster Museum of Fine Art. This one man photographic exhibition features noted portraits Hank has taken over the last four decades.  The show will run through February 27th.  For more information please visit the museums web site here: http://www.lmapa.org/exh.html Hank's Portrait of Robert Indiana during his reception at the Four Season's Restaurant in New York City, featured in Art in America: http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-opinion/news/2011-01-26/robert-indiana-hope-four-seasons/ Hank's Photographs of Richard Hambleton's Shadow Men on display @ The Dairy, London:  http://arrestedmotion.com/2010/12/viewpoints-openings-richard-hambleton-pop-up-show-the-dairy-london/img_3876_p-nguyen/   Hank's photography graced the facade of the AMFAR pavillion, Cap D'Atibes France, May 20, 2010 C-Span July 2010 —The American Association of University Professors, features The Ghosts Of Harlem American Edition as one of it's choices for The "Best of The Best" University Editions. "The Best of The Bests" Program program, offers librarians the opportunity to share advice and recommendations with their colleagues, and recognizes the valuable contribution that university press books can make to both public and secondary school libraries. (note:The Ghosts of Harlem feature begins at 11:40 and ends at 14:40) :Please Have a look at the video here: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/294474-1 Jazz Times Interview June 2010 — Hank O’Neal: Chasing Ghosts ArtNews Article, March 2010, Friendships In Focus - Berenice Abbott, PDF Hank O'Neal's Lower East Side Project Featured On Swiss T.V. Seventh Man Magazine - "Richard Hambleton — New York" in Milan Featured Artist on Valmorbida.com Artists We Love, Featured Photographs of Richard Hambleton Street Art Swide, Hank O'Neal's Portraits of Richard Hambleton, showing in Milan oneartworld.com - Featuring Hank O'Neal's Richard Hambleton Related Prints for Sale Abitare - Richard Hambleton in Milan featuring a portrait by Hank O'Neal

I have absolutely no idea how well Benny Carter played the piano. In fact, I only heard him noodle at one, but I saw a large imposing instrument in his Los Angeles home, and my guess is he wrote some of his arrangements and compositions at that piano.

I had the pleasure of working with Benny for many years, but none was more rewarding that arranging for him to celebrate his 90th birthday on August 8, 1997 at a special concert during that year’s Oslo Jazz Festival. The story of how it worked out has little to do with the piano, but it is remarkable, and typical of the professionalism of Benny Carter.

Our friends at the Oslo Jazz Festival wanted to have a special tribute for Benny’s 90th birthday. Benny was eager to go, but his schedule was crowded. He was already scheduled to perform at concert in his honor at the Hollywood Bowl on  August 6th, but he decided he could make the trip. On August 7th, Hilma and Benny flew from Los Angeles in the general direction of Oslo. There were, of course, no direct flights. They changed planes in Stockholm, or perhaps it was Copenhagen. They reached Oslo in the early morning of the 8th. Reporters, fans, and pretty girls carrying bouquets of flowers were waiting for him. He rested for a few hours, then made his way to the Oslo Konserthus, and performed at 7:30. He was also celebrated and given special birthday gifts and honors. His performance was flawless, as I suspected would be the case. After the concert he received many guests, greeted old friends and then made his way to the Grand Hotel for a couple of days of rest.

This photograph of him sitting at the piano was taken about 6:30, before the concert. He had asked to see the stage and concert hall. After a quick look he sat down at the piano, I had my camera with me, and took the picture.

We stayed in touch after that concert, chatting on the telephone, occasionally meeting in Los Angeles. In July 2003 I was in Los Angeles working on Clint Eastwood’s Piano Blues. After checking out Ray Charles’ RPM Studio I had the afternoon free and my first priority was to make my way to the hospital where Benny was in residence. He was 95 and not in good health. He was very frail but we had a nice visit. His mind was still perfect, but it was the last time I saw him. He lasted less than two weeks.

Benny Carter, Oslo Konserthau, August 8, 1997