Update: September 1st, 2022. A link to the finished video can be found here[1]https://www.ctproduced.com/the-music-came-first/.
The Snapshots Foundation has been posting clues for a while that they were working on something related to Creed Taylor. As well as the more recent teaser promo about their Creed Taylor project, which they originally posted back in January.
In August 2019, Snapshots announced that Pianist Ben Tibbetts had been selected as composer for the Creed Taylor film, sponsored by the Herb Alpert Foundation. On his website, Tibbetts says he has completed the soundtrack[2]Ben Tibbetts Studio: Piano Performances and Original Music, so the project must indeed be “Coming Soon”. On News Years Eve, 2019, they declared their project was coming in 2020, only to be thwarted by Covid-19. If you want to keep track of the project their Facebook page[3]Snapshots Foundation | Facebook is where to go.
The first hint was back as far as 2017 when they posted a number of pictures and announced “Excellent interviews at Rudy Van Gelder’s legendary studio with Ron Carter, Creed Taylor, Don Sebesky, Larry Young III, Michael Fremer and more! Thank you Don and Maureen for carrying on Rudy’s legacy!” This picture was the first I’d seen of Creed in many years, here with Ron Carter.
I’ve had a number of exchanges with Jonathan Bewley, Executive Director at the foundation going back to July 2020.
The foundation work isn’t the only project I’m aware of. The attention on Creed and his work, is exciting, especially for a man who largely stayed out of the spotlight, and let his artists do the talking. It does come though with a sense of responsibility. Creed is greatly undervalued by the jazz community, and he remains a controversial figure by those looking back in rose-tinted sunglasses. How this documentary, and other works, deal with not just with the music Creed produced and the musicians, but the context in which he worked, is massively important. The context is what makes those contributions remarkable, as it will to the credibility of the projects that try to provide a better understanding.
The Creed Taylor project is likely to be the biggest project the Snapshots has undertaken. I first became aware of the foundation when researching Walter Wanderly back in 2017. I’m still not sure what happened to that project, as both their website and YouTube channels only have the previews.[4]Snapshots: Walter Wanderley tribute project (preview). SDVoyager has a good overview on Snapshots and Jonanathan.[5]Meet Jonathan of Snapshots Foundation
That said, their interviews with with Ross Solomon, the founder and owner of Tower Records are well worth the the time, as are the interviews they have with the AFM musicians union on their YouTube and Vimeo channels.[6](2) The Snapshots Foundation – YouTube
I look forward to seeing more!