A black marker is streaked across the page in long, fluid lines, flushing out the lid of a grand piano. Lighter brown, sideways strokes depict a bass, one that a man in a suit and glasses looks to be hugging. A black blotch marks the bass drum, next to smaller drums that seem to be suspended in air. A head with black hair peeks out from behind a cymbal.
The brown squares on the page are indicative of the paneled walls of Kilbourn Hall. Sitting at the piano is a well-dressed, dark-skinned man with speckled hair, easily recognizable as Monty Alexander during his Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival appearance in 2009. You can see the trio in movement through the frantic lines of pen. In that movement, sounds of swinging and grooving Jamaican-influenced jazz can be heard.
The picture is a sketch by area artist Tom Tosti, who attends the jazz festival each year with white paper pads and colored pens in tow. He busily draws the artists in action during their sets, challenging himself to get the picture right in the condensed hour of a jazz set, often in less-than-ideal drawing conditions. He's been sketching artists for each of the festival's nine years, starting with the event's first-ever show in 2002 of pianist Renee Rosnes.
Read the entire story:
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110605/LIVING/106050306/Tom-Tosti-draws-jazz-festival-experience
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