Eclipse Jazz Reunion
Eclipse Jazz was formed at the University of Michigan in 1975 by undergraduates; it lasted until 1993. The organization held a reunion at the Ann Arbor Downtown Library on April 18, which included a panel discussion with fifteen of the former jazz activists. Interestingly enough several went on to work as jazz promoters, managers, and radio voices, and all of them spoke highly of their experiences at Eclipse. Being part of Eclipse proved invaluable for their future careers and personal life.
One sure measure of the success of the organization is the quality of the artists it presented, such as Dexter Gordon/Johnny Griffin, Miles Davis, and Ornette Coleman. Lee Berry (above) was co-director with Michael Grofsorean in the early years of Eclipse, and he led off the panel discussion. The panelists shown are, from left: Jimmy Robbins, Michael G Nastos, Tom Bray, Peter Petto, Michael Grofsorean, Neil Scott, Michael Landy, Ann Rebentisch, Roger Cramer, Larry Bram, Max Dehn, Sam Kaufman.
photographs by Lars Bjorn and Susan Weinberg