Noted photographer to visit Gantt Center

Photographer Jim Alexander will return to Charlotte on Thursday to discuss the subjects – primarily jazz musicians – of his celebrated photographs.

A photojournalist, teacher, activist, and media consultant, Alexander has witnessed and documented many historic events – festivals, concerts, rallies, demonstrations, meetings and marches.

In "Conversations @ Gantt - A Jazzy Journey with Jim Alexander," the photographer will lead participants through his life’s work, featuring images from more than four decades of photographing African-American musicians and vocalists. The main focus will be jazz, although the conversation also will examine the environments that spawned both the music and the performers.

The free discussion, which starts at 6 p.m., is presented in conjunction with the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture exhibition, "Black Music After 1968: The Photography of Jim Alexander," on display through June 19. Reservations are required; RSVP at www.ganttcenter.org.

This is the third in a series of free, public lectures launched in 2009. Future "Conversations @ Gantt" speakers include Thomas Chatterton Williams on March 17 and Yale University art historian Robert Farris Thompson on April 14.