Baltimore Jazz Hero
Photographer Efrain Ribeiro, Baltimore’s 2024 Jazz Hero, was born in Japan to Peruvian parents while his father worked for the United Nations/World Health Organization in Korea; he spent his youth in El Salvador, Argentina and Maryland, where he remains. His rich photographic documentation of the Baltimore jazz scene has made him a major player of the city’s music community.
Though he started his career in the arts, attending Johns Hopkins in the early 1970s to study creative writing and filmmaking, Efrain ended up working in market research for global conglomerates for more than 45 years. Since retiring in 2016, he has emerged as an important personage practicing his photography at Baltimore concerts and club dates as well as the outdoor jam sessions and sidewalk concerts that proliferated during the Covid-19 pandemic.
His photographic style features beautiful warmth and color that intimately capture the area’s musicians as they perform and interact. The depth of Ribeiro’s photography is reminiscent of Francis Wolff’s great 1950s and ‘60s images for Blue Note Records but depicts our current musicians, both well-established artists and students just starting their careers. Driven by the omissions exist within the recorded history of jazz, Efrain regularly photographs several performances a week, posting photos on his Instagram account @breton9jazz.
Significantly, Ribeiro makes all of his photos available at no cost to the musicians he focuses on. This community service has provided hundreds of the area’s players with vivid images they’ve used to promote and archive their work.
Having shot thousands of rolls of film since 1973, the photographer is currently digitizing his negatives, which portray such legendary artists as Sun Ra and Charles Mingus at Baltimore’s historic Left Bank Jazz Society, and Julius Hemphill and the Art Ensemble of Chicago at DC Space in the ’70s. Now Efrain Ribeiro haunts An die Musik (run by 2021 JJA Baltimore Jazz Hero Henry Wong), R House, DIY spaces, outdoor jam sessions, porch concerts and wherever local jazz is happening. You’ll recognize this Jazz Hero: Efrain Riberio is the man with the camera.
— Todd Marcus
Bass clarinetist, 2016 Jazz Hero
