Remembering Jasper Dailey by Peter Reum
Jasper Dailey photographed recording sessions and music industry special events in the Los Angeles area for 25 years. He was thrust into prominence in The Beach Boy world by photographing several of the Smile Sessions during the late 1966 into early 1967 period.
Jasper and I first met when David Leaf and I were researching the visuals for his Brian Wilson/Beach Boy book in 1978. Jasper's photographs were unseen at that time and were the visual heart of David's Smile chapters in his book. Jasper literally chronicled the Los Angeles music scene from 1965 through 1990. He saw artists through an eye that caught their charm and friendship often in unexpected poses that showed their creativity as it happened.
I always got the feeling that Jasper wanted to be a star himself, but as anyone who has heard his recordings that Brian produced, he was a better photographer than singer. I last spoke with Jasper in the early Nineties, and he still was his raspy voiced, charming self, and still was trying to sell me some photos he had taken of Brian from the second Landy Era.
I had the pleasure of going through Jasper's archive in 1978, and it was one of the most interesting and diverse collections of photographic work I ever had the pleasure to peruse through while researching. It documented an era that is regarded as a fertile period in rock, country, and live performance in California Music. Jasper is sorely missed. but when you think of Smile, he is there....
Copyright by Peter Reum-All Rights Reserved
A wonderful man. Used to see him at the Palomino many, many times and had so many pictures with stars he took. Will always be missed
ReplyDeleteI have a couple photos he did at the Palomino of my mom and aumt. They are amazing!! I just googled the name on tha back of the photos and it was Jasper Dailey. Wow, so cool.
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