Hank O'Neal

His mother, Sarah Christian O’Neal, was a musically and intellectually inclined housewife from Tyler, Texas. His father was a professional soldier and educator in the U.S. Army in Texas and the Pacific (1929–1947) and, following World War II, an educator and public school superintendent in upstate New York (1953–72). O’Neal was raised in Texas; Bloomington, Indiana; and Syracuse, New York. He graduated from Syracuse University in 1962.

In 1963, O’Neal accepted employment with Central Intelligence Agency remained with it until 1976. He served in the U.S. Army during the same period (1962–1967), rising to the rank of captain.

During a 40-year career in music, he formed two record companies, Chiaroscuro Records[1][2] and Hammond Music Enterprises,[3] built two recording studios (WARP and Downtown Sound[4]), produced over 200 jazz LPs/CDs and - in conjunction with his business partner, Shelley M. Shier and their production company, HOSS, Inc. - over 100 music festivals (The Floating Jazz Festival,[5][6] The Blues Cruise, Mardi Gras At Sea,[7] Big Bands At Sea, and others from 1983–2002), published a number of books and articles on jazz, photographed most of the giants of jazz from the second half of the 20th century, exhibited these photographs regularly, and served on the boards of various non-profit organizations that serve the jazz community, including the Jazz and Contemporary Music Program of The New School (1985 to present), The Jazz Foundation of America (1993 to present) and more recently the Jazz Gallery (1995 to present) and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. He is a lifetime member of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

He began taking photographs while a teenager, and he had his first exhibition in September 1973 at The Open Mind Gallery in New York City.

In the 1970s he associated with a diverse group of photographers, notably Walker Evans, André Kertész, and most importantly, Berenice Abbott, with whom he worked for the last 19 years of her life.

From 1970 to 1999 (in addition to undertaking many photographic projects), O’Neal published numerous books related to photography. In 1999, he had a major retrospective of his work to that point at The Witkin Gallery.[8] Since this time, he focused his activities toward photography, and continues to mount exhibitions yearly throughout the U.S. and Canada.

O'Neal sits on the honorary founders board of The Jazz Foundation of America.[9] O’Neal has served on the boards of various non-profit organizations, including the Jazz Museum in Harlem, the Jazz Gallery and the Jazz and Contemporary Program of The New School.[10]

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