Charles Weckler: Behind the Camera

Since learning that Charles ("Chas") Adam Weckler Jr. photographed the cover of Guaraldi's Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus LP, I've done a spot of research; I've also exchanged several informative e-mails with his son, Chad, who has followed in his father's professional footsteps.


As we can read in the detailed essay posted by the Northern California branch of the American Society of Media Photographers, Chas Weckler (1924-2003) had quite an impressive and groundbreaking advertising career in the 1960s and '70s. He was the first to photograph the iconic image of the horse-drawn stagecoaches for Wells Fargo Bank, and he was the first to do "pictorial" images for the backgrounds of personal checks. He later started his own stock photography business, "Weckler's World," and in 1990 published the landmark book, Impressions of Giverney: Monet's World.


For our purposes, Weckler photographed four album covers for Fantasy jazz artist Vince Guaraldi.


Several dozen examples of Weckler's other work can be found in a photo gallery at his son Chad's website, and of course you'll also see Chad's pictures, as well.


"Vince was a fantastic artist, and a family friend," Chad tells me. "I met him many times. We would often go to the Trident, to hear him play. Vince's son David is a little younger than I am; we both attended Tamalpais High School.


"My Mom attended Vince's funeral, as my father was out of the country at the time.


"My father did many of his covers, many in our family house/studio in Sausalito. I was there for the Latin Side cover shoot."


I asked if unused photos might remain from any of those shoots, and the answer won't surprise anybody familiar with Fantasy's iron grip of control, back in the day.


"Those were the days of ... get paid by Fantasy, and hand over all of the film," Chad replied, with regret that radiated from his note. "So no, there are no out-takes."


But Chad is able to share a few delightful images. Longtime Guaraldi fans may recall Fantasy's genius promotional tool, used back in the early 1960s, which capitalized on Vince's signature mustache. Fantasy printed up thousands of these cardboard mustaches and made them available to patrons in the San Francisco jazz clubs where Guaraldi performed. Unfortunately, I've not yet found a club "group photo" of folks wearing these mustaches, akin to those famous 1950s pictures of movie theater patrons donning 3D glasses (but I'm still looking!).


As it happens, Chas Weckler also sported an impressive mustache.


"My father liked the Vince mustache give-away," Chad explains, "and replicated this for his own promo give-away. His real mustache was similar, but pointed."

And you can see the proof here!


A bit of investigation reveals that — in addition to the aforementioned Black Orpheus and Latin Side — Chas Weckler also shot the cover photo for Guaraldi's early anthology album, Jazz Impressions, along with guitarist Bola Sete's Fantasy album, Tour de Force. Guaraldi's first Fantasy album, Vince Guaraldi Trio, doesn't credit a photographer; neither do any of his three albums with Sete. Intriguingly, Guaraldi's In Person album does include a credit, but the photographer listed is Jim Weckler. A quick check with Chad confirmed my suspicion that Fantasy erred with this credit (as often happened, with Fantasy credits); Chad verified that his father shot Black Orpheus, Latin Side, Jazz Impressions, In Person and Sete's Tour de Force.


Additionally, Chas also did some promotional shots for Guaraldi, such as the 1967 D&D Associates advertising image that kicks off this blog entry.


"The blond girl with the paper mustache is my sister, Krissy," Chad added.


So, now we have more items on the to-do list: Identifying the LP cover photographer for Guaraldi's remaining Fantasy albums. Research never ends...