ANDEE NATHANSON PHOTOGRAPHE

THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS

Gram and I went through some of the craziest times together.

We shared a wide circle of friends in the music and film

worlds, from L.A. to London and places in between.

He brought so many people together, weaving

through his enormous heart an extraordinary vision

that radiates just as strongly today as it ever did.

He was a big fan of my photography, as I am of his music.

Many ask today, “What was it like to be there?”

Here’s a taste of it, in black and white.

(ANDY NATHANSON)

GRAM PARSON

JOHN PHILLIPS

FRANK ZAPPA

DONOVAN

It is London in 1966 and Andee Nathanson has just acquired her first proper camera,

a Nikkormat 35mm, a gift from James Fox the actor who in two years will co-star with

Mick Jagger in the film “Performance”.

Twenty year old Andee decided that “things looked more interesting through the lens”,

and thus began a ten year odyssey, from Los Angeles to Rome to London to Morrocco

and back to LA again. During this time Andee had unprecedented access to a

transatlantic coterie of cultural movers and shakers, a virtual who’s who of

scenemakers of the era: Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Donovan, Robert Fraser,

Talitha and Paul Getty, Gram Parsons, David Hockney, Dennis Hopper, Leon Russell,

Joe Cocker, John Phillips, Alice Cooper and others.

Encouraged by friends Marlon Brando and legendary photographer Michael Cooper,

Andee began to document her intimate circle in her own inimitable style: “I’ve always

seen what was barely there, and searched for it, through my lens.., I like to create the

space and let things happen in it, and they always do.” Utilizing a variety of techniques,

including shooting color infra-red film, Andee created a series of one-of-a-kind images

which have been largely unseen for thirty years.

People began to take notice and her photo of Miss Christine of the GTO’s ended up as

the cover of Frank Zappa’s 1969 LP Hot Rats. Many more albums followed including Joe

Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Although she d

isliked the hustle of the business side of photography, Andee never stopped shooting.

Eventually she married film producer Rick Nathanson, traveling the world with him to

various film locations.

In November of 2006, Andee started making her archive available to select collectors,

music companies and publishers. Since then her work has been published in Vogue

Italia, Vanity Fair and Bruce Weber’sAll-American VII 'Till I Get It Right: An Anthem for the

South. Her photos have also been used in recent CD packaging for

Gram Parsons,Complete Reprise Sessions

and Amoeba’s new release of GP andThe Flying Burrito Bros.

Live from the Avalon Ballroom  

and John Phillips Jack O’ Diamonds”; the cover of the Italian edition of the book

Let’s Spend the Night Together by Pamela Des Barres

and in Tom Petty’s Runnin Down A Dream,

the documentary and book.

http://www.andeenathanson.com/#/index/