This article, written about Tommy Shepard, appears in Jazziz Magazine June, 2005
"Prelude"
The late trombonist Tommy Shepard--a regular member of Nelson Riddle's orchestra,
part of the house band for the television shows The Hollywood Palace and The Joey Bishop Show
and a bandleader and recording artist in his own
right -- had in the 1960's a privileged view of the music world. And he captured much of it with his camera.
At his death in 1993, Shepard left behind a one-of-a-kind collection of an estimated 6,000 photographs and negatives of a who's who of 1960's Hollywood. The collection was given by Shepard's widow to Mike Costley, a former vocalist for her late husband's orchestra and a good friend of the bandleader. With her approval before her passing last year, Costley and his wife Stephanie donated it to the University of Arizona in Tucson.
The collection, distinguished by its behind-the-scenes look, is said to include about 100 never-before-seen photographs
of Frank Sinatra in the studio, over 2,000 photographs of rarely documented studio musicians, and what is described
as "a photographic diary" of Shepard's television work. Some of the entertainers captured at work, and in
unguarded moments, include Elle Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, The Rat Pack, BOBBY DARIN, and Nat King Cole, as well as many of the top actors and athletes of the 1960's. The Tommy Shepard collection is now housed at the university's School of Music and is expected to be available to the public in the Fall 2005.
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