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There was an interesting piece in the NY Times last Sunday (1/27) about a lost cache of negatives from photographer Robert Capa that had been found by someone in Mexico City. They had been been hidden in cardboard suitcases, but were presumed lost when Capa fled Europe for America in 1939. It was the contents of his Paris darkroom and apparently contains thousands of negatives shot during the Spanish Civil War. They had gone from Paris to Marseille to Mexico City where they were held by a Mexican general and diplomat.

What's amazing is that although they've been lost for over 50 years and were stored in flimsy cardboard valises, they are, apparently, in excellent condition. Curators at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York are working to catalogue the 3,500 negatives. I'm looking forward to see what they've found since although I've appreciated Capa's work, there was never that much to look at (he died in 1954 in Vietnam).

That discovery reminds me of a recording of the Thelonious Monk Quartet w/ John Coltrane that was found a few years ago. A live recording from Carnegie Hall in 1957 was found at the Library of Congress in 2005. No one had ever heard the recording, and although the pairing of Monk and Coltrane was legendary, they left behind very little recorded material. The performance was released as Thelonious Monk Quartet w/John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall in 2005 and was immediately picked as one of the best jazz records of the year. It's fantastic.