Jini Dellaccio (née Duckworth; January 31, 1917 – July 3, 2014) was an American photographer best known for her images of rock and pop acts of the 1960s, particularly in the Pacific Northwest. Her photographs of the Sonics, the Wailers, Merrilee Rush, the Daily Flash and many others were frequently used for album covers, posters, and publicity stills, and - along with her shots of major acts such as Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, and The Who - have been widely reproduced in books, CDs, articles, and gallery exhibitions.
Early life and career
Born and raised on a family farm in Indiana, Jini (pronounced "Jeanie") Duckworth's father was an auto mechanic and her mother was a beautician. Her large family was artistically and musically inclined. Jini's mother was a self-taught violinist, her father played drums, and her sister played piano. After graduating from high school in 1935 she played saxophone with a number of different all-girl Swing jazz touring revues for 12 years.
While performing in Hollywood, Florida with the Sweathearts of Swing during World War II, she met her husband-to-be, Carl Dellaccio, who was serving in the Navy. “We talked every night. That was the end of it for me," Jini said. After the war the couple moved to Chicago, Illinois, where Carl attended the University of Chicago, via the GI Bill. After they married in 1946, Jini continued playing music professionally for a while, then began attending the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied painting and became interested in photography, purchasing a $70 used Leica at Altman's, a Chicago camera shop.
In 1953, the couple moved to Long Beach, California where Carl had been offered a high school level Spanish and Italian teaching job. Jini did pottery for a while before developing a successful career as a freelance fashion photographer. During this period she purchased a Rolleiflex camera, and then a Hasselblad 500-C, which (though she would occasionally use other types) became her primary camera. The resulting photos, Dellaccio said, were “absolutely gorgeous.” A model, as pleased with the shots as Dellaccio, showed them to one of her Hollywood connections, who said, “Now he is a photographer.” The model took great pleasure in telling him, “This happens to be a lady”. From that point on, Dellaccio was seen as a symbol of gender equality and excellence in the music/photography industry. "Anything they'd ask – ‘Oh yes, I can do that,’” Dellaccio said. “And I would do it." In 1958, she joined her brother Paul on a tour of the South Sea Islands and took along her Leica, capturing one of her most cherished images, of the Tasman Sea. The fashion gig lasted ten years, ending when Carl was offered a job with the Tacoma, Washington Public Schools district in 1961. The couple moved to nearby Gig Harbor. In 1962 the Tacoma Art Museum exhibited some of Dellaccio's work, including fashion photos and pictures taken on the South Pacific excursion.
Rock and roll photographer
By 1964 the members of one of the Northwest's most popular rock bands, the Wailers, based in Tacoma, were looking to upgrade the quality of the cover art of their records, which they released on their own label, Etiquette Records. They contacted graphic designer John Vlahovich, who recommended they speak to promotions-man Barrie R. Jackson. Jackson had seen Dellaccio's exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum, and suggested that they ask her to do the album cover shoot. She agreed, but instead of photographing them at her home studio, she had them walk around a local park. The resultant photos were used on the Vlahovich-designed cover of the album Wailers, Wailers, Everywhere, which was a regional best-seller. Dellaccio was soon in high demand, her photographic style seeming to have captured what DJ and concert impresario Pat O'Day described as "the Northwest cool".