The great jazz photographer Herman Leonard is dead at 87. Leonard took photos of some of the best, including Art Tatum, Dizzie Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie "The Bird" Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Miles Davis -- to name a few. He led an interesting
life, which included losing thousands of prints (though not, fortunately, the safeguarded negatives) to Hurricane Katrina.
Here are a
few of his shots.
Previously on Metafilter.
posted by bearwife
on Aug 16, 2010 -
6 comments
Between 1938 and 1948, William P. Gottlieb wrote about and photographed the jazz world. In 1995, the Library of Congress acquired his collection of
approximately 1500 photographs covering more than 250 jazz musicians. While discussed here
seven years ago, not mentioned at that time was the fact that Mr. Gottlieb agreed to transfer his copyrights into the public domain 15 years after acquisition. Fast forward to 2010, and you will find that the Library has added high resolution TIFFs download links to the image pages (click on the thumbnail images to get to the TIFF download links).
A few pictures to whet your appetite:
Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie,
Cab Calloway,
Les Paul,
Django Reinhardt,
Nat King Cole,
Duke Ellington,
Sidney Bechet, and
Louis Armstrong.
posted by fings
on Aug 6, 2010 -
19 comments
The Jazz Loft Project - From 1957 to 1965, celebrated photojournalist W. Eugene Smith made 4,000 hours of surreptitious recordings and took 40,000 photographs in a loft in Manhattan's wholesale flower district where Roland Kirk, Thelonius Monk, Hall Overton, Charles Mingus and other jazz greats jammed until dawn. Archived in the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, the project is now accessible via a book, a traveling exhibit, a
10-part Jazz Loft series on WNYC,
NPR's Jazz Loft Project Sights & Sounds, and an interview with
JLP author Sam Stephenson, which includes some images from the book. Via a
Grain Edit post, which also has some great images.
[more inside]
posted by madamjujujive
on Jan 3, 2010 -
21 comments
The iconic photographer
William Claxton has died at the age of 80. His unforgettable shots of
Miles Davis, Steve McQueen,
Chet Baker (the book of his Baker photos
here),
Bob Dylan, Charlie Parker,
Ray Charles,
John Coltrane, Billie Holiday,
Bill Evans,
Lenny Bruce,
Frank Sinatra and so many others are legend. His books
"Jazz Life" and
"Photographic Memory" are great collections, but
his official site is probably the best way to appreciate the amazing legacy of work he left behind.
posted by Seekerofsplendor
on Oct 12, 2008 -
13 comments
A Life With Jazz is a collection of the wonderful photographs of Herman Leonard, focusing on the iconic figures of 20th century jazz music.
posted by jonson
on Aug 30, 2007 -
9 comments
Gallery 41 A jazz photography collection covering the past quarter-century and over 150 artists. Hear musical excerpts and highlights of recorded conversations as you explore.
posted by LinusMines
on Jun 15, 2005 -
8 comments
