The Jazz Photography Issue

August 11th, 2019

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Carol Friedman’s 1976 photograph of Chet Baker

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…..For many of us who revere jazz music – especially those fortunate enough to have grown up during the era of the 12 x 12 record album jacket and coffee table photography books– the images of great musicians taken by photographers like William Gottlieb, Herman Leonard, William Claxton and Lee Tanner provided ample inspiration to explore the music and culture they so passionately chronicled.

…..Gottlieb connected us to New York’s earliest bebop musicians, and to the aura of Dizzy’s 52nd Street.   Leonard’s portrait of Dexter Gordon, engulfed in the smoke of an unfiltered cigarette, was so seductive that, according to Dexter’s wife Maxine Gordon, Leonard jokingly wanted to have a disclaimer on the photo that said, “This photo does not encourage young people to smoke!”  Claxton’s work with Chet Baker expressed his beauty and complexity in the warmth of the Los Angeles environs.  Tanner’s ability to capture a moment from a stage performance nearly made it possible to hear Miles blowing his muted horn in the shadow of a spotlight.

…..Add to that the work of other great photographers from the mid-century era like the bassist Milt Hinton, San Francisco Bay area-based Veryl Oakland, and today’s most eminent jazz portrait photographer, Carol Friedman.

…..In this edition of Jerry Jazz Musician —“The Jazz Photography Issue” — fans of photography (and jazz) have access to several interesting posts:

…..A new and entertaining interview with Ms. Friedman about her career as a New York photographer, who talks about creating iconic photos of legends like Jimmy Heath, Ron Carter, Lena Horne, Chet Baker, Eubie Blake, Cecil Taylor, Nina Simone, Miles Davis, and Sarah Vaughan, and of contemporary artists like Sullivan Fortner, Chucho Valdes, Terence Blanchard, Terri Lyne Carrington, Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Christian McBride, Lisa Fischer and Joey Alexander.

…..In a continuation of our recent interview with Michael Cuscuna, the Mosaic Records co-founder talks about the availability of many previously unpublished Francis Wolff photographs, taken during Blue Note Records sessions from 1940 – 1969.

…..Archived interviews – among the first ever published on.Jerry Jazz Musician – with Herman Leonard, William Gottlieb, and Lee Tanner.

…..Jazz: Through the Life and Lens of Milt Hinton” features countless photographs and book excerpts from his 2006 book of the same name.

…..A new edition of “Jazz in Available Light” by Veryl Oakland. His photos and stories this time are of Art Pepper, Pat Martino and Joe Williams.

…..The artist Charles Ingham introduces a new series of five unique and brilliant jazz photo-narratives – focused on jazz people and places.

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Details (with links) for each post are found below.

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Randy Weston, 1996, by Carol Friedman.

Interview with renowned jazz photographer Carol Friedman

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…..During a career now spanning over three decades, the esteemed New York portrait photographer Carol Friedman’s iconic images have appeared on hundreds of album and CD covers.  Her poignant, often spontaneous work – a generous sampling of which is on display within and following the interview – includes the photographs of, for example, legends like Jimmy Heath, Ron Carter, Lena Horne, Chet Baker, Eubie Blake, Cecil Taylor, Nina Simone, Miles Davis, and Sarah Vaughan, and of contemporary artists like Sullivan Fortner, Chucho Valdes, Terence Blanchard, Terri Lyne Carrington, Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Christian McBride, Lisa Fischer and Joey Alexander.

…..An avowed jazz fan, Ms. Friedman’s background in music includes positions at .Elektra. Entertainment, .Blue Note,. and .Motown Records. as creative director. Now an independent photographer, designer and author, she is working on several book, music and film projects, including a film on the late jazz singer Abbey Lincoln.

…..Her lifelong work of distinction in the world of jazz photography is worthy of recognition.  Ms. Friedman agreed to participate in an interview that includes conversations and stories about her childhood interest in photography, her entry into the world of photographing jazz musicians, her creative mentors, and, of course, the musicians themselves.

…..I am excited to present her work to readers on such an illustrious scale.  My thanks to Ms. Friedman for allowingJerry Jazz Musician .the opportunity to visit, and to publish many of her photographs for your enjoyment.

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Click here to read the interview

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© Mosaic Images

George Benson at Lou Donaldson’s “Alligator Bogaloo” session, Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, April 7, 1967

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Michael Cuscuna announces the release of Francis Wolff’s Blue Note sessions photographs

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…..Michael Cuscuna – co-founder of Mosaic Records, and who has curated the Francis Wolff photo collection since 1992 – has identified and archived over 20,000 images taken by Wolff, the Blue Note Records co-founder.  According to Cuscuna, these photographs were “taken at hundreds of Blue Note sessions between 1940 and 1970.”

…..In a brief interview, which features several classic, never before seen photographs, Mr. Cuscuna shares news concerning the availability of this work of historic significance.

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Click here to read the interview

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copyright Herman Leonard Photography, LLC

.Dexter Gordon, Royal Roost, New York, 1948

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Interview with jazz photographer Herman Leonard

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…..For many of us, the photography of Herman Leonard is our first link to jazz. Ellington in Paris, Dexter with a Chesterfield, a youthful Miles, Armstrong in New York — Leonard’s work plays an important role in our appreciation for the music and its artists, and are lasting documents to its glorious, honored past.

…..As a frequent witness and chronicler of some of the world’s great jazz performers and performances, Leonard has a unique perspective on the music and its musicians.

…..I met Herman at a gallery showing his work in Portland sometime in the late 1990’s, and we chatted at length about his photographs, and about our shared appreciation for the musicians and their music.

…..Subsequent to that meeting, in a January, 2000 telephone interview (one of the very first published on www.jerryjazz.com), Leonard shared colorful stories about his career, and those he photographed. Our discussion took place as he was about to release his book .Jazz Memories.

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Click here to read the interview

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.photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress

Charlie Parker, Tommy Potter, Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, and Max Roach, Three Deuces, New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1947

 

Interview with jazz photographer William Gottlieb

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…..The first interview I ever hosted for. Jerry Jazz Musicianwas in 1997 with William Gottlieb, best known as a jazz photographer but who only came into that field when the Washington Post — for whom he wrote a jazz column — determined they could no longer pay for a photographer to accompany his column. At that time, Gottlieb purchased a camera and took pictures, mostly of musicians performing within the nightclubs of New York.

…..Our telephone conversation about his career – now 22 years in the past – remains memorable, as was my subsequent visit to his film studio in New York. He was a sincere gentleman with so much to share, as is apparent in the interview, which is published on this page in its entirety.

…..When this interview took place, Gottlieb – who passed away in 2006 – was in the midst of promoting his book of classic images,.The Golden Age of Jazz.

…..In line with Gottlieb’s wishes, in 1995 his photographs were sold to the Library of Congress.  A link to his entire collection is provided at the conclusion of the interview.

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Click here to read the interview

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© Lee Tanner

Sonny Stitt

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Jazz photographer Lee Tanner discusses his life in jazz

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…..In July of 2002, I had the privilege of interviewing the photographer Lee Tanner, whose remarkable images of jazz greats like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk appeared in the pages of .Downbeat, Rolling Stone and others, as well as on many record album covers.

…..Until his passing in 2013, in addition to managing his own photography, Tanner was an important contributor to promoting the legacy of essential jazz photography, having edited the 2006 book .The Jazz Image: Masters of Jazz Photography, 1935 – 1965, a collection of classic jazz photographs that included the work of Herman Leonard, Milt Hinton, Bob Willoughby, Chuck Stewart, and William Claxton.

…..Subsequent to this July, 2002 interview, I got to know Tanner as a friend and personal mentor who, along with Nat Hentoff, Gary Giddins, and Stanley Crouch, was an early advocate of. Jerry Jazz Musician. His voice of encouragement (and infectious laughter) remains fresh in my head.

…..The interview (and its introduction) is published as it originally appeared in 2002. At the interview’s conclusion is an extensive gallery of Tanner’s jazz photography, published with the kind consent of his daughter Lisa, who manages her father’s library, and who is herself an accomplished photographer.

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Click here to read the interview

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© Veryl Oakland

Veryl Oakland’s Jazz in Available Light

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…..Jazz in Available Light, Illuminating the Jazz Greats from the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s is one of the most impressive jazz photo books to be published in a long time. Featuring the brilliant photography of Veryl Oakland — much of which has never before been published — it is also loaded with his often remarkable and always entertaining stories of his experience with his subjects.

…..With the gracious consent of Mr. Oakland — an active photojournalist who devoted nearly thirty years in search of the great jazz musicians —Jerry Jazz Musician regularly publishes a series of posts featuring excerpts of the photography and stories/captions found in this important book.

In this edition, Mr. Oakland’s photographs and stories feature Art Pepper, Pat Martino and Joe Williams.

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…..View the photos and read his stories by clicking here

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Photo Copyright by the Milton J. Hinton Photographic
Collection

Billie Holiday, recording studio (her last recording session), New York City, 1959

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Jazz: Through the Life and Lens of Milt Hinton

…..Since its inception in 1997, it has been the goal of Jerry Jazz Musician to publish content that connects jazz music and American civilization, and to present the culture of the music to readers in a way that will spark memories for the generation who lived during its “golden age,” and help nourish curiosity about it to members of generations who did not.

…..As a jazz musician for seven decades, and as a chronicler of its intellectual and spiritual development through his fascinating, award-winning photography, Milt Hinton acts as an essential connecting point for the music and its associated culture. Hinton played bass alongside iconic figures like Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, and Louis Armstrong, and, as a photographer, brought these men and a host of others into focus as musicians, artists, and vital contributors to twentieth-century American life.

…..Originally published in 2006, with the generous consent of David G. Berger and Holly Maxson, who along with Milt Hinton co-authored Playing the Changes: Milt Hinton’s Life in Stories and PhotographsJerry Jazz Musician presents a photo exhibit, “Jazz: Through the Life and Lens of Milt Hinton.”

The exhibit consists of two parts:

“The Life of Milt Hinton”

— A chronicle of Hinton’s career as a musician and photographer, featuring photographs of and by Hinton, as well as book excerpts and associated sound and video samples, with an introduction by Clint Eastwood, and;

“The
Photography of Milt Hinton”

— Featuring photographs taken by Hinton, as well as book excerpts

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The page has been updated to include information about Mr. Hinton’s work

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Click here to visit the feature

 

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Charles Ingham’s Jazz Narratives — a continuing series

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…..For several months, Jerry Jazz Musician has presented the artist/photographer Charles Ingham’s unique and brilliant series of photo-narratives he calls “Pastoral Scenes of the Gallant South.”  These pieces, according to Ingham, “come out of a road trip through the South taken in 2018, and can be interpreted as a form of self-portrait, of the artist paying homage in his own way to an individual, and of the place which that person occupied and continues to occupy. This is the South that the photographer Sally Mann describes as ‘a place extravagant in its beauty, reckless in its fecundity, terrible in its indifference, and dark with memories.’”

…..The pieces published within this series include the legendary blues artist Robert Johnson; Harriet and Thomas Truesdell, abolitionists and conductors on the Underground Railroad; the educator and investigative journalist Ida B. Wells; civil rights activist Homer Plessy; and the Reverend L.O. Taylor.   You can view the series by clicking here.

…..Mr. Ingham recently began a new series of photo-narratives devoted to jazz, which can be viewed by clicking here.
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Many thanks to the photographers and their representatives for allowing use of every image found within these features

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In This Issue

The Modern Jazz Quintet by Everett Spruill
A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Summer, 2023 Edition

A wide range of topics are found in this collection. Tributes are paid to Tony Bennett and Ahmad Jamal and to the abstract worlds of musicians like Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders; the complex lives of Chet Baker and Nina Simone are considered; devotions to Ellington and Basie are revealed; and personal solace is found in the music of Tommy Flanagan and Quartet West. These are poems of peace, reflection, time, venue and humor – all with jazz at their core. (Featuring the art of Everett Spruill)

The Sunday Poem

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
“Erroll Garner at the Ace” by Kristofer Collins

Interview

photo courtesy of Henry Threadgill
Interview with Brent Hayes Edwards, co-author (with Henry Threadgill) of Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music...The author discusses his work co-written with Threadgill, the composer and multi-instrumentalist widely recognized as one of the most original and innovative voices in contemporary music, and the winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

In Memoriam

Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
A thought or two about Tony Bennett

Podcast

"BG Boogie’s musical tour of indictment season"...The podcaster “BG Boogie” has weaponized the most recent drama facing The Former Guy, creating a 30 minute playlist “with all the latest up-to-date-est musical indictments of political ineptitude.”

Interview

Chick Webb/photographer unknown
Interview with Stephanie Stein Crease, author of Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat That Changed America...The author talks about her book and Chick Webb, once at the center of America’s popular music, and among the most influential musicians in jazz history.

Community

FOTO:FORTEPAN / Kölcsey Ferenc Dunakeszi Városi Könyvtár / Petanovics fényképek, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
.“Community Bookshelf, #1"...a twice-yearly space where writers who have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician can share news about their recently authored books. This edition includes information about books published within the last six months or so…

Short Fiction

photo vi Wallpaper Flare
Short Fiction Contest-winning story #63 — “Company” by Anastasia Jill...Twenty-year-old Priscilla Habel lives with her wannabe flapper mother who remains stuck in the jazz age 40 years later. Life is monotonous and sad until Cil meets Willie Flasterstain, a beatnik lesbian who offers an escape from her mother's ever-imposing shadow.

Poetry

Trading Fours, with Douglas Cole, No. 16: “Little Waltz” and “Summertime”...Trading Fours with Douglas Cole is an occasional series of the writer’s poetic interpretations of jazz recordings and film. In this edition, he connects the recordings of Jessica Williams' "Little Waltz" and Gene Harris' "Summertime."

Playlist

photo by Bob Hecht
This 28-song Spotify playlist, curated by Jerry Jazz Musician contributing writer Bob Hecht, features great tunes performed by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Lester Young, Stan Getz, and…well, you get the idea.

Jazz History Quiz #167

GuardianH, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Before becoming one of television’s biggest stars, he was a competent ragtime and jazz piano player greatly influenced by Scott Joplin (pictured), and employed a band of New Orleans musicians similar to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to play during his vaudeville revue. Who was he?

Short Fiction

Warner/Reprise, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
“Not Just Another Damn Song on the Radio” – a short story by Craig Fishbane

Poetry

"Horn" by Samuel Dixon
Jazz Haiku – a sampler

Short Fiction

back cover of Diana Krall's album "The Girl in the Other Room" [Verve]
“Improvised: A life in 7ths, 9ths and Suspended 4ths” – a short story by Vikki C.

Interview

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
Long regarded as jazz music’s most eminent baritone saxophonist, Gerry Mulligan was a central figure in “cool” jazz whose contributions to it also included his important work as a composer and arranger. Noted jazz scholar Alyn Shipton, author of The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets, and Jerry Jazz Musician contributing writer Bob Hecht discuss Mulligan’s unique contributions to modern jazz.

Photography

photo by Giovanni Piesco
Giovanni Piesco’s photographs of Tristan Honsinger

A Letter From the Publisher

An appeal for contributions to support the ongoing publishing efforts of Jerry Jazz Musician

Poetry

Maurice Mickle considers jazz venues, in two poems

In Memoriam

David Becker, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“Tony Bennett, In Memoriam” – a poem by Erren Kelly

Poetry

IISG, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ella Fitzgerald, in poems by Claire Andreani and Michael L. Newell

Book Excerpt

“Chick” Webb was one of the first virtuoso drummers in jazz and an innovative bandleader dubbed the “Savoy King,” who reigned at Harlem’s world-famous Savoy Ballroom. Stephanie Stein Crease is the first to fully tell Webb’s story in her biography, Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America…The book’s entire introduction is excerpted here.

Feature

Hans Christian Hagedorn, professor for German and Comparative Literature at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Ciudad Real (Spain) reveals the remarkable presence of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic Don Quixote in the history of jazz.

Short Fiction

Dmitry Rozhkov, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“A Skull on the Moscow Leningrad Sleeper” – a short story by Robert Kibble...A story revolving around a jazz record which means so much to a couple that they risk being discovered while attempting to escape the Soviet Union

Poetry

photo by Robert Course-Baker, via PxHere
“On The Road: 2023” – a poem by Phil Linz

Book Excerpt

Book excerpt from Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music, by Henry Threadgill and Brent Hayes Edwards

Short Fiction

photo via Appletreeauction.com
“Streamline Moderne” – a short story by Amadea Tanner

Publisher’s Notes

“C’est Si Bon” – at trip's end, a D-Day experience, and an abundance of gratitude

Poetry

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
A Charlie Parker Poetry Collection...Nine poets, nine poems on the leading figure in the development of bebop…

Contributing Writers

Click the image to view the writers, poets and artists whose work has been published on Jerry Jazz Musician, and find links to their work

Interview

Photo of Stanley Crouch by Michael Jackson
Interview with Glenn Mott, editor of Victory is Assured: The Uncollected Writings of Stanley Crouch (photo of Stanley Crouch by Michael Jackson)

Interview

photo of Sonny Rollins by Brian McMillen
Interview with Aidan Levy, author of Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins...The author discusses his book about the iconic tenor saxophonist who is one of the greatest jazz improvisers of all time – a lasting link to the golden age of jazz

Art

Designed for Dancing: How Midcentury Records Taught America to Dance: “Outtakes” — Vol. 2...In this edition, the authors Janet Borgerson and Jonathan Schroeder share examples of Cha Cha Cha record album covers that didn't make the final cut in their book

Pressed for All Time

“Pressed For All Time,” Vol. 17 — producer Joel Dorn on Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s 1967 album, The Inflated Tear

Photography

© Veryl Oakland
John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana are featured in this edition of photographs and stories from Veryl Oakland’s book, Jazz in Available Light

Coming Soon

An interview with Judith Tick, author of Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song; A new collection of jazz poetry; a new Jazz History Quiz; short fiction; poetry; photography; interviews; playlists; and lots more in the works...

Interview Archive

Eubie Blake
Click to view the complete 22 year archive of Jerry Jazz Musician interviews, including those recently published with Richard Carlin and Ken Bloom on Eubie Blake (pictured); Richard Brent Turner on jazz and Islam; Alyn Shipton on the art of jazz; Shawn Levy on the original queens of standup comedy; Travis Atria on the expatriate trumpeter Arthur Briggs; Kitt Shapiro on her life with her mother, Eartha Kitt; Will Friedwald on Nat King Cole; Wayne Enstice on the drummer Dottie Dodgion; the drummer Joe La Barbera on Bill Evans; Philip Clark on Dave Brubeck; Nicholas Buccola on James Baldwin and William F. Buckley; Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong; Dan Morgenstern and Christian Sands on Erroll Garner; Maria Golia on Ornette Coleman.

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