William Claxton. Jazzlife
TASCHEN's 25th anniversary - Special edition!
Visions of American jazz at a special bestseller price
"... surely the most thorough and imaginative visual record of American jazz at mid-century that we’ll ever see."
- Newsweek, New York
In 1960, photographer William Claxton and noted German musicologist Joachim Berendt traveled the United States hot on the trail of jazz music. The result of their collaboration was an amazing collection of photographs and recordings of legendary artists as well as unknown street musicians.
The book Jazzlife, the original fruit of their labors, has become a collector's item that is highly treasured among jazz and photography fans. In 2003, TASCHEN began reassembling this important collection of material— along with many never-before-seen color images from those trips. They are brought together in this updated volume, which includes a foreword by William Claxton tracing his travels with Berendt and his love affair with jazz music in general. Jazz fans will be delighted to be able to take a jazz-trip through time, seeing the music as Claxton and Berendt originally experienced it.
Featuring photographs of Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters, Gabor Szabo, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Charlie Mingus, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and many more.
About the photographer:
William Claxton (1927-2008) began his career shooting jazz record cover art. His iconic images of Chet Baker, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday and many others reflect his preeminence among photographers of jazz music. Claxton worked for many of the biggest publishers including Life, Paris Match, and Vogue magazines. His work has been shown in galleries around the world, and his photographic prints are now sought after by collectors of fine art photography. He passed away on October 11, 2008 in his hometown Los Angeles.
About the author:
Joachim E. Berendt was a founding member of South West German Radio (Südwestfunk) and produced more than 250 records. In 1953, he first published Das Jazzbuch, which became the most successful history book on jazz worldwide. His collection of records, books, and jazz documents form the basis of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt. Berendt died in an accident in 2000. His contributions to jazz are internationally recognized to this day.
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William Claxton. Jazzlife
Hardcover, slipcase, 24.5 x 34.2 cm (9.6 x 13.5 in.), 552 pages, $ 70.00
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- Reviews (5 items)
"Né a Passadena (Californie), le 12 octobre 1927, William "Bill" Claxton est mort le samedi 11 octobre 2008, au centre médical Cedars-Sinai, à Los Angeles, des suites de complications cardiaques. "Le jazz pour les yeux", sa formule favorite, désignait pour lui la photographie même. Jazz et instantané se fixent dans le geste de la spontanéité, dans l'improvisation. N'empêche, il aura pratiqué le portrait posé comme par inadvertance. Ce qui souligne, si l'on songe à la pratique de l'improviste prémédité en musique, son intuition. Sans négliger cette attention précieuse aux arrière-plans, aux boiseries, aux tissus, à la texture des vêtements, aux volants de Cadillac en Bakélite, aux chromes, aux reflets des cuivres: trompettes ou pare-chocs. (...) Du jazz comme "l'art de l'instant", dit-il, Claxton se fait metteur en scène en noir et blanc, selon cadrages et ambiances inégalés, trop esthètes comme il convient. Il voit, il entend tout: "La photographie est le jazz du regard". En compagnie du musicologue Joachim E. Berendt, il traverse les Etats-Unis. Dans leur carnet de notes, Jazz Life (TASCHEN 2005), défilent toutes les légendes, de Muddy Waters à Miles Davis en passant par Ella Fitzgerald, sur fond de road movie et de photos d'une Nouvelle-Orléans désormais disparue."
Le Monde, Paris, France
Le Monde, Paris, France
- Clippings (1 items)
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- See also (16 items)
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William Claxton. Jazzlife. The Collector's Edition Limited to 1,000 individually signed and numbered copies. Every copy comes with four signed and numbered ultrachrome prints |
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