Jazz in Available Light

"So, this is the thrust of my book, an attempt to personalize— through both the lens and the pen—some of the world's greatest creators of modern music. To pay my respects to them. And to honor them." I share with the author the experience of suddenly stumbling upon a jazz radio station and having an amazing new world open for me. In the 1960s he started hanging out with his camera at jazz festivals and other venues. He also photographed the musicians in their homes. In each case the photos were spontaneous and no flashbulbs were used. The result was a collection of gorgeous black and white photographs many of which have never been published before. The pictures are organized by artist and each group of photos is accompanied by a brief description of the photo shoot and some biographical information.

While I like jazz I'm not all that well-informed about it. Some of the artists included in the book are so famous that even I had heard of them, like Dexter Gordon, Phil Woods, Sarah Vaughan, Chet Baker, Thelonious Monk and Wynton Marsalis. However, the real treat for me was the introduction to artists with whom I was not familiar. I turned the book into my own little jazz tutorial. I discovered that I could ask my Amazon Echo to play songs by these artists, for example Roland Kirk (who was great, by the way), so I had musical accompaniment to my reading. I highly recommend this approach. From the introduction by Quincy Jones: "This timeless treasure serves as a window into the past to illuminate our future, both musically and culturally..."

I have a PDF of the book and I found it somewhat challenging to read in that format, however the hardcover of this book would be a real pleasure to own. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the book goes to the Jazz Foundation of America which provides jazz and blues musicians with assistance.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.