Jazz Photography: Art Form and Historic Document Staci A

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Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School

2006 Jazz Photography: Art Form and Historic Document Staci A. Spring

Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF MUSIC

JAZZ PHOTOGRAPHY:

ART FORM AND HISTORIC DOCUMENT

STACI A. SPRING

A thesis submitted to the College of Music In partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Music

Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2006

The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Staci A. Spring defended on October 26, 2006.

______Denise Von Glahn Professor Directing Thesis

______George Blakely Committee Member

______Benjamin D. Koen Committee Member

The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to graciously thank Denise Von Glahn for her guidance and valuable insight throughout the duration of this project. I would also like to thank committee members Ben Koen and George Blakely for their support. Special thanks to my mother Geri Spring: my favorite editor and number one fan.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures……………………………………………………………………….v Abstract...…………..……………………………………………………………….vi

INTRODUCTION……..…………………………………………………………….1

1. THE JAZZ PHOTOGRAPHY TRADITION...... …………………………..3

Origins of the Tradition………... ………………………………………….3 Elements of the Tradition………………………………………………….7 Parallels Between Jazz and Photography..…………………………...... 9

2. CASE STUDIES……………….……………………………………………….14

John Coltrane………………. …………………………………………….15 Sarah Vaughan……………...…………………………………………….28 Duke Ellington…………….……………………………………………….39

3. CONTRIBUTIONS TO MUSIC HISTORIOGRAPHY………………………49

SELECTED BIBLIOGRPAHY...... …………………………………….……...... 54

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY...... ………………………………………………58

ONLINE RESOURCES...... 59

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH...... ………………………………………………60

LIST OF FIGURES

1. Lee Friedlander, Giant Steps,1961...... 15

2. Lee Friedlander, The HeavyWeight Champion,1995...... 17

3. Roy DeCarava, Coltrane on Soprano, 1963...... 20

4. Jim Marshall, John Coltrane at Ralph Gleason’s House, Berkeley, 1960...... 22

5. Herb Snitzer, Reflected ‘Trane,1961...... 23

6. Bob Thiele, cover photo for A Love Supreme, 1962/64...25

7. Jim Marshall, Coltrane backstage at Stanford, 1966...... 27

8. Young Sarah Vaughan poster...... 29

9. Herman Leonard, Sarah Vaughan, NYC, 1950...... 30

10. William Gottlieb, Sarah Vaughan, 1946...... ….....30

11. Album cover, Sarah Vaughan After Hours...... 31

12. Two Sarah Vaughan albums...... 32

13. Carol Friedman, Sarah Vaughan, Studio, NYC, 1982.....33

14. Herman Leonard, Sarah Vaughan, Birdland, 1949...... 34

15. Roy DeCarava, Sarah Vaughan, early 1960’s...... 35

16. Lee Friedlander, Sarah Vaughan, 1956...... 36

17. William Claxton, Sarah Vaughan, Brooklyn,1960...... 37

18. Jim Marshall, Sarah Vaughan, Cow Palace, late1980’s..38

19. Photographer unknown, Sarah Vaughan, late 1980’s.....38

20. Herb Snitzer, Sarah Vaughan at the Bern Jazz Festival, 1987...... 38 v

21. Corson/Brettmann, Duke Ellington, “Top Hat”, 1933...... 40

22. Herman Leonard, Duke Ellington, Paris, 1960...... 40

23. From estate of Mercer Ellington, Duke Ellington...... 41

24. Herb Snitzer, Duke Ellington, 1959 ...... 41

25. William Gottlieb, Portrait of Duke Ellington, Paramount Theatre, NY, circa September 1946...... 42

26. Herman Leonard, Duke Ellington, Paris, 1958...... 44

27. Herman Leonard, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman & Richard Rogers NYC, 1948...... 46

28. Herb Snitzer, Duke the King,1961/1986...... 47

ABSTRACT

Through publicity material, personal portraiture, and the work of individual photographers, jazz music has been documented and artfully represented in photographs throughout its development. This thesis examines the circumstances leading to such a wealth of photographs, the elements of the jazz photography tradition, and some of the important photographers and their jazz musician subjects. These photographs are a valuable source for historical study and make a compelling case for the contributions of photography to musical historiography.

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INTRODUCTION

Jazz music occupies a unique position in historical study. It emerged simultaneously with certain technological advances, such as sound recording, film, and photography, which were previously unavailable. These resources have allowed scholars to develop a broader view of a musical genre rich with historical significance. Photography, in particular, can offer a unique perspective for the music historian in that it functions simultaneously as historical record and art form. Many outside the realm of jazz studies may be unfamiliar with the large volume and range of jazz photographs. Demonstrating that a jazz photography tradition exists therefore provides the framework for the remainder of the thesis. This will be accomplished through a discussion of the people and elements that make up this tradition and through the study of the photographic techniques used, such as lighting and composition. One can then explore what the photographs communicate about the values that are essential to jazz music as it has developed over time, how they might shape an individual’s impression of what jazz is, and also why there seems to be such a strong connection between the two art forms of photography and jazz. What makes jazz musicians such fascinating subjects for many photographers? What are the common elements the two art forms share? There are many types of photographs available for examination, including portraits, candid photos, publicity photos, and album cover art. While some may serve a predominantly documentary purpose (as a historic record), it is my belief that many go beyond this to create a higher form of artistic expression. In such a context, jazz and photography interact as two art forms with many parallel components. Examples of these parallels include the way both mediums: convey an emotion or aesthetic, provoke a response from the listener/viewer, or draw on an artistic tradition. This study will investigate these and additional parallels, and highlight the important contributions that photography brings to music historiography.

Within the jazz photography tradition, a photograph has the potential to transcend the role of social record. However, it is essential to be aware of the existing clichés and stereotypes that might contribute to the way a musician is represented, and to examine the historical context. Such an examination should evaluate the purposes of the photographs. How do they portray the artist? How does this positively or negatively affect the image of the jazz artist, or of jazz itself? Can the artist’s image and personality as portrayed in certain photographs be separated from their music, or does it all become one package? A case study of three jazz musicians will address the preceding issues. Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Sarah Vaughan are three iconic figures whose careers as jazz artists have inspired the click of many a shutter. By surveying a number of photographs of these musicians, one can gain important information about the way they are portrayed both publicly and privately, and hence how jazz is portrayed. For example, photographs of John Coltrane often convey the image of a pensive and intensely spiritual man, emerging out of darkness. The discussion of these photographs will include a description of the techniques of the photographer, and the historical context and significance surrounding the photographs. A discussion of the contributions these photographs make to music historiography will conclude the study.

CHAPTER 1 THE JAZZ PHOTOGRAPHY TRADITION

Origins of the Tradition

While one cannot say for sure, a rough estimate of the number of jazz photographs in existence must be in the hundreds of thousands. Jazz music has inspired relationships between dance and the visual arts, and seems to be one of the most photographed musical genres of the twentieth century. The earliest photographs predominantly come from publicity material or personal portraits. As jazz music evolved through the nineteen-forties, fifties, and sixties, individual photographers found artistic inspiration in jazz music and the broader scene in which the music lived. Their photographs contribute to the considerable bounty of images representing jazz. As early as the nineteen-teens numerous photographs were taken featuring the jazz music groups of the time. These were taken everywhere the music was happening: mainly in New Orleans, Chicago, Kansas City, and New York. The bands are almost always posed holding their instruments, sometimes even in strange positions seemingly for comic value. Candid photos were rarely taken from close range and seldom focus in on one particular musician. There are, however, many individual portraits of musicians posed in the typical fashion of a publicity head shot. The discovery of photography allowed the camera portrait to come to the forefront. As photographic technology advanced, portraits were more available to everyday society. Where once it had been a symbol of status to commission one’s portrait painted, now virtually anyone was able to preserve their likeness for posterity. In the jazz world, photographs were found on advertisement posters, in newspapers and in jazz magazines. A number of jazz magazines, such as Downbeat, came into existence in the 30’s in America, following in the footsteps of European publications like Revue de Jazz and Der Jazzwereld that had taken

an interest in the exotic music of America. Der Jazzwereld, a Dutch magazine established in 1930, featured a photo of Duke Ellington on every cover from 1934-39. Photographs also began to grace the covers of albums. The development of cover art for jazz LP’s in the nineteen-fifties proved integral to the growing appreciation of jazz music and jazz photography. The early jazz photographers created a new standard for cover art because, to date, little attention had gone into the marketing of music. The packaging for 78-rpm records was just a sleeve with a hole in it. Noted photographer Lee Tanner explains that, “The only products, prior to the LP era that ever got packaged with illustrations were collections of classical music recordings.”1

Record companies, particularly the small jazz record companies, were the first to utilize available-light photography in their cover art. This refers to the technique of using no artificial lighting, such as flash or spotlights to photograph a subject. Using only ambient light often led to photographs that made an emotional impact through their slightly-out-of-focus and grainy quality. The photographer and album cover designer Bob Parent contributed work to Savoy, one of these small labels, and through his work it became apparent that using available-light photos for cover art was a successful way to market LP's. Parent spent countless nights in the dimly lit jazz clubs of Boston and New York, capturing images of all the jazz greats of the post-war era, from Sidney Bechet to John Coltrane; in the process he built up an archive of over 100,000 photographs.2 Other photographers, such as Lee Friedlander for Atlantic, developed similar collections of photographs for album covers. From 1941 to 1965, Francis Wolff took thousands of photographs during the rehearsals and recording sessions that helped to make his company, Blue Note Records, the world's most famous jazz label. Many of those photographs were used on Blue Note's

1 Lee Tanner, Interview, Jerry Jazz Musician (Accessed 4 October 2006). 2 New York Times, July 8, 1987, obituary section.

graphically striking album covers.3 Due to Wolff’s excellent photography, Blue Note jackets became an LP design standard. As jazz music progressed from the swing-era big bands of the nineteen- thirties to the smaller groups of bebop in the nineteen-forties, there is a noticeable shift in photography towards an emphasis on individual figures, the jazz artists themselves, as the most important part of a photograph. Jazz historian Peter Towsend observes,

Changes in the iconography of jazz can be traced from the freakish Jazz Age poses, with whole bands brandishing instruments in the air, to the resplendency of the Swing Era portraits, the players in neat rows and glossy uniforms. Later photography concentrates on the expressive individual shot.4

This is perhaps one of the most distinguishing aspects of jazz photography in its prime during the late-forties, fifties and sixties. It was at this time that many of the first prominent jazz photographers were most active, establishing the personal styles and techniques that have influenced many photographers since. The photographs are often studies of the musician, the individual, which then translates into a statement about jazz music. This thesis is most concerned with the photographs from this era. An examination of the works of photographers such as Herman Leonard, Roy DeCarava, Herb Snitzer, William Claxton, Milt Hinton, Carol Friedman, Lee Friedlander, Chuck Stewart, William Gottlieb, Francis Wolff, and Jim Marshall is important in order to establish the elements that form the jazz photography tradition. Instead of merely recording and chronicling the jazz scene, these photographers are expressive artists with personal styles. Many have published books of their work, and are featured in magazines, journal articles, collections,

3 Michael Cuscuna, Charlie Lourie & Oscar Schnider, Blue Note Jazz Photography of Francis Wolff (New York: Universe, 2000). 4 Peter Townsend, Jazz in American Culture (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2000), 163.

documentaries, and websites. Especially helpful are interviews with the photographers recorded in these resources. Of the artists mentioned, Roy DeCarava has some of the most striking images. His book, The Sounds I Saw: Improvisation on a Jazz Theme presents photos taken on the streets of New York City, and at various festivals and late- night jazz spots around the country. Though the book was conceived in the nineteen-sixties, it was only recently published in 2001 due to earlier rejection. Accompanying the images is a long poem written by DeCarava about jazz as “music purchased with dues of hardship, suffering, pain, optimism and love."5 Herman Leonard’s photographs are among the most well known, and his collections and interviews are invaluable to any discussion of jazz photography. Starting in 1947, Leonard photographed the music he loved as a hobby, not as a means for income. As opposed to other photographers shooting for newspapers or producers, he had only to satisfy his own criteria. Much later in life he pulled out the negatives to relieve financial stress, and set up the exhibit “Images of Jazz” in a gallery in London. The show was an overwhelming success and has led to over forty-five exhibits all over the world. Herb Snitzer’s skill as a photographer and as an artist helped to dignify the art of jazz, and the musicians who composed and performed it. In an interview in 1991 Snitzer explained, “We can see photography as simply being descriptive of a particular time and place with no affect to it, no emotional content, or we can see it as a moment in time captured forever, so to speak, in which the expressiveness of the people and the expressiveness of the culture are captured on film.”6 With his images of jazz musicians he hoped to reframe the cultural perceptions of jazz and of those who created it.

5 Roy DeCarava, The Sounds I Saw: Improvisation on a Jazz Theme (New York: Phaidon, 2001), 1. 6 Gary Carner, “Jazz Photography: An Interview with Herb Snitzer,” in Black American Literature Forum 25/ 3 (Autumn 1991): 561.

Elements of the Tradition

There are recurring elements worth noting in the collections of jazz photographs. Common techniques can be observed in many of the photographs, as well as some emerging clichés. One notices immediately that the majority of photographs are in black and white. This is partially because black and white translated to newsprint more easily, and also because color film was not widely used until the nineteen-sixties and seventies (although it had been experimented with for quite some time). Before and during the 1950s color emulsion was still very slow, requiring a photographer to use artificial light and to limit themselves to static subjects. By the time color film became more advanced and easily produced, black and white had been established as the artistic norm. The black & white technique allows for dramatic contrast in the photographs, with figures often emerging out of darkness and lit by a single light source. There is a “starkness and simplicity, [growing] out of the American documentary tradition of photographers like Edward Steichen and Robert Frank, but [jazz photography] has become a considerable body of work in itself, and is given increasing prominence in the contemporary culture of jazz.”7 The black & white technique also contributes to the ambiance of the photographs. Numerous photographs were shot in small, intimate jazz club settings. Photographers such as Herman Leonard and Roy DeCarava, set up their own lights or used only the available light so as not to disturb the performers with a flash. Leonard explained:

“I wanted to capture the atmosphere of the club. I wanted to capture the feeling of a particular musician, if it could be done in a graphic form rather than an audio form. Everybody was there with microphones and tape recorders; I was there with a camera. I wanted to capture the music, but I had to interpret it

7 Townsend, 164.

with black and white, with light, with shades and shadow.”8

The desire to capture the music with their cameras helped photographers gain a sensitivity and respect for their subjects. At their best, the photographs communicate what the music is intended to convey, and more often than not they add a deeper understanding of both the music and the musician.

Outside of the jazz club setting, many photographers sought to recreate the intimate atmosphere of the clubs on larger stages. This was accomplished through the use of deep shadows in the background and edge lighting to make the figure stand out. Painted in this light the musicians seem simultaneously elegant and powerful. The predominant use of black & white has carried over to contemporary photography, which sometimes has the effect of transporting the present-day performer back into the mythologized past of jazz.9 The dark and smoky atmosphere of the clubs resulted in photographs that often reinforced stereotypes of a jazz underworld full of drugs, liquor, fast women, and brooding musicians. Myths such as the tragic female singer, or “The Marlboro man of jazz”10 were perpetuated by the way musicians were photographed. Herb Snitzer commented on the clichés present in jazz photography, and how these contributed to making the musicians into cultural icons: “It [happened] in music like it [happened] in politics…In jazz we [had] our stereotypes. We had Louis Armstrong who, in order to be accessible or palatable, was laughing, always smiling, mugging. The white world tried to say that this was some handkerchief-head black guy, but he wasn’t that, and he always remained dignified.”11 While clichés such as these may have some basis in fact, they are an incomplete and misleading summary of the multifaceted world of jazz music

8 Kalamu ya Salaam, “Herman Leonard: Making Music with Light,” African American Review 29/2 (Summer 1995): 242. 9 Townsend, 164. 10 Gary Carner, quoted in Towsend, 165. Refers to motif of cigarette smoke prevalent in many jazz photographs. 11 Carner, 574.

and musicians. Fortunately, there are many photographs that move beyond the stereotypes, seeking to find a deeper essence in the music and the musicians. Other common techniques to the jazz photography tradition include the implementation of unique angles, the use of mirrors, strategic instrument placement, and the capturing of motion. These and the elements discussed above will be included in the examination of photographs in the case studies.

Parallels Between Photography and Jazz

Conceptions about the interrelationship between the arts have existed since ancient times across diverse cultures. Aristotle, for instance, hypothesized that each of the five senses has its own sphere of activity that overlaps with each other. In his model, movement pertains to both sight and touch, and on a more complex level, sight and sound may overlap. The Pythagoreans established direct links between musical structures and those in the other arts and sciences, such as musical harmony being perceived as an expression of geometry.12 Correlations between the arts, specifically music and the visual/performing arts, have continued throughout music history. As jazz music evolved during the twentieth century, many art forms were inspired, including photography. For the most dedicated photographers, it seems to be an overall love for the music, followed by a fascination with the musicians that compels their art. Photographer William Claxton confesses: I love their music. But I am fascinated by the diverse qualities they possess. They have an ingenuousness, a sort of open, innocent attitude. Yet at the same time they display a strong dedication to their craft. And I also admire their individualism: their differences in character and their musical expression. I am just as

12 Tilman Seebass: 'Iconography, Â§III, 5: Synaesthetics', Grove Music Online (Accessed 15 September 2006), .

intrigued by the movements and body language of musicians while they play…I note how their faces and bodies reflect or catch the light…In a sense, I listen with my eyes. When I feel I have a visual grasp on the subject, I press the shutter.13

One parallel between the art forms of jazz and photography most often referred to is the idea of “being in the moment.” In jazz, this translates into the act of improvisation. Essential to any definition of jazz music is improvisation, which can be seen as the act of composing music on the spot in an effort to express a personal statement that can only be accessed in the moment. Peter Townsend states: The here-and-now nature of the experience is, of course, central to the aesthetic identity of the music. Spontaneous composition in the moment, against the background of a music often characterized by speed and energy…for many musicians…is a lifelong enterprise, any moment of which is only a partial draft of a piece of work that will never be considered finished.14

In photography, this idea is best interpreted as “the decisive moment”, where the photographer’s instinct and intuition contribute to capturing a meaningful photograph. Noted French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson articulated this philosophy: We work in unison with movement as though it were a presentiment of the way in which life itself unfolds. But inside movement there is one moment at which the elements in motion are in balance. Photography must

13 William Claxton, Claxography: The Art of Jazz Photography (Keil, Germany: Nieswand Verlag, 1995), 10. 14 Townsend, 20.

seize upon this moment and hold immobile the equilibrium of it . . . if the shutter was released at the decisive moment, you have instinctively fixed a geometric pattern without which the photograph would have been both formless and lifeless.15 Bresson’s philosophy has far-reaching implications for the nature of art photography, and has influenced generations of photographers. Armed with this idea, it seems only natural for photographers to gravitate towards musicians embodying the same concept, where timing is important in photography just as it is in music-making. In Jazz Portraits: An Eye for the Sound, Ronnie Scott comments: The attraction that jazz musicians have for photographers is understandable when one considers that both are concerned with the moment. For the musician it is the fleeting moment that involves the creation of some kind of valid music and for the photographer the attempt to express it in pictorial terms. And if it isn’t concerned with the musician actually in action there is something about the faces and attitudes of jazz musicians that is somehow special.16

Instinct, intuition and ability for improvisation are requisites for the jazz artist; however, the message of the music cannot always be successfully interpreted and communicated without some mastery of technique. This is indispensable for both the musician and the photographer and therefore, creates another parallel between the art of jazz and photography. In many cases, in order for the jazz and photographic artist to fully concentrate and develop personal

15 Henri Cartier-Bresson, The Mind’s Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers (New York: Aperture, 1999), 33. 16 Ronnie Scott, forward to Jazz Portraits: An Eye for the Sound, ed. Tim Motion, (NY: Smithmark, 1995), 7.

nuances and innovative contributions to their respective art forms, they must intimately understand their instrument in order to use it effectively. Casual observers might assume that improvisation is random, a sign of an untrained musician, that there is no preparations, skill, or practice necessary. Anyone could pick up an instrument and “improvise.” Or, in photography, anyone could pick up a camera and take a great picture with enough luck. Those more informed understand the dynamic interplay of instinct, insight and technical competency that defines an artist’s single photograph or improvised solo. All training, artistry, and skill come together in one moment. In analogous ways the instrument is the extension of the musician just as the camera is the extension of the photographer. Terminology and nomenclature are other elements connecting jazz and photography. Herb Snitzer explains, “I like to think that visual artists can use the same words as musicians. With my students, I talk all the time about harmony, color, counterpoint, as they apply to visual elements.”17 Terms such as dynamics and contrast are also relevant: The contrast of light and dark in photography correlate to the dynamics of loud and soft in music. Musical timbres and tones relate to photographic shades and tones. Composition is dominant and critical to both art forms and the key to creativity. Herman Leonard certainly equates the two when he speculates: I think that when a musician or a musical composer sits down to compose a piece he will get the general outline of what he is doing and then he’ll refine it, listen to it back, and make the changes that he wants. I look at the angles, I look at the light. I look at the background…You feel the composition within the frame within which you’re working, and you do it to your own liking.18

17 Carner, 578. 18 Salaam, 242.

Musicians and photographers are telling a story through their music and pictures, even if it is composed on the spot. These stories covey a certain emotion or aesthetic, depending on the personal expression of the artists involved. Both types of compositions may be built on an architectural form, with contrapuntal lines running through. A strong action line in the photograph might represent a major theme. The musical compositions might be preserved through both sound recording and photographic record, but in some cases there may only be the photograph to represent that particular musical moment. Jazz musicians and jazz photographers were central and critical contributors to the development of new genres of music and artistic expressions. The individual artists of both art forms were a central part of this process. Many drew on their respective artistic traditions while also paving their own paths. In doing so, they not only contributed to the establishment and validity of their respective art forms, but also to the creation of a hybrid genre of a uniquely American art form: jazz photography.

CHAPTER 2 CASE STUDIES

The following case studies present photographs of John Coltrane, Sarah Vaughan, and Duke Ellington. While photographs of many other jazz musicians might prove equally significant to the topic at hand, I have chosen these particular musicians because they have inspired numerous photographs and photographers, and each contributes a different perspective on jazz music. Coltrane the meditative instrumentalist, Vaughan the shy but sassy diva, Ellington the multifaceted entertainer/composer – each artist offers a fascinating study, providing insight not only into their individual lives and careers, but also into how jazz is represented through photographs. The criteria for choosing the photographs for the case studies has been loosely narrowed down to photographs by important photographers in the field of jazz photography. Roy DeCarava, Herman Leonard, Herb Snitzer, Jim Marshall, and Lee Friedlander are featured most prominently. In some cases, photographs by additional photographers have been used where necessary to make a point. Other considerations for the choice of photographs include:

1.) Technical aspects of the photograph that facilitate discussion of either contributions to or clichés in the jazz photography tradition.

2.) Photographs that illustrate essential elements of the character of the subject (as ascertained through my research).

3.) Photographs that demonstrate jazz photography as an art form as well as a historical document, and show parallels to the music (unless demonstrating a separate point).

JOHN COLTRANE

John Coltrane’s (1926-1967) musical career brings to mind dynamic key words: innovation, power, strength, giant, stamina, energy, magnetism, individuality, leader, side-man, phenomenon, self-critic, supernatural, intensity, complexity, controversial, gentle, humble, and spiritual. These descriptors appear continuously throughout the existing literature, contributing to a portrait of one of jazz history’s most important figures.

Photographs of Coltrane manifest similar elements and themes with those emphasized in narrative passages. One common image of Coltrane is that of the intense musician and/or the monumental figure. Coltrane’s powerful persona is captured photographically by the technique of shooting from below, on an angle, so that Coltrane seems to tower over the viewer. The photo by Lee Friedlander on the cover of the album “Giant Steps” utilizes this technique and portrays Coltrane’s physical presence as well as his musical prowess.

Fig. 1: Lee Friedlander, Giant Steps, 1961

With the release of “Giant Steps” in 1959, Coltrane broke new ground compositionally and stylistically. He had been active during the 50’s as a sideman with prominent musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk, and even recorded some albums under his own name for the Prestige label. Giant Steps was the first album he recorded for the Atlantic label, and it marks his break from the role of sideman, moving in the direction of creative independence. Tommy Flanagan, pianist on the album, recalls, “That date was different from [his] earlier record dates. It seemed to be the only one where he knew he was onto something. We all knew it.” 19 All of the tunes on the album are original compositions and demonstrate his innovations in harmonic, rhythmic and improvisational concepts. The title cut, “Giant Steps”, reportedly got its name from its irregular bass line: “The bass line is kind of a loping one. It goes from minor thirds to fourths, kind of a lop-sided pattern in contrast to moving strictly in fourths or in half steps.”20 It is interesting to note here that this title came out of a compositional feature and not as a result of any presumption by Coltrane that he was a “giant of jazz” as he came to be viewed. Rather, it is the album cover with the powerful photo by Friedlander that contributes to this interpretation of Coltrane. Friedlander’s work for Atlantic Records has resulted in a striking assortment of photographs of musicians across many genres. The Drifters, Joe Turner, Charles Mingus, Bobby Darin, The Coasters, Ruth Brown, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughan, and Miles Davis have all been captured by this photographer who has earned a special place in photographic history. In the preface to Lee Friedlander’s American Musicians Joel Dorn writes: In an era when almost all albums, regardless of label, looked pretty much the same, Atlantic’s had a look and feel all their own. . . I was especially taken by the pictures on the covers of those albums. . . As good as the music was, it always seemed better when I looked

19 Ashley Kahn, A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album (New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 2002), 36. 20Nat Hentoff, Liner notes to recording of John Coltrane, Giant Steps (New York: Atlantic SD 1311, 1960).

at the album cover while I listened. [Friedlander’s] pictures not only defined those singers and musicians as artists for me, but as people. I felt I knew them, and sometimes I swear I thought I saw them move.21

One could venture to say that Giant Steps might not have had such an impact were it not for the cover. Record reviewer Michael Jarret noted, “Record covers mirror back our perceptions of particular types of music, perceptions that are to a great extent visually and not musically determined…They not only represent - encode in visual form - the myths associated with music, they contribute to the construction of those myths. They are part of the process that imbues music with meaning, gives it voice.”22 The cover of Giant Steps is striking enough that even the lay-person without much knowledge of jazz could guess that it is an album of great significance. Certainly the Atlantic record label capitalized on this idea later with the release of The Heavyweight Champion John Coltrane:

Fig. 2: Lee Friedlander, The Heavyweight Champion, 1995

21 Joel Dorn, Preface to Lee Friedlander, American Musicians (NY: D.A.P., 1998), 12. 22 Michael Jarret, "Reading Way Out West” in Representing Jazz, ed. Krin Gabbard (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 272.

Although Coltrane left the record label in 1961 to sign on with Impulse Records, Atlantic Records released this album of his complete recordings under their label in 1995. In the cover photograph, Friedlander again captures Coltrane from below; the result is a towering figure that complements the title The Heavyweight Champion. By 1995 Coltrane’s place in history as a jazz icon had been well established and the use of album covers similar to Giant Steps is an obvious attempt to recall the success and influence of Coltrane’s debut album for the Atlantic label.

Coltrane made great strides not only artistically, but also culturally. His musical career coincided with a turbulent socio-political period in American history. In his jazz history textbook Frank Tirro asserts that “[Coltrane’s] ascendancy went hand-in-glove with the powerful black Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, and his own search for musical identity and freedom of expression was stimulated by black contemporary thought about roots, equality, freedom, African traditions, mysticism, and social conscience.”23 The Civil Rights movement of the sixties inspired numerous black musicians to protest in the best way they knew how – through their music. Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Max Roach, Ornette Coleman and many others used their albums to express their political messages. Francis Davis commented:

I think that if you want a jazz biography to double as a social history, then Coltrane is your man. I think Coltrane’s relationship to the 1960’s is so provocative in a way that Sonny Rollins, as much as I love him, isn’t. Even Ornette isn’t. Coltrane just seems to have influenced things in the 1960’s, and be influenced by them. Also, events and cultural trends influenced the way he was heard.24

23 Frank Tirro, Jazz: A History (NY: Norton, 1993.), 384. 24 Francis Davis, interview on JerryJazzMusician.com

One of Coltrane’s more outright political statements was his composition entitled Alabama, recorded in late 1963 after four young girls were killed in the bombing of a black church in Birmingham. Coltrane’s personal statement of mourning resonated deeply, perhaps even more so because he composed the song using the speech patterns from the Eulogy given by Martin Luther King, Jr. at the funeral of three of the victims. He was able to find melodic ideas in the cadences of spoken language.

While black musicians made their voices heard, photographer Roy DeCarava recorded their faces. The first black photographer to receive a Guggenheim fellowship, DeCarava used the award accorded him to photograph his community. “Black people in America were not viewed as worthy subject matter. We were portrayed either in a superficial or in a caricatured way, or as a problem. My project under Guggenheim was to photograph the people of my community. I was concerned about beauty and the image that we presented in our being.”25 DeCarava felt that real life experiences served as the source for both jazz and for photography, and that jazz was the audio equivalent to photography: “Jazz, I think, approaches the visual experience of photography. That precise moment when the shutter captures that slice of experience that you see; that you feel. It’s that moment when all the things come together.”26

Coltrane was one of photographer Roy DeCarava’s favorite subjects. “I traveled up and down the East Coast to hear him play and to photograph him. I shot photos in the clubs with the lighting that was available. If I thought I was bothering him, then I wouldn’t shoot. I would just listen to the music.”27 DeCarava’s “Coltrane on Soprano, 1963”, captures the performer in his musical element. He is seen from just below the waist and up and seems to be emerging out of a dark background; his eyes closed tightly. As a result of the longer

25Carol Parrot Blue and Roy DeCarava, Conversations with Roy DeCarava, (NY: First Run Features, 1984), videocassette. 26 Roy DeCarava, Conversations with Roy DeCarava. 27 Fern Robinson, “Masterful American Photographer Roy DeCarava.” In American Visions (Dec/Jan. 2000): 22-23.

exposure time needed for the low light setting, DeCarava was able to capture the motion of Coltrane’s fingers as they moved over the instrument.

Fig. 3: Roy DeCarava, Coltrane on Soprano, 1963

DeCarava used the black and white image as his form of artistic expression, seeing the color image as inhibitive. Beyond that, he uses only the natural light available. He explained, “I don’t like using a flash. It gives every picture the same lighting, and life is not like that. You look at something and you like it the way it is. You change the way it looks the minute you put a flash on

it.”28 Because of this approach, DeCarava’s photographs get the most out of the existing highlights and shadows. Sherry Turner, art historian and wife of DeCarava, says of his work, “Light is a transforming element, and plays a very important part in his images. It’s a light that has strength through gentleness.”29 Some images are so dark that they literally begin to form under your eyes as you look at them. In this way, his photographs are akin to the improvisatory elements of jazz.

The phrase “strength through gentleness” is one that also applies to Coltrane. While photos of him performing often portray great power and physicality, others reveal a quiet and thoughtful intensity. The former of these was an acceptable image for a man of color, but the latter was much less common at the time due to a tumultuous climate caused by racial prejudice. An African-American portrayed as possessing intellectual stature was still uncommon, making it even more remarkable that Coltrane was able to transcend these stereotypes.

Reports on Coltrane’s off-stage demeanor describe him as a humble and gentle person. The images of Coltrane as the pensive, intelligent, or spiritual man often feature the man without the horn in his mouth (though rarely is he pictured without the horn somewhere in the photograph), and he is usually looking off in another direction from the camera. His hand might be thoughtfully poised on his chin. Rarely is Coltrane pictured smiling, and when he is, he looks like a different person.

Jim Marshall’s photograph of Coltrane shows many of theses characteristics. Though primarily known as a “rock photographer”, Marshall’s earliest photographs were of jazz musicians, and he considers that work to be a significant part of his career. Marshall refers to his time in New York City between 1962 and 1964 as a great time that we will not see again.30 There were no restrictions on taking photos in the nightclubs, so Marshall was able to do his

28 Ibid., 24 29 Roy DeCarava, Conversations with Roy DeCarava. 30 Jim Marshall, Jazz (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2005), 143.

best “to capture the intensity and elegance of these people…The music was my passion – the camera my instrument.”31

Fig. 4: Jim Marshall, John Coltrane, at Ralph Gleason’s house, Berkeley, 1960

Philip Elwood believed that Marshall had an “uncanny ability to capture the mood, personality, and soul of an artist, in the same way that a few brilliant music producers have developed the knack of getting the very best from an artist in the blandness of a recording studio.”32 The above photo captures the pensive and reflective mood that Coltrane often exuded. Marshall refers to the photo as one of his favorite pictures. He had the opportunity to photograph Coltrane in an offstage, informal setting after offering to drive Coltrane to Gleason’s house for an interview. Marshall liked to get to know his subjects and develop friendships with their colleagues and families. Photographer Herb Snitzer describes his Reflected ‘Trane, 1961 as one of his most important images of Coltrane, and also of jazz itself. Such a statement is a testament to Snitzer’s high regard for the man. The photograph was taken

31 Ibid.,143. 32 Philip Elwood, introduction to Jim Marshall, Jazz, 6.

backstage at The Village Gate in New York, and it captures Coltrane reading quietly between sets. Snitzer describes Coltrane as a “very thoughtful and gentle man.”33 Coltrane is seen from the back, instrument (soprano sax) in hand. His head is reflected in the mirror in the background, and he looks down thoughtfully at a book with his hand on his chin. Most of the image is in darkness, except for the reflection in the mirror and the light from the doorway.

Fig. 5: Herb Snitzer, Reflected ‘Trane, 1961

By this time in his career, Coltrane had completely broken off on his own, and was experimenting with different group members and sounds. As can be seen in Snitzer’s photo, Coltrane had taken up the soprano saxophone, and was

33 Herb Snitzer, “Description: Reflected ‘Trane,” Herb Snitzer Photography, (4 October 2006). .

the first jazz musician to popularize the instrument since Sidney Bechet in the 1920s. In 1961 he signed a contract with Impulse Records, which produced his records for the remainder of his career. The first album produced was the Africa/Brass Sessions, which was the result of Coltrane’s explorations with a larger orchestration, and with the music of other cultures. Throughout his career Coltrane’s music reflected his gospel roots (both of his grandfathers were preachers) and his underlying spiritual quest. The sound of the blues also seeps into Coltrane’s sound (he played in R&B bands in the 40s), and it is perhaps this element of his style that contributes to a listener’s ability to connect with his music, whether or not they can understand the rest of what’s going on. Coltrane said of his beliefs: My goal is to live the truly religious life and express it through my music. If you live it, when you play there’s no problem about the music because it’s part of the whole thing. When you begin to see the possibilities of music, you desire to do something really good for people, to help humanity free itself from its hang-ups. I think music can make the world better and, if I’m qualified, I want to do it. I’d like to point out to people the divine in a musical language that transcends words. I want to speak to their souls.34

Coltrane did not seek to entertain. Some might consider his extensive solos and long hours of practicing self-indulgent, but all of his musical investigations went toward the purpose of using “music-making as a means to reach the heavens.”35 Kicking his drug habit in 1957 reinvigorated Coltrane’s religious beliefs, which eventually led to the composition of his masterpiece A Love Supreme in 1964. Coltrane employed a compositional process similar to the one used for

34 quoted in, Trane Tracks: The Legacy of John Coltrane (Andorra: EforFilms, 2005), videorecording. 35 Ashley Kahn, “John Coltrane’s Eternal ‘A Love Supreme’,” NPR: Arts & Culture, (4 October 2006). < http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=855350>

“Alabama” when he used the melodic lines based on the rhythms of a written out text. The album was Coltrane’s personal dedication to God and helped him move toward further spiritual explorations and meditations in his last years. Of particular interest is the choice of cover photo for the album. In his book A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album, Ashley Kahn reports that Coltrane chose the cover photo, which was an old black-and-white that his producer, Bob Thiele, had taken in 1962. Coltrane said of the photo, “This is the best picture of me, ever.”36

Fig. 6: Bob Thiele, cover photo for A Love Supreme, 1962/64.

36 Kahn, A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane’s Signature Album, 149.

The photograph was taken outside of the Van Gelder recording studio in 1962 during a break from a recording session with Duke Ellington. Coltrane stares intensely at something outside of the frame, and there is a blurred head and shoulder coming into the left side of the frame. Coltrane’s wife Alice reports: Interestingly, there were two. You know how you can take one snap, and then you take the next snap right after – the same man within seconds? So he showed them to me and said, ‘Which one do you like?” And I said, “I like this one…which one do you like?’ And he said, ‘That one.’ I said, ‘Well, that’s the one it will be.’ The one he didn’t use there was a lightness. But the one they did use is a great, great photo. I see everything in it. Ev-er-y-thing. The seeker. The devotee. The musician, father, son. The man.37

Coltrane’s choice of this picture is a testament to his modest character. He did not choose a photo of himself towering over the viewer with his horn taken by a skilled photographer. Instead he chose one taken by an unskilled photographer in a candid moment. Jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman (one of the many influenced by Coltrane, and an innovator in his own right) says of Coltrane, “The integrity and purity that he had was so apparent to people. You could hear it in the music, you could see it in photographs. All you have to do is look at the cover to A Love Supreme. It's beautiful and accessible in its intensity, and the sense of resolve and devotion is so visible on his face.”38 Redman’s statement resonates in many photographs besides the cover of A Love Supreme. Perhaps most important to Coltrane and to his legacy, are those photographs reflecting his dedication and commitment to making a contribution to the human condition through his music and spirituality.

37 Ibid.,149 38 Joshua Redman, “The A Love Supreme Interviews”, Jerry Jazz Musician, (4 October 2006). .

Fig. 7: Jim Marshall, backstage at Stanford University, a few months before he died, 1966

SARAH VAUGHAN

Photographs of Sarah Vaughan (1924-1990) offer a fascinating study of one of the greatest female vocalists in jazz history. While her incredible vocal talent remained steady throughout her fifty year career, her self-image went through many phases. Reflected in the numerous photographs and album covers of Vaughan is the growth of an innocent young girl to a mature and sophisticated woman.

In Newark, New Jersey during the nineteen-twenties, Sarah Vaughan sang in her church choir, took piano lessons and sang around town with the great trumpeter and singer, Jabbo Smith. With these early influences, as well as the close proximity of her home to the emerging jazz culture in New York City, she was in an ideal place to pursue her love of music. She and her friends would often ride the subway into Harlem and take in the shows at the Apollo Theater. On a dare from the group, Sarah signed up for the Apollo’s weekly amateur contest. She sang “Body and Soul”, won the contest, and caught the attention of Billy Eckstine who was sitting in the audience that night. Eckstine was then the star vocalist in the Earl Hines Band and he recommended Sarah to Earl “Fatha” Hines. She was just nineteen when she joined the Hines band as a second pianist and singer.

Despite the many positive influences that were an important part of Vaughan’s formative years, she was still impacted by the racism that pervaded the country, including her home town of Newark and the professional venues in New York and other cities she later toured. As she recalls in an interview in Downbeat magazine, "I often wished I was a medium-brown skin color, I imagined people that color were regarded more highly than I. To most persons who knew me, I thought, I was just another little black girl for whom the future was just as dark as it was for thousands of others like me." 39 The young

39 Archive Interview, Sarah Vaughan, Downbeat Magazine (Accessed 22 October 2006) .

Vaughan shifted the responsibility of the rejection and injustice she suffered to herself and to her color, resulting in extreme shyness and a lack of self- confidence. In spite of this insecurity, she wanted a singing career and dreamed of winning great acclaim. Photographs of Vaughan in the early days of her career show a slender, underdeveloped figure. She was often teased about her rumpled appearance, although everyone had great admiration for her talent. She regularly joined the rest of the band to hang out all night, instead of staying in the hotel room like many other females did at the time. Offstage, her appearance was often wrinkled and unkempt, even barefoot, prompting Hines to buy a white dress for her to wear for performances. This was a trend that continued as she grew older. In her biography on Vaughan, Leslie Gourse reports several accounts of people helping Vaughan with her onstage image. .

Fig. 8: Sarah Vaughan Poster

Fig. 9: Herman Leonard, Sarah Vaughan NYC, Fig. 10: William Gottlieb, Sarah 1950 Vaughan, 1946

In the mid-forties, when Billy Eckstine put together his own big band that featured the legendary jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan left the Hines band and went along. Again she was in an ideal place musically when she moved on to become a star singer for the band. She was immersed in all manner of jazz techniques and in on the ground floor of the modern jazz movement. Vaughan sang on the very first recording of the bebop milestone “A Night in Tunisia,” as part of a Gillespie–Parker group.

Sarah’s solo career was just taking hold when she was transformed by a harrowing experience at the Chicago Theater. Struggling with stage fright, she listened off stage as Dave Garroway, a popular radio personality, introduced her in glowing terms that helped to reduce her fear. Just as Sarah came on stage and began to sing, young bigots in the balcony rained tomatoes at her and onto the stage. Even after an infuriated Garroway delivered a statement on racism that elicited a thunderous response of support from the audience, Sarah could not make a sound, in spite of trying. She felt that her career was over.

George Treadwell, Sarah’s first husband and a trumpeter who later became her manager, decided that he had to do something to provide her with confidence and help her return to the stage. He arranged for nose-thinning plastic surgery, the straightening of her teeth and sent her to a beauty salon to have her figure streamlined. He paid for special arrangements and elocution lessons, and bought becoming clothes for her. A lighting scheme was even devised for her and she wore only white gowns “so we could two-tone her. Her face was flesh pink, and for a ballad, her dress was bathed in blue – or magenta- colored light. For an up-tempo song, we used a full body light from toe to face.”40 So transformed and elated was Sarah that Treadwell gave her the nickname "Sassy.”

Fig. 11: Sarah Vaughan, After Hours, 1961

By the time Sarah reached her late twenties and early thirties her appearance and stage presence had improved dramatically. Dave Gold, a writer for Down Beat Magazine, wrote; “Those who have known her since the awkward days of the mid-forties, when her voice showed indications of quality and her gowns and stage presence did not, can best appreciate the transformation which

40 Johnnie Garry quoted in, Leslie Gourse, Sassy: The Life of Sarah Vaughan (NY: MacMillan, 1993), 61.

has taken place.” 41 The implication is that Vaughan’s musical ability had not been enough to carry her; she had to refine the whole package in order to continue as a jazz vocalist.

As Vaughan’s talent propelled her into the limelight, she also grew into the prime of her beauty. Her album covers played up her physical attributes and she became known as “the divine one” and “sassy”; the two nicknames that remained with her through the active career she led from the age of eighteen until her sixties.

Fig. 12: Two Sarah Vaughan albums, The Best of Sarah Vaughan: The Millennium Collection, and The Best of Sarah Vaughan

As photographer Carol Friedman described her in a session on jazz photography at the 2006 IAJE (International Association for Jazz Educators) conference, Vaughan later became afraid of the camera because her image had so often been distorted for publicity. All the paraphernalia made her distrustful of photographers. In order for Friedman to photograph her, she first had to gain her trust. Vaughan backed out of one photo session, but promised to come over the next day and cook for Friedman and then do the photo shoot. Carol bargained with her by making Vaughan leave her mink coat to make sure she would come back. The result is the following photo:

41 Leslie Gourse, Sassy: The Life of Sarah Vaughan (NY: MacMillan, 1993), 88.

Fig. 13: Carol Friedman, Sarah Vaughan, Studio, NYC, 1982

Friedman strove to capture the emotional life of her subjects, and preferred to photograph them outside of a performance context. Like many candid portraits of Vaughan throughout her career, this photograph shows Vaughan’s trademark energy, a joy in singing, and an exuberance that is hard to resist. Although Vaughan’s self-confidence had been repeatedly tested, she had always viewed herself first and foremost as a musician. In the biography Sassy, the author Leslie Gourse states: “Sarah gave friends the impression that she was slight and vulnerable. But she quickly discovered she could overcome the stigma of being considered unattractive from the moment she sat down to play or sing. As a musician, she would never be overlooked.”42 Whether or not one accepts unfavorable assessments of her physical beauty, it is clear that Vaughan seemed to possess an inner determination and a naturally optimistic and cheerful outlook in spite of personal and professional setbacks associated with her image.

42 Ibid., 11

Herman Leonard’s 1949 photograph of Sarah Vaughan at Birdland captures the singer from an angle different than virtually any other photograph of her. It is shot at a tilted angle, from below and to the side. The side of her face is in shadow, but what we see of the front of her face is illuminated by an invisible light source. Like many other jazz photographs, Vaughan seems to be emerging out of darkness. There are points of light throughout the picture that balance nicely with the darkness, such as the glints of light in the peacock feathers, her hair, her jewelry, and mic stand. The actual microphone, however, blends in completely with the dark background, suggesting perhaps that the power of her voice needed no amplification. Leonard speaks of her “incredible vocal instrument”43 in the documentary of his life and work, Frame After Frame. The photo has an intimate feel, and the viewer is drawn in to her joyous act of singing.

Fig. 14: Herman Leonard, Sarah Vaughan, NYC, 1949

43 Laudun, Tika. Frame After Frame: The Images of Herman Leonard. (Louisiana Public Broadcasting, 1997), VHS.

Photographs in candid club and recording venues of the time reflect Vaughan’s physical transformation and renewed confidence. However, the spark of joy and her love of making music also continue to be revealed in pictures taken by photographers like Roy DeCarava’s image of Sarah Vaughan.

Fig. 15: Roy DeCarava, Sarah Vaughan, early 1960’s

Roy DeCarava’s photograph of Sarah Vaughan captures the singer in an offstage moment, cigarette in hand. The photo feels casual and familiar. She looks back at the camera over her right shoulder, giving a beautiful smile. She is obviously dressed for performance, in an elegant black dress and glittering jewelry. According to Sherry Turner DeCarava, “The pictures can portray a single, isolated individual, yet they set in motion a circuit of feeling that encloses

viewer, photographer, and subject in the delicate rigor of human understanding.44 He has always approached all of his photography, including jazz photos, as an art form. The cigarette in the lower right corner is an important detail in the photograph. According to Gourse, Vaughan associated smoking and drinking with work, and the nightlife she loved was part of the ambience of the music for her.45 Says Robert Richards, “The minute she stepped into a nightclub, she started smoking. It was like a buzz. Work, smoke. They automatically went together for her. Smoking calmed her down. She would usually stand in the wings, smoking.”46 Remarkably, the smoking had no effect on the quality of her voice, even in the last years of her career. Lee Friedlander and William Claxton also captured some of Vaughan’s offstage moments while smoking.

Fig. 16: Lee Friedlander, Sarah Vaughan, 1956

44 Sherry Turner DeCarava, “Pages from a Notebook” in Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective (NY: Museum of Modern Art, 1996), 2. 45 Gourse, 30. 46 Ibid., 30.

Fig. 17: William Claxton, Sarah Vaughan, Brooklyn, 1960

Photographs made in the later years of Vaughan’s career show a woman possessing the confidence and soulfulness gained from years of experience. She is still elegant, yet now a wisdom and sophistication replaces the provocative/exploitive nature of those earlier album covers. In a tribute to Vaughan preceding a concert in 1980, Gunther Schuller stated, “She can’t resist being inventive. She can’t compromise her art, she must search for the new, the untried; she must take the risks.”47 To the very end she was beautiful with attitude, classiness, and most of all her own unique voice.

47 Gunther Schuller, The Divine Sarah, in Reading Jazz Gottlieb, Robert, ed. (New York: Vintage Books, 1999), 991.

Fig. 18: Jim Marshall, Sarah Vaughan at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, late 1980’s

Fig. 19: photographer unknown, Sarah Vaughan, late 1980’s

Fig. 20: Herb Snitzer, Sarah Vaughan at the Bern Jazz Festival, 1987

DUKE ELLINGTON

An extensive collection of photographs captures Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974) from his early days with the Washingtonians, over more than forty years as a bandleader, to his final years when he turned his attention to sacred music. While John Coltrane’s genius was in exploring all the musical possibilities of a single instrument, Ellington’s genius lay in exploring the many timbres possible in a larger group setting. He was able to write to the specific strengths of his band members, and even asked for their input during composition. Throughout his career Ellington served many roles - pianist, bandleader, entertainer, ambassador, writer of pop hits, and serious composer. The composer role was among the most important to the man, and perhaps even to the history of jazz. His compositional style drew from the Western European musical tradition, while utilizing and exploring the harmonic and rhythmic possibilities that stemmed from the ever-developing jazz vocabulary. Ellington was well known for his rapport with audiences, and this carried over into his many publicity photos. Sometimes it is hard to tell whether or not a photograph is posed or candid because he is always elegant, smiling, and engaging. Like his music, his appearance was always refined. One might say that his perfectionist attitude towards his music (he was constantly revising) was also reflected in his polished appearance. This refined appearance began at an early age, as a result of pampering by his mother. By age eight he had earned his nickname “Duke”, due to his distinguished manner and impeccable style of dress. He was also influenced by the correctness and good manners of his grandmother, and the dignity and sense of style of his aunt. His father, who worked for the Navy department in Washington D.C. set an example of showing affection for his mother and striving to please her. For Duke this eventually carried over into a general appreciation for the opposite sex, helping him to easily manage the female attention he received as a performing musician.

Fig. 21: Corbis/Bettmann, “Top Hat” shot made right before his first European tour, 1933

Fig. 22: Herman Leonard, Duke Ellington, Paris, 1960

Ellington’s public persona began to take shape with the first band he joined, The Washingtonians. He recounts in his autobiography, “The Washingtonians were different in several ways. We paid quite a lot of attention to our appearance, and if any one of us came in dressed improperly [Arthur] Whetsol would flick his cigarette in a certain way, or pull down the lower lid of his right eye with his forefinger and stare at the offending party.”48 As the band grew in numbers, and landed gigs at prominent spots such as the Cotton Club, they maintained their sharp appearance.

48 Edward K. Ellington, Music is My Mistress,(NY: DoubleDay, 1973), 70.

Ellington did not start out as the band leader. Rather he fell into the role when his band played at The Palace and he was asked to announce the songs. He soon began to develop his own style as a front-man that lasted throughout his career. With bits such as his “finger-snapping lesson,”49 and always telling the audience that “you are very beautiful and gracious and we do love you madly” he easily won over the crowd. The audience was very important to Ellington throughout his career: It’s another bit of encouragement in being made aware of the fact that somebody’s listening. And that’s the thing I’m in, that’s the thing I do. I make noises, and there’s no point in making noises if somebody’s not listening. The enthusiasm, and the fact that they do listen means that we’re not alone. And we don’t want to be alone.50 This ability, and even eagerness, to please his audience helped contribute to his image, and carries over into his photographs.

Fig. 23: from the estate of Mercer K. Ellington Fig. 24: Herb Snitzer, Duke Ellington, 1959

49 Ellington would teach the audience how to be hip by snapping their fingers on the right beat (two and four) and adding a head bob. 50 Mike Jackson, On the Road with Duke Ellington, (Docurama, 1974), VHS.

William Gottlieb’s 1947 photograph of Ellington in his dressing room provides an interesting study of the man. The shot, which appeared in Down Beat Magazine, captures Ellington reflected in the dressing room mirror, sitting sideways to the mirror on a piano bench, facing away from the piano and smiling broadly. One can see items on the cluttered counter such as baby powder, pictures of himself stuck in mirror, mail, jars of cream, papers, shoes, and ties hung over lights. In the background there is a closet full of sharp suits that Ellington wore for performances. It is a glimpse into the private world of a star.

Fig. 25: William Gottlieb, Portrait of Duke Ellington, Paramount Theater, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1946,

Despite the intimate, behind-the-scenes setting, Gottlieb chose to wait for Ellington to assume his fully sophisticated look. He gives the following account of the photo event:

Once in 1947, I interviewed and photographed [Ellington] in his dressing room at the Paramount Theater in New York. He had just come off a stage performance and prepared to shower. Naked, he looked like just another sagging middle-ager. Suave? Elegant? Not quite. But, shower finished, he applied some baby powder and various other emollients, selected one of the many suits with which he traveled, added an expensive shirt and tie, and assumed his regal bearing. Presto! He suddenly became the elegant, suave, handsome Duke. Dapper indeed.51

As a jazz columnist and photographer, Gottlieb preferred to let his interviews with the musicians determine his photographic approach. “I learned to shoot very carefully. I knew the music. I knew the musicians. I knew in advance when the right moment would arrive. It was purposeful shooting.”52 Other renowned photographers also devised technical approaches that would capture the unique persona of Ellington. Herman Leonard’s photograph “Duke Ellington, Paris 1958” is a beautiful expression of dark and light. The spotlight beams down on Ellington like a ray from heaven, giving the photograph an ethereal quality. Duke sits at the piano, right hand elegantly poised above the keys, and seems to be all alone in a magical world. The viewer is briefly allowed to glimpse this moment. It seems almost transient, as if at any moment Ellington will be swallowed up again by the darkness. The photograph is composed with contrasting sections of light and dark.

51 Paul Tanner, David Megill, and Maurice Gerow. Jazz. 9th ed. (New York: McGraw Hill, 2001), 156. 52 Douglas Martin, “William Gottlieb, 89, Jazz Photographer, Is Dead”, NY Times (April 25, 2006).

Fig. 26: Herman Leonard, Duke Ellington in Paris, 1958

Leonard recounts the circumstances of the photograph:

That was shot at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, and piano players are very difficult to photograph because you only have two angles where you can see both their face and their hands on the keyboard…from the right or from the left, you can’t see them from any

other angle. You can't shoot them from the front, because you don't see the hands on the keys. Every time you shoot from the audience point of view, you are always going to get the same thing, depending on what's behind him. For this photo, I went backstage through the curtains toward the audience, and that's how I got the spotlight like that.53

Leonard’s photographic approach aimed for simplicity in terms of lighting. By using only one light source, there was no over-complication of the pictures caused by the use of flat-lighting. He was influenced by the drawings of Picasso, saying that they were “just a few lines, but you could tell the whole character.”54 The use of a single light source helped to delineate the structure of the subject, leaving the rest in shadow and to the imagination. Leonard photographed jazz musicians by night as a hobby, while working by day as a portrait photographer for major magazines like Ebony and shooting publicity shots for people in show business. He was granted permission from the nightclub owners to shoot, and would bring prints back to the owners and musicians in exchange for free entrance. Leonard recalls that the low light of the club-setting required “improvisation”. At the time, higher speed films did not exist, so Leonard used an old trick he learned from a book.55 This was to place the unexposed film in tanks of toxic mercury vapors, which doubled or tripled the film’s sensitivity to light. He installed his own strobe lights when permitted, and placed them in the same spot as the spotlight. Many of his shots capture the smoky atmosphere of the clubs, with the smoke showing up in the beams of light. Another photograph by Leonard that illustrates his strategic use of the spotlight is the famous portrait of Ella Fitzgerald in 1948 singing for an audience including Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman.

53 Herman Leonard, “Interview with Herman Leonard”, Jerry Jazz Musician, 4 October 2006. . 54 Leonard, Frame After Frame 55 Leonard talks about this in Frame After Frame, but does not specify the book.

Fig. 27: Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman & Richard Rogers NYC, 1948

The photo is unique in that the angle is from behind the musician, looking out into the club. Leonard captures the intimate feel of the nightclub setting, and there is some smoke visible. Ella’s mouth is open, and the light almost seems to be emanating from her mouth and floating over the audience. The spotlight also peeks out beneath her chin in a way that suggests a ball of light coming from her vocal chords. With her dark dress, Ella seems to be emerging out of darkness, and in fact lighting up the entire club. Duke looks refined in his elegant pin striped suit, and seems to be thoroughly enthralled by Ella’s singing. The angle of the photograph is also strategic because the viewer is allowed to see the audience; Ellington and Goodman among them. We, as viewers, are granted a glimpse of the performer’s point of view. What must it be like to have Ellington right in the front row as one sings, to be at the mercy of his judgment? From the look on Ellington’s face, Fitzgerald obviously measures up. Although Ellington is the smaller figure in the photo, he is the most powerful presence, which attests to his stature in the music world.

In addition to all the suave, sophisticated shots, there are also many photographs showing other sides of Ellington. In photographs of him in rehearsal or the recording studio, he appears fully concentrated on the music. There are also photographs showing the tiredness etched into him from years of constant traveling and composing on the road. As with Sarah Vaughan, photographs of the older Ellington show a still elegant, yet much wiser man. Photographer Herb Snitzer describes him as “sartorially splendid even at two in the morning.”56 Herb Snitzer’s collage photograph “Duke the King” juxtaposes two images of Ellington, both showing a fatigued expression.

Fig. 28: Herb Snitzer, Duke the King, 1961/1986

Snitzer felt that Ellington’s inward, contemplative side was just as powerful as his more outgoing swing music, and sought to capture that essence in his photographs. In a 1991 interview, Snitzer commented that, “Everybody’s still making pictures in jazz the way they did forty years ago, and jazz photography is

56 Herb Snitzer, “Duke in Rehearsal: 2am, 1961,” Herb Snitzer Photography, (4 October 2006). .

as stuck today as the music seems to be in many ways. What I’m trying to do is get away from the single-image idea, to become even more expressive and creative in putting together a jazz image, to push the jazz image onto another plateau.”57 For Snitzer, jazz is serious music by serious people, extending far beyond simple entertainment. His approach is to show the musicians as people, not cultural icons. While Snitzer sought to capture Ellington’s serious side, he also summed up Duke in an interview with Gary Carner with this appropriate statement: Duke was the ultimate sophisticate. He dressed immaculately and carried himself with regal bearing, not because his name was Duke, but because that’s how he felt about himself. When you thought of Duke, you thought of sophistication, and so his presentation to the white world as an articulate, erudite, sophisticated, handsome person was a very important one in a positive way.58

Reflected in photographs of Ellington is a man in possession of dignity, integrity, and elegance from the beginning to the end of his life.

57 Gary Carner ,“Jazz Photography: Conversations with Herb Snitzer, "Black American Literature Forum 25/3 (1991), 586. 58 Carner, 573.

CHAPTER 3 CONTRIBUTIONS TO MUSIC HISTORIOGRAPHY

The previous chapters have examined jazz photography as its own evolving tradition and art form with the presented case studies illustrating a variety of ways jazz is represented through photographs. But how does photography, specifically jazz photography, contribute to music historiography? Music iconography has long been a substantial component in the study of music history. However, to date, this area of study has been mostly concerned with other visual arts such as painting and sculpture. Photography plays a role only so far as to document artwork for cataloguing purposes. The RCMI (Research Center for Music Iconography) only covers artwork up until the early twentieth century, leaving little room to include works of photographic art. It is hard to find much reference in the literature specifically to photography as a form of iconography, even in the New Grove Dictionary under “Portraits.” Photographs are the next logical step in the lineage of iconography. Jazz historiography is in the unique position of having almost its entire history supplemented with photographs. Books such as Driggs and Levine’s Black Beauty, White Heat, and Keepnew’s The Pictorial History of Jazz are good resources for photographs, but do little to ascertain any deeper meaning. William Gottlieb’s collection of photographs, partially compiled in his book The Golden Age of Jazz, is also a valuable resource. The collections 1600+ images are now available online in their entirety through the Music Division of the Library of Congress.59 The published works of many of the jazz photographers are also valuable resources, but are not usually supplemented with explanatory text. It is up to the viewer to interpret the artistic statement for themselves. While the photographs are valuable and valid unto themselves, they can also serve as a starting point for a more in depth study. Instead of supplementing texts with photographs, the photographs could be studied first and then put in historical context to make a

59 http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/wghtml/wghome.html

more complete statement about the individual artists and how they represent jazz. One photograph prompting such a study is Arthur Kane’s photograph taken when sixty jazz greats gathered on a Harlem street in 1958. Charles Graham compiled a book of the event entitled The Great Jazz Day for presenting the story behind one of the most famous jazz photographs ever taken. This book includes outtakes, candid shots, and anecdotes from the day. It also includes essays by great jazz writers and critics such as Dan Morgenstern, Gary Giddins, and Ralph Ellison. Like the music itself, jazz historiography has evolved over time. People from diverse backgrounds and disciplines have recognized the music as not only a worthy form of entertainment, but also as “something to ponder, document, interpret, narrate, and explain, as is evident in the trail of published commentary that has proliferated in its wake.”60 One recurring issue in jazz historiography is the definition of jazz itself. According to jazz historian Sherrie Tucker:

Not only musical definitions and classifications but also social understandings of jazz have varied greatly across time and place and among different constituencies, and these shape the approaches taken by historians who are, after all, among those involved in and affected by shifting perceptions of what jazz is and means. Is jazz African-American, American, international, or universal? Is it black, color-blind, or multi-cultural? High culture, low culture, folk culture, or subculture? Traditional or experimental? Commercial or revolutionary?61

60 Sherrie Tucker: 'Historiography', Grove Music Online (Accessed 15 September 2006), 61 ibid.

As jazz continues to develop and be documented, historians, as well as musicians, critics, producers, and consumers, contribute to the changing definitions and scope of jazz music. Photographs offer another tool for examining the history of this hard-to- define music. Photographs can serve as supplements to text, or they can serve as a historic study in their own right, as was demonstrated in the case studies. As Arthur Knight has observed, “The look of music informs, influences how the listener categorizes it.”62 What does photography contribute to our understanding of how history is recorded? Jazz photographs introduce the characters and participants to the viewer. Physical appearance, clothing, and hairstyles can help determine the time period. The décor or background of the site where the music is practiced, along with the atmosphere, can also help determine a time frame. Random details, such as objects in dressing rooms, people in the crowd, and names on billboards all contribute to the reconstruction of the historical context of the photo. Often the musicians are photographed with their instruments, which help to identify the person and instrument in the photo as a music-maker. This can be important for organological studies, particularly regarding which instrument brands were being popularized at a certain time. Furthermore, the instruments often become objets d’art themselves when photographed. Details such as reflected light from the surface of an instrument or the angle at which it is held by the performer can create extra nuance for a photograph. Once the more obvious features of the photograph have been identified, it is important to determine the purpose of the photographs. Were they meant for publicity, an album cover, a work of art, an historical document? The photographer’s identity and intention is the key to answering this question. In Herman Leonard’s case, he photographed for no profit, because he loved the music. It was an escape from his day job as a magazine and fashion photographer. Roy DeCarava wished to document the African-American community while also bringing their beauty to the fore-front. Carol Friedman

62 Arthur Knight, “The Sight of Jazz,” in Representing Jazz (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 13.

sought to photograph the musicians in their everyday lives, outside of a performance context. Lee Friedlander photographed for hundreds of album covers that served all four purposes simultaneously. Almost unwittingly, photographers working during the mid-twentieth century serve as both tourists and historians during a special time. Today there are stricter rules about backstage access, entrance fees to clubs, and protection of artists’ privacy. Whether they were shooting for the newspaper, album covers, or for personal fulfillment, they were there at the right time. In her book On Photography Susan Sontag states, “All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment in time and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.”63 The photographic techniques also belong to that time period, and lay the groundwork for future generations of music photographers. The self-awareness of the photographers as artists and their aspiration to create a work of art does something for the subject in turn. It validates and lifts up the importance of the subject. It imbues the subject with depth and complexity. In addition, it also lifts up the people associated with the subject. The resonance of the photograph is extensive; validating an entire people through qualities previously denied them. Jazz photographs have perhaps contributed to the validation of jazz as much as the music itself. Susan Sontag states:

In teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have the right to observe. They are grammar and, even more importantly, an ethics of seeing.64

63 Susan Sontag, On Photography (New York: Picador, 2001), 15. 64 Sontag, 3.

Photography offers another way of looking at the relationship between the person/life and their music, how they relate to the rest of the world and how they relate in their own world. Jazz music and jazz photography give a voice to multiple aspects of the cultures with which it is associated, particularly African-American culture and American culture in general. This voice extends globally because of the many cultures that have appreciated jazz and contributed to its continued development. Jazz photographs not only tell about the music, but about the people and how they, and the nation, are represented worldwide. As Max Kozloff observes, “the significance of an image is fixed by the social origin and identity of its public or audience.”65 The people are essential to the music, which justifies studying the photography of the people. Jazz photographs of the mid-twentieth century recorded iconic figures as they emerged through their expressiveness and their interactions with others, and contributed their individuality to the overall evolving art form of jazz.

65 Max Kozloff, Lone Visions Crowded Frame (New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1997), 22.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Carner, Gary. “Jazz Photography: A Conversation with Herb Snitzer.” Black American Literature Forum 25/3 (Autumn, 1991): 561-592.

Cartier-Bresson, Henri. The Mind’s Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers. New York: Aperture, 1999.

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DeCarava, Sherry Turner and Peter Galassi. Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1996.

Driggs, Frank and Harris Lewine. Black Beauty, White Heat: A Pictorial History of Classic Jazz 1920-1950. New York: Da Capo Press, 1995.

Ellington, Edward K. Music is My Mistress. NY: DoubleDay, 1973.

Enright, Ed. “Eye For The Music.” Downbeat 71/10 (Oct 2004): 60-62.

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Giddins, Gary. Visions of Jazz: The First Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

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Gottlieb, William P. The Golden Age of Jazz. NY: Simon and Schuster, 1979.

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Jackson, Mike. On the Road with Duke Ellington. Docurama, 1974. Videorecording.

Keepnews, Orrin and Bill Grauer, Jr. A Pictorial History of Jazz. New York: Crown Publishers, 1971.

Kozloff, Max. Lone Visions, Crowded Frames. New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 1997.

Kinsky, George, ed. A History of Music in Pictures. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1929.

Lang, Paul Henry and Otto Bettmann. A Pictorial History of Music. New York: Norton, 1960.

Laudun, Tika. Frame After Frame: The Images of Herman Leonard. Louisiana Public Broadcasting, 1997. VHS.

Lopes, Paul. The Rise of a Jazz Art World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Leonard, Herman. The Eye of Jazz: The Jazz Photographs of Herman Leonard. New York: Viking, 1990.

Levin, Eric. “Herman Leonard’s Images of Jazz.” People Weekly 33/21 (May 28, 1990): 34-35.

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SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Coltrane, John. A Love Supreme, Impulse Records,1964/1995, compact disc (original recording remastered).

Coltrane, John. Giant Steps. Atlantic SD 1311, 1960/1990, compact disc (original recording remastered).

Coltrane, John. The Heavyweight Champion: The Complete Atlantic Recordings of John Coltrane. Los Angeles, CA : Rhino, 1995, compact disc (original recordings remastered)

Vaughan, Sarah. After Hours. Roulette, 1961, compact disc (original recording remastered).

Vaughan, Sarah. The Millennium Collection: The Best of Sarah Vaughan. Verve, 2004, compact disc (original recordings remastered).

ONLINE RESOURCES

All About Jazz, http://allaboutjazz.com

Downbeat Magazine, http://www.downbeat.com

Herb Snitzer Photography, http://herbsnitzer.com

Herman Leonard Photography, http://www.hermanleonard.com

JazzTimes Magazine, http://jazztimes.com

Jerry Jazz Musician, http://www.jerryjazzmusician.com

Jim Marshall Photography, http://www.jimmarshallvault.com/

Library of Congress, William Gottlieb Collection, http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/wghtml/wghome.html

Masters of Photography, http://www.masters-of-photography.com

National Public Radio, http://www.npr.org

William Claxton Photography, http://williamclaxton.com

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Staci A. Spring is a native of Chattanooga, TN. She earned her BA in Music with emphases in bassoon performance, theory/history, and jazz studies from Brevard College in 2003. She continued her studies at The Florida State University where she earned Masters degrees in both Historical Musicology and Bassoon Performance in 2006.