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Jazz Life Jazzlife by William Claxton & Joachim-Ernst Berendt £100 (+ bonus CD), Hardcover, 696 pages, Taschen www.taschen.com Given the opportunity to drive the length and breadth of the United States of America in search of the finest jazz musicians is a dream in itself. However William Claxton (photographer) in collaboration with Joachim-Ernst Berendt (an expert from Germany on jazz history) went one stage further and in 1960 photographed and documented many of the world’s finest jazz musicians. Publisher Taschen has now gathered together their work and produced a very large (too big to read in bed and a stone in weight) masterpiece of a book which has been called simply JAZZLIFE. To own a copy will make you the envy of anybody who yearns to see those famous jazz musos ‘frozen in time’. From Chicago to New Orleans, North to South, East Coast to West Coast this tenacious duo snapped unique shots of many of the jazz greats. Amongst others he photographed saxophonists Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz and Benny This mammoth of a book includes so many ‘once in a lifetime’ jazz scenes that it should unquestionably be in every jazz enthusiast’s library. Is this publication worth its £100 price tag? Well, if you take account of the distances travelled by the authors and what it would have cost you personally to grab a slice of the atmosphere so eloquently and authentically captured in this publication... then it is an absolute snip at £100. As the owner of this limited edition publication which includes a CD with some original audio recordings taken by Joachim-Ernst Berendt, you will become uniquely popular overnight amongst your like minded friends and colleagues. Indeed, you will discover a social life that you never thought was possible. Was there life before JAZZLIFE I ask? Ray Butt |
(above: the review in issue 1)