Howard Mandel Born in Pasadena, California, photographer William Claxton (1927-2008) is best known for his dozens of great portraits of jazz stars (especially Chet Baker, of whom he took the first professional photos) and Hollywood stars (like his friend Steve McQueen). While photographing Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker at the Haig Club in 1952, he met Richard Bock, founder of Pacific Jazz, who soon hired him as art director and house photographer. During his time with the label, Claxton photographed and designed about one album cover a week, creating the visual identity of the West Coast jazz movement. While earlier jazz photographers captured their subjects in the dark, smoky environs of nightclubs, Claxton used the sun and surf of Southern California to showcase the artists in unorthodox outdoor shots, representing a new era in the music’s continuing evolution. Claxton’s images graced the covers of numerous music albums, and his work appeared regularly in magazines such as Life, Paris Match, and Vogue. Claxton wrote 13 books, held dozens of exhibitions of his photographs around the world, and won numerous photography awards. This book presents a selection of more than 150 great images by the great photographer. Among the many artists he portrayed are Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, Art Blakey, Clifford Brown, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Billie Holiday, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Wes Montgomery, Lee Morgan, Art Pepper, Sonny Rollins, Dinah Washington, and Muddy Waters. Text in English, with an introduction in English, French, and Spanish.

ACC Art Books, ISBN9788409038893, Various materials, 163 pages, 41 color and 112 black and white photos in book.