Jazz in Black and White: The Photographs of Duncan Schiedt - Hardcover

Schiedt, Duncan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 025334400X ISBN 13: 9780253344007

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 2004

Synopsis

"Looking at these beautiful photos evokes a warm remembrance of times gone by. Many of the musicians were friends of mine, and thinking of the lives of these great men and women, devoted to their art, reminds me of the fine jazz they played. The short biography of each musician, like a mini–jazz history, serves to illuminate lives that were filled with music, which still echoes in our hearts and minds." ―Marian McPartland, host of NPR’s Piano Jazz

Jazz in Black and White collects Duncan Schiedt’s classic black-and-white photographs of some of the world’s most famous jazz musicians. Each photograph is introduced by a brief biographical summary of the artist, along with a memoir about the photograph’s creation that gives the reader a sense of "having been there." Included are Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Mary Lou Williams, Lester Young, and Thelonious Monk.

About this title

About the Author

Duncan Schiedt has photographed jazz musicians for 60 years. He is the author of several books, including The Jazz State of Indiana and Twelve Lives in Jazz, and is co-author with Ed Kirkeby and Sinclair Traill of "Ain’t Misbehavin’": The Story of Fats Waller. Schiedt’s original and archival photographs were featured in Ken Burns’s landmark PBS series Jazz, and his work has appeared in international art exhibits and publications worldwide. He lives in Pittsboro, Indiana.

Reviews

Schiedt exposed his first roll of film in 1939, when he aimed his Argus at Benny Goodman from the fifth row of New York's Paramount Theater. Since then, he has written books on music and presented his photographs in magazines, books and films, including Ken Burns's PBS documentary Jazz. This showcase arranges 80 b&w pictures of jazz musicians (dating from the 1950s to today) into an attractive package, sleek and glossy. A brief bio faces each photo, along with Schiedt's anecdotal memories of musicians and venues. Schiedt shot in b&w because, he writes, "Jazz is a black and white music. Its range, from blinding brilliance to deepest shadings, seems to demand the drama that black and white can so easily provide." In these pages, jazz greats emerge from the silky shadows, among them Satchmo, Bird, Miles, Monk and Coltrane. Schiedt arrays the images stylistically, beginning with early jazz legends (Sidney Bechet), followed by figures from the Swing Era (Bobby Hackett), pianists (Erroll Garner), modern jazz artists (Wes Montgomery) and younger talents (Michiko Ogawa). Vinyl vocalists (Joe Williams, Anita O'Day) bring the set to a close, but Schiedt adds a concluding coda on producers (George Avakian) and writers (Nat Hentoff). As pianist Marian McPartland notes, the book "evokes a warm remembrance of times gone by."
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Edition details

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 025334400X
• ISBN 13: 9780253344007
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 144