In 1960, photographer William Claxton and noted German musicologist Joachim Berendt traveled the United States hot on the trail of jazz music. The result of their collaboration was an amazing collection of photographs and recordings of legendary artists as well as unknown street musicians.
The book Jazzlife, the original fruit of their labors, has become a collector`s item that is highly treasured among jazz and photography fans. In 2003, TASCHEN began reassembling this important collection of material—along with many never-before-seen color images from those trips. They are brought together in this updated volume, which includes a foreword by Claxton tracing his travels with Berendt and his love affair with jazz music in general. Utilizing the benefits of today's digital technology, a restored audio CD from Joachim Berendt's original recordings has been produced and is included in this package. Jazz fans will be delighted to be able to take a jazz-trip through time, both seeing and hearing the music as Claxton and Berendt originally experienced it.
I'm currently in Houston and while rummaging through a used book store Half Price Books over in West Houston I spied a copy behind the counter ! Now Jazz Life was a book I've been keeping an eye out for a while now. I even set my Ebay page to email me if the keywords "Jazz Life' and "Claxton" came up. (It never did)
Now this isn't the black on white version with the CD and four signed prints that's worth around $1,500 or so nor is this the original black on white version w/CD $200 version, no - this is the cheaper Jazz Life (Tashen 25th Anniversary edition), black on white text and smaller size. Even this would cost around $120 but I managed to get it for around $65 plus the clerk gave me 15% off the top ! I asked how long it's been sitting there and she replied a few months. A few months ! I would have figured the book be gone in a few days !
But it isn't really about the price but more about being able to see Claxton's 4 month journey into America with German jazz journalist Joachim Berendt complied into one large book . Some of the images have been complied into other books. Along the way, Claxton's camera takes us on the road from rehearsals, to the clubs, to the city streets to the homes of musicians - Boston, Kansas City, Memphis, New Orleans, New York, Philly, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and points in between. I'm already a fan of Claxton and own several of his books and count myself lucky to meet the man himself around 6 years ago (he strolled into PIX and I was like....wait ! There's Claxton over there ! I'm still amazed at the number of well-known photographers who just walked in). Hear an interview with William Claxton by NPR's Tony Cox here. I'll be spending some time with my folks in Houston and be back in LA in a few days.
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