A Tribute to William Claxton

I opened up my New York Times this morning to the news that the great jazz photographer William Claxton had died at age 80. Claxton was one of the great jazz photographers, mainly on the West Coast, and he was most noted for his great, almost obsessive, work in shooting the young Chet Baker. His first jazz photography was in album covers, and he was something of a house photographer for Pacific Jazz Records. In some cases, the value of some of the top collectible records are, in part, a tribute to his innovative and interesting covers. One that comes to mind, in addition to the Baker LPs on Pacific Jazz, is Sonny Rollins’ Way Out West on Contemporary, with Sonny notably dressed in a 10-gallon hat and holster with his tenor slung at his side like a weapon, which it was in Sonny’s hands. In addition to his notable work on jazz covers, we highly recommend a book of Claxton’s photography, called Claxography, which was published in 1995. We took a look on Amazon and there were several used copies available, ranging in price from $45 to $100. In Claxton’s own words, here is an excerpt from Claxography that describes his approach to photographing jazz musicians:

“Why photograph jazz musicians? I’ve been asked that a few times. First, and most important, I love their music. But I am also 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 discipline in their dedication to their craft. And I also admire their individualism: Their differences in character and their musical expression.

“I am just as intrigued by the movements and body language of musicians while they play. I study them carefully before photographing them, much like I would watch a dancer, an actor, or even an ordinary person performing an ordinary task. I note how their faces and bodies reflect or catch the light; when and at what angles they look their best. I do all of this, of course, while listening to their playing. In a sense, I listen with my eyes.”