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| Lester Levy: Jazz Photography |
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Jazz, the unique American musical expression recognized throughout the world, is not just for listening. The musicians are, after all, entertainers-performers who often become enveloped by the sounds they create, enraptured, one with the music and the instruments they have mastered. In these Performance Portraits, I have attempted to capture images of the artists -- their eccentricities, their joy in the music, and their interactions with audience and fellow musicians.
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Miles Davis |
Duke Ellington |
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Although I had photographed jazz musicians earlier in my career, it is only during the last ten years that I have concentrated on them as subjects for an extended work-in-progress series -- photographing local "unknowns" as well as nationally and internationally recognized giants in the world of jazz. In attempting to develop a technique and personal style of fixing the images that flashed before my lens for only a fraction of a second, I found that I was presented with a challenge that is faced daily by the best photojournalists: capturing that elusive "decisive moment."
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Max Roach |
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The moments that I sought were as ethereal as the music, vanishing in the blink of an eye. Capturing them on film is a challenge that is sometimes rewarded. For these moments, recognized only after the event, truly exist only when captured on film.
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Dizzy Gillespie |
Henry Threadgill |
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These photographs represent my attempt to imprison the reality of the jazz world, snatching those fleeting moments that vanish so quickly, preserving them in a way that shows a musical life in the act of being lived.
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Grover Washington Jr. |
Freddie Hubbard |
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For information about use of these and other images, or to obatin copies for personal use, contact us at info@jazzphotosource.com or visit our Jazz Photo Source web site.
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| Images © 1997-1999 Lester Levy and The Jazz Photo Source. All rights reserved. |
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