William Claxton's Jazz is an exciting and original collection of over seventy duotone portraits of such jazz greats as Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Gerry Mulligan, Mahalia Jackson, Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, Thelonious Monk, Art Pepper and Max Roach. Hailed as a classic, and now available in a paperback edition, Jazz is one of the first art photography book devoted to jazz musicians. By turns exuberant, joyful and contemplative, Claxton's keen, intuitive photographs capture the nuances of the intimacy between jazz musicians and their music. With a foreword by Leonard Feather and an afterword by Terry Southern, this seminal classic is a must for anyone who appreciates jazz and fine photography.

William Claxton began photographing jazz musicians while he was a student at UCLA and went on to help form the Pacific jazz record company where he photographed and designed all of the company'e early album covers. His award-winning work has appeared on album covers for virtually all major record companies and in numerous publications, including Life, Time and Newsweek. Many of his album covers appear in California Cool: West Coast Jazz of the 50s and 60s. In 1967 he created the acclaimed fashion film Basic Black, and he has directed several television shows since.

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