CLAXTON, William (1927-2008)

Charlie Parker and Chet Baker at the Tiffany Club, Los Angeles, 1953
gelatin silver print, printed 1987
signed, dated and numbered ‘1-50’ in ink (recto); stamped photographer’s credits and annotations in ink (verso); additionally stamped ‘Terry Southern Collection’ (verso)
14 x 11 in. (353 x 278 mm).

One of the great jazz photographers, William Claxton documented the visits of Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and countless other jazz luminaries to California, capturing the unique flavour of the West Coast jazz scene. Working for Pacific Jazz Records, he shot numerous album covers and his work regularly appeared in such magazines as Life, Paris Match and Vogue. Still a student at the time, Claxton was just starting to establish himself as a photographer when he turned up at the Tiffany Club to shoot his idol, Charlie Parker in June 1953. Later that night, ‘staring at the print in the developing tray, he watched Baker’s face appear “like magic” …In a documentary about Claxton, Jazz Seen, by filmmaker Julian Benedikt, Claxton said that he had never known the meaning of “photogenic” until he took those first pictures of Baker.’ For the next five years, Claxton chronicled Baker’s rise to fame. Gavin, 53.

When asked why he liked to photograph jazz musicians, Claxton replied: ‘First, and most important, I love their music. But I am also fascinated by the diverse qualities they possess. They have ingenuousness, a sort of open, innocent attitude. Yet at the same time they display a strong discipline in their dedication to their craft.’ Jazz Times, vol.26.

[With:] CLAXTON, William and Joachim E. BERENDT. Jazz Life. Auf den Spuren Des Jazz. Offenburg: Burda Druck und Verlag, 1961. First edition. Illustrated throughout from Claxton’s photographs, pictorial endpapers, two 7-inch vinyl records to end-pocket. Original black cloth gilt, with the dust-jacket. The book records a 1960 cross-country tour of America undertaken by German writer Joachim Berendt and photographer William Claxton in search of jazz. Berendt’s words accompany Claxton’s arresting images, described by Newsweek as ‘the most thorough and imaginative visual record of American jazz life at midcentury that we'll ever see.’ Jones, ‘Jazz: Pictures That Swing’ for Newsweek, 27 November 2005.

[With:] CLAXTON, William. Jazz West Coast. A Portfolio of Photographs. Hollywood: Linear Productions, Inc., 1955. Quarto (343 x 267 mm). Wire-stitched in the original illustrated card wraps. Later authorial presentation inscription to Yves, dated 3 November 1993.

[And:] - Jazz. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1996. With loosely inserted programme sheet for a performance by The Buddy Collette Big Band with guest soloist Chico Hamilton, inscribed to Charlie Watts ‘Charlie, Let’s get it on, Dig you man, Chico Hamilton’.