‘Jazz’ by Leonard Herman, the daddy of jazz photography

"I used to tell cats that Herman Leonard did with his camera what we did with our instruments. Herman's camera tells the truth, and makes it swing. Musicians loved to see him around. No surprise – he made us look good."

Quincy Jones

Leonard Herman iconic images of the great jazz musicians are not just visual experiences as by looking at them you can hear Dexter Gordon’s sax, Miles’s trumpet, Ella Fitzgerald’s angel voice and almost smell the smoke that features heavily in Herman’s pictures. The guy just knew how to take a damn cool picture and make a viewer experience it.

Many of those great jazz cats were Herman’s close friends and they ‘jammed’ together for years, working with the great energy that flowed between them as artists that allowed for an incredible creative process to take place. Herman outlived many of them and he passed away in August 2010 leaving behind an incredible body of work. ‘Jazz’ is a definitive collection of Herman’s jazz photographs that has been published recently and it includes previously unseen work. A recent article from Independent features a few more stories about Herman Leonard, the finest jazz photographer of our time.

To read the article click HERE

For Herman Leonard’s website click HERE