Author Description

“The most complete survey of his lifetime of photography.” —The Guardian With a camera as his backstage pass, Herman Leonard photographed the giants of jazz in their golden age, movie stars on set and on their travels to exotic places, the fashion world of Paris in the 1960s, and the inner sanctums of his beloved New Orleans. This sumptuous book is the only full treatment of Leonard’s extraordinary life and distinctive body of work, published in a new edition with a beautiful updated cover, giving his photographs the artistic recognition that they deserve. The greater part of the book consists of his legendary shots of musicians, but uniquely among volumes on Leonard the text presents the whole range of his work, including travel, war, celebrity, fashion, and nude photography, while there are also chapters on the images of his early and late periods. Also included are rare portraits of the cultural icons of his day, such as Marilyn Monroe and Albert Einstein. Above all, Leonard is best known for his jazz images. In a fascinating essay, David Houston reveals how Leonard’s friendships with jazz greats such as Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, and Duke Ellington allowed him to capture the magical moments of the Harlem and Paris jazz clubs in the 1940s and ’50s, using his unique command of cinematic lighting to capture their essence as performers. Published in cooperation with the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans and the Herman Leonard Estate, the book includes a foreword by Quincy Jones.