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The Jazz Loft Project: Photographs and Tapes of W. Eugene Smith from 821 Sixth Avenue, 1957–1965
Reissue of an acclaimed collection of images from photographer W. Eugene Smith’s time in a New York City loft among jazz musicians.
In 1957, Eugene Smith walked away from his longtime job at Life and the home he shared with his wife and four children to move into a dilapidated, five-story loft building at 821 Sixth Avenue in New York City’s wholesale flower district. The loft was the late-night haunt of musicians, including some of the biggest names in jazz—Charles Mingus, Zoot Sims, Bill Evans, and Thelonious Monk among them. Here, from 1957 to 1965, he made nearly 40,000 photographs and approximately 4,000 hours of recordings of musicians. Smith found solace in the chaotic, somnambulistic world of the loft and its artists, and he turned his documentary impulses away from work on his major Pittsburg photo essay and toward his new surroundings.
Smith’s Jazz Loft Project has been legendary in the worlds of art, photography, and music for more than forty years, but until the publication of this book, no one had seen his extraordinary photographs or read any of the firsthand accounts of those who were there and lived to tell the tales.
In 1957, Eugene Smith walked away from his longtime job at Life and the home he shared with his wife and four children to move into a dilapidated, five-story loft building at 821 Sixth Avenue in New York City’s wholesale flower district. The loft was the late-night haunt of musicians, including some of the biggest names in jazz—Charles Mingus, Zoot Sims, Bill Evans, and Thelonious Monk among them. Here, from 1957 to 1965, he made nearly 40,000 photographs and approximately 4,000 hours of recordings of musicians. Smith found solace in the chaotic, somnambulistic world of the loft and its artists, and he turned his documentary impulses away from work on his major Pittsburg photo essay and toward his new surroundings.
Smith’s Jazz Loft Project has been legendary in the worlds of art, photography, and music for more than forty years, but until the publication of this book, no one had seen his extraordinary photographs or read any of the firsthand accounts of those who were there and lived to tell the tales.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 27, 2023
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October 23, 2023
Reissue of 2009 book so see there for additional reviews.
W Eugene Smith was a photographer for Life magazine but in the late 50s he "dropped out", left his family, moved into a commercial building in New York City and proceeded to photograph and make audio tapes of everything that went on.
Iconic pictures of famous jazz artists are mixed with simple street scenes shot from a 4th floor window. Audio tapes of everyday conversations are recorded along with whatever he was listening to on the radio to a time when Lin Halliday was trying to keep Sonny Clark from overdosing on heroin.
Photos are black and white giving a noir-like feel of what was going on in the late 50s, early 60s when the "free jazz" movement was getting going.
W Eugene Smith was a photographer for Life magazine but in the late 50s he "dropped out", left his family, moved into a commercial building in New York City and proceeded to photograph and make audio tapes of everything that went on.
Iconic pictures of famous jazz artists are mixed with simple street scenes shot from a 4th floor window. Audio tapes of everyday conversations are recorded along with whatever he was listening to on the radio to a time when Lin Halliday was trying to keep Sonny Clark from overdosing on heroin.
Photos are black and white giving a noir-like feel of what was going on in the late 50s, early 60s when the "free jazz" movement was getting going.
Displaying 1 of 1 review