Ed van der Elsken: Jazz

by Jan Vrijman (Contributor), Hugo Claus, Simon Carmiggelt

Jazz was originally published in 1959, and since then it has become one of the most collectible photography books of the mid-twentieth century, ranking alongside the more widely known work of Christer Strömholm and Robert Frank. Like William Claxton's Jazzlife and Dennis Stock's Jazz Street, van der Elsken's entry into the niche of music photography appeared just before the decisive moment when rock cemented its place as the popular music of choice for young people. It is perhaps the most successful of the era's many photographic attempts to capture the essence of jazz, because it is more than just a succession of musicians' portraits or even a documentary record of performance, but a book that visually echoes the music itself. Van Der Elsken's work is that of both an authentic jazz fan and an experienced creator of photography books, who improvises in ways perfectly hooked in to both fields. Vince Aletti, writing in Artforum in 2000, said, "His jazz photos, made without flash in Amsterdam nightclubs, are gorgeous fields of grain, as moody and soulful as a sax riff," and called Jazz "utterly original."

Genres: Photography

118 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2007

Reviews

[Paul Secor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have an earlier edition with the same title published by Fragment Uitgeverij in 1988. The dates of the photographs in the edition I have range from 1955 to 1961. I'm not sure if these match the photographs in the edition listed here.

Highlights: Miles Davis smiling as he listens to Lester Young play; the carved head of a woman at the top of Wellman Braud's bass; bystanders beside a concerned Art Blakey kneeling next to his split drum head; a fan holding up her white gloved hands with Sonny Rollins' and Horace Silver's autographs on each palm; Louis Armstrong and his band riding a horse drawn carriage into a small town with throngs of people on each side of the street; and Chet Baker playing next to Dick Twardzik, who died while on this tour of Europe. There are many other wonderful photographs included.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just got this in the bookstore today and I right away took it back to the office to look at in private. It's a beautiful book of a beautiful time. Photographs (I believe) that were taken of the fly-in-the-wall photographer Ed van der Elsken in 1958 or 1959. All the Jazz genius' are photographed in splendid black n' white (of course) photography and all of the giants were on stage. One wonders about the sounds!

Nevertheless this particular new edition is exactly the same that was produced in the late 50's - and it's an unique photo book due to its size. It's compact and the photo layout is excellent. This was all designed by Elsken as well. For Jazz fanatics this book is pretty much of a must.