Lee Friedlander - The Jazz People of New Orleans

1st edition published by Jonathan Cape, 1992
Format: Hardback with dustjacket, 285x230mm
Pages: 120
Condition: Good. Some minor shelf wear and signs of age.

This book reflects the passionate interest the author has in music, especially the musicians of New Orleans whom he has been photographing since 1957. New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, was once home to such legends as Louis Armstrong and King Joe Oliver. Friedlander has photographed most of them, musicians like Manuel "Fess" Manetta, who was playing with bands before World War I and who tried to teach Louis Armstrong to play with two trumpets at once; Johnny St Cyr; George "Kid Sheik" Cola; Sweet Emma Barrett; Isidore Barbarin and Roosevelt Sykes; blues singers and guitarists Robert Pete Williams and Snooks Eaglin. From portraits out to the streets and the edge of funerals, the reader follows Friedlander's eye marching with bands like Young Tuxedo and Eureka. Many of Friedlander's subjects are encountered in an introduction by Whitney Balliett, America's foremost writer on jazz, who describes a visit he made to the city in the mid-60s.In 1990 Lee Friedlander received the prestigious award from the MacArthur Foundation.