Herman Leonard: Photos From The 1955 Newport Jazz Festival
A happy belated 108th birthday to Louis Armstrong, pictured here at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1955. (Herman Leonard / Herman Leonard Photography, LLC)
As you undoubtedly know (while I clear my throat for emphasis), this weekend ABS and NPR Music are going up to George Wein's CareFusion Jazz Festival 55 -- more informally and elegantly known as the Newport Jazz Festival -- for a series of live broadcasts. More info about our evolving live coverage is at our hub: Jazz At Newport (accessible also as www.npr.org/newportjazz).
In the lead-in to that, consider the great jazz photographer Herman Leonard. He knows the scene at Newport pretty well -- or at least he did in 1955, when he captured great shots of Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Count Basie, Gerry Mulligan ... you get the picture. (Yes, pun intended.)
NPR's The Picture Show blog recently tracked the 86-year-old Leonard down to talk about his captivating photography from Newport, and built a magnificent audio slideshow with those images and that audio. Learn more at the blog post, and then check out the gallery.
--Patrick Jarenwattananon
Herman Leonard: Photos From The 1955 Newport Jazz Festival