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My book of photographs "Jazz Portraits - An Eye for the Sound" was
published in 1995 in London, New York and Paris. Unfortunately it is
now out of print but you can find it on Amazon or other online
booksellers. The French edition was entitled "jazz en images - des regards et des rythmes" and
published by Nathan. The US edition was published by Smithmark. It
contains around one hundred photographs of jazz and blues musicians
taken by myself and other photographers chosen by me. There is minimal
text, just amusing and revealing quotes and anecdotes about the jazz
life. The Foreword, as follows, is by Ronnie Scott, the founder with
Pete King of the world famous Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho, London.
“The
attraction that jazz musicians have for photographers is understandable
when one considers that both are concerned with the moment. For the
musician it is the fleeting moment that involves the creation of some
kind of valid music and for the photographer the attempt to express it
in pictorial terms. And if it isn’t concerned with the musician
actually in action there is something about the faces and attitudes of
jazz musicians that is somehow special.......
The art of jazz photography has (since)
progressed toward deeply evocative and perceptive pictures of the faces
of those men and women who have spent their lives making spontaneous
music......
Tim Motion has compiled an eclectic collection of superb images. I’m
not going to single out specific photographs from this collection –
they all have something to say. I suggest you look at the pictures, and
somehow by some mysterious process, you will hear the music.”
Ronnie Scott. London 1995
"Photography is jazz for the eye" Chet Baker