Jazz, the unique American musical expression recognized throughout the world, is not just for listening. The musicians are, after all, entertainers-performers who often become enveloped by the sounds they create, enraptured, one with the music and the instruments they have mastered.
In these Performance Portraits, Lester S. Levy has attempted to capture images of the artists -- their eccentricities, their joy in the music, and their interactions with the audience and fellow musicians.
The moments that he sought were as ethereal as the music, vanishing in the blink of an eye. Capturing them on film is a challenge that is sometimes rewarded. For these moments, recognized only after the event, truly exist only when captured on film.
In attempting to develop a technique and personal style of fixing the images that flashed before his lens for only a fraction of a second, Lester found that he was presented with a challenge that is faced daily by the best photojournalists: capturing that elusive "decisive moment".
These photographs represent Lester's attempt to imprison the reality of the jazz world, snatching those fleeting moments that vanish so quickly, preserving them in a way that shows a musical life in the act of being lived.
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The Jazz Photography of Lester S. Levy
Copyright © 1998-2001 Lester S. Levy Family Trust All Rights Reserved
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