Echo columnist Peter Bevan explores Images of Jazz, a collection of never-before-seen photographs that chart the history of the music form and celebrate some of its greatest stars

MANY of jazz’s most enduring images are the photographs which capture a musician at a particular moment which seems to encapsulate or even define their style.

The deeply pensive John Coltrane, the determinedly stylish Miles Davis or the moody Nina Simone for example are impressions which, used regularly, stay fixed in the mind.

It’s also obvious that these represent only one aspect of an often complex personality as captured by a particular photographer at a particular moment.

With this in mind a new collection of photographs, Jazz Images, by Jean-Pierre Leloir, many never published before, is quite a revelation.

Although not as well known in this country, Leloir was recognised in France as one of the finest and most sensitive of jazz photographers, capturing some wonderful images of the best American and European jazz musicians from the 1950s to the 1970s, often in candid moments at an airport, backstage or in the dressing rooms of Parisian clubs and concert venues.

What are particularly striking are the relaxed and informal poses with, for example Chet Baker sipping a cup of coffee, Miles Davis in trunks reclining in a deck chair, a laughing John Coltrane and a bikini-clad Nina Simone wading in a swimming pool.

Even the posed photos such as Ben Webster and Oscar Peterson have a more comfortable and relaxed feel about them.

Complementing the book, a new record label, also called Jazz Images, has also been created with 50 limited edition vinyl LPs and 50 CDs consisting of some of the best recordings by these musicians.

The LPs, in 180 gram pure virgin vinyl, are naturally the most striking with their 12” gatefold sleeves displaying two of Leloir’s photographs to best advantage.

The music on these includes classic recordings such as Miles Davis’s Sketches of Spain, Nina Simone’s Forbidden Fruit, The Atomic Mr. Basie, Ben Webster meets Oscar Peterson and Bill Evans’ Portrait in Jazz.

The CD issues in smaller gatefold format include the same photos and music but with additional bonus albums to increase the playing time considerably.

Full details, including track listings are available at www.discovery-records.com.and there’s further information, including reproductions of all the covers at www.jazzimages.com.

The book itself, a 31cm by 31cm hardback in English, French and Spanish, also includes an 18-track CD sampler and should be available in the UK shortly.