Herman Leonard's Stolen Moments June 6,7,8 - New Jersey Jazz ...

HERMAN LEONARD
continued from page 11
Lester Young’s Hat, NYC, 1948, LSY03. © Herman Leonard Photography, LLC
THE STORIES
BEHIND THE PHOTOS
page 1: Ella Fitzgerald singing to Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Richard
JerseyArticlesJazz
Rogers, NYC, 1949, ELF03. “This was another example of the decisive moment.
It was Ella’s birthday party, and everyone was there — Nat Cole, Dizzy, Miles.
Duke was sitting at the front table. I went onstage behind Ella to shoot the
audience, not paying attention to who was where. When I got home and
printed the shot, I realized I had gotten this expression of reverence on
Duke’s face.”
page 10 left: Frank Sinatra, Monte Carlo, 1958, FRS01. Leonard is famous for
his “faceless” photographs, in which the subject is positioned or has turned
away from the camera. A good example is this photo of Frank Sinatra. “That’s
my favorite shot of Sinatra,” Leonard says. “His body language there — the
cigarette held in the air with a light trail of smoke epitomizes his singing and
expresses the man.” Leonard relates a story that demonstrates the power of
his photos to imprint themselves in peoples’ memories. “One day many years
later, Quincy Jones invited asked me to come with him to see Sinatra in Palm
Springs, and I took that print with me. Sinatra had never seen the picture, but
when I showed it to him, he looked at it and said, ‘That’s Monte Carlo, 1958.’”
continued on page 14
Duke Ellington, Paris, Olympia Theater, 1958, DKE02.
© Herman Leonard Photography, LLC
Miles Davis, Montreux, 1991, MLD10.
© Herman Leonard Photography, LLC
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