William Gottlieb's Iconic Photos of Jazz Greats

In the 1930s, a young reporter by the name of William Gottlieb set out to cover the boom of the jazz scene for the Washington Post, only to find the paper didn’t care to dispatch an official staff photographer. Gottlieb, a self-taught photographer armed with his Speed Graphic and an ample supply of flashbulbs, took it upon himself to photograph the subjects of his interviews. Between 1938 and 1948, he documented the jazz scene in New York City and Washington, D.C., and created what eventually became some of history’s most iconic portraits of jazz greats. The Golden Age of Jazz gathers 219 of those, including Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan (who would have been 88 today), Billie Holiday, and Thelonious Monk, along with original text from the photographer contextualizing the images and their subjects.

 Sarah Vaughan, Café Society (Downtown)(?), New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1946

 Thelonious Monk, Minton's Playhouse, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947

 Billie Holiday, Downbeat, New York, N.Y., ca. Feb. 1947

 Joe Thomas, Pied Piper, New York, N.Y., ca. Sept. 1947

 Ella Fitzgerald, New York, N.Y., ca. Nov. 1946

 Nina Simone performing, Town Hall, N.Y., 1959

 Lennie Tristano, New York, N.Y., ca. Aug. 1947

 Ernest Tubb, Carnegie Hall, New York, N.Y., Sept. 1947

 Charlie Ventura, William P. Gottlieb's home (table tennis room), N.Y., ca. Apr. 1947

 Henry Wells, Aquarium, New York, N.Y., ca. Jan. 1947

Josh White and Mary Lou Williams, WMCA, New York, N.Y., ca. Oct. 1947

 Cootie Williams, New York, N.Y.(?), between 1938 and 1948

 Louis Armstrong, between 1938 and 1948

 Tex Beneke, ca. Jan. 1947

 Gracie Barry and Dick Stabile, New York, N.Y., between 1946 and 1948

Sy Synclair

 Joan Brooks and Duke Niles, New York, N.Y., ca. Apr. 1947

 Vivien Garry, New York, N.Y., Dixon's, ca. May 1947

 Mary Lou Williams, New York, N.Y., ca. 1946

 Dizzy Gillespie, New York, N.Y., ca. May 1947

 Buddy Rich, Arcadia Ballroom, New York, N.Y., ca. May 1947

 June Christy, 1947 or 1948

 Louis Jordan, between 1938 and 1948

 William P. Gottlieb, WINX, Washington, D.C., ca. 1940

Mister (Billie Holiday's dog), New York, N.Y., between 1946 and 1948