From Publishers Weekly
An ardent jazz fan from childhood on, Lee Tanner frequented the clubs in Boston and New York as soon as he could get in. His Images of Jazz, a selection of the photos he snapped of everyone from Cannonball Adderley to Zoot Sims, from the 1950s to the present, eloquently expresses his love of subject and medium. In the introduction, Nat Hentoff calls Tanner "the most consistent in his ability to find the person at the core of the player" and says that "Tanner's gift is knowing the moment at which the musician tells his own story-and not only in notes." An engineer by profession, Tanner pursued a career in scientific research and managed to enjoy his avocation as well, even producing a jazz show on WGBH in the late 1960s. Now retired, he declares "my ultimate goal is to curate the definitive jazz photography exhibit and to have it travel to the world's museums." He's on his way.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Tanner's excellent photographs of jazz musicians have appeared on an abundance of books and record covers through the years, and this collection of his best work clearly shows him to be one of the music's finest visual chroniclers. It gathers four decades' worth of striking black-and-white images, including pictures of many legends, taken mostly during public performances and recording sessions. Perhaps Tanner's day jobs in materials-science research made him such an expert in creating vivid art in what must have been challenging lighting situations. Anyway, his classic photos of Thelonious Monk's hands say more about the great composer's approach to the piano than pages of verbal description. An upward look at Ben Webster is almost as dramatic as his tenor solos. Tanner's Dizzy Gillespie, unusually serene during a mid-'60s TV appearance, seems to capture a previously unexplored facet of this musical icon. Other shots do as much for their subjects. Tanner's own succinct notes explain the significance of each musician. Aaron Cohen
