Author Description

"From the smoky backstage dressing rooms of New York and Chicago's pioneering jazz clubs to the acclaimed Jazz festivals that flourished to enthrall legions of fans, Ted Williams' camera captured the intimacy and the wizardry of Jazz's greats as they perfected their art over more than three decades from the 1940s-1970s. From his unique access and perspective, Williams diligently accumulated a largely unseen archive that documented some of the greatest musicians of the 20th century, the jazz and blues musicians who themselves not only inspired the greats such as Frank Sinatra but fired the aspirations and tastes of a new generation: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton among them. Williams caught them in the act of exploring and defining their careers and music - while ensuring impassioned audiences and atmospheric venues remained inseparable from the iconic history he was chronicling. From Miles Davis to Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie to Stan Getz and Sarah Vaughan, Williams' camera witnessed genius at work, rest and play, with an honesty and clarity that few photographers could replicate." --