WILLIAM CLAXTON (1927–2008)

William Claxton, the master photographer whose images of Chet Baker helped fuel the jazz trumpeter’s stardom in the 1950s and whose fashion photographs of his wife modeling a topless swimsuit were groundbreaking years later, has died, reports the Los Angeles Times. In a career spanning more than half a century, Claxton also became well known for his work with celebrities including Frank Sinatra and Steve McQueen, who became a close personal friend; but he gained his foremost public recognition for his photographs of jazz performers including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Torme, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Stan Getz. Claxton called photography “jazz for the eyes” and tried to capture the often-dynamic tension between the artist, the instrument, and the music. “For the photographer, the camera is like a jazz musician’s ax. It’s the tool that you would like to be able to ignore, but you have to have it to convey your thoughts and whatever you want to express through it,” Claxton told jazz writer Don Heckman some years ago.