Jimmy Katz

The volume, published on the occasion of Umbria Jazz 2019, collects 80 images by Jimmy Katz (New York, 1957), award-winning photographer of the most famous jazz musicians. Over the course of two decades of activity, Katz has immortalized the main actors of the jazz scene on the background of New York: Cassandra Wilson, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Keith Jarrett, Ornette Coleman, Chick Corea, Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny and many more. In the studio, in clubs, on the streets, at work or at rest, Katz portrays the musicians in their most intimate aspects, capturing the traits that unequivocally define their personality; the wise use of lights and the glimpses of New York chosen as location make his shots iconic and unmistakable, a sincere testimony of his great passion for jazz. The style that Jimmy Katz has developed over the years has become a distinctive feature in the iconography of jazz photography, comparable to the tone of Louis Armstrong's trumpet or the sound of John Coltrane's saxophone. - Michael Cuscuna (Blue Note)