Big Band
Herman Leonard is a giant who rose to fame in the 1940s and early 50s. Early on, he apprenticed with the brilliant portrait photographer, Yousuf Karsh, and photographed such notables as Albert Einstein, Harry Truman and Martha Graham. His first love, however, was jazz and in order to get his foot in the door, he cajoled club owners to let him shoot rehearsals. Before long, he developed a relationship with many great musicians, and his gorgeous images, back-lit against a dark background, firmly establised him within the pantheon of jazz photographers.