Jazz connoisseurs have been hearing that eulogy for at least half a century. They're a picky bunch, often complaining about the quality of contemporary jazz while pointing to some golden era when "real" jazz thrived.
But if jazz did indeed die, what was the cause of death, and when did it pass away?
A new book, "Jazz Festival: Jim Marshall," offers some possible answers. It features a handsome collection of black-and-white photos of jazz icons playing for and mingling with the glamorous crowds at the Monterey Jazz Festival in the early 1960s. The photos were taken by the legendary music photographer Jim Marshall, who captured those final summers when jazz was still widely popular -- and when it started to lose its commercial appeal.
The Guardian: Jazz was the catalyst for change': Jim Marshall’s images of 60s festivals
by Sean O'Hagan
“Jim was a guy you either loved or hated, there was no in-between,” says Amelia Davis, Jim Marshall’s erstwhile assistant and now archivist. “If he loved you, he would lie down in front of a truck for you. If he hated you, he would happily drive the truck over you.”
BBC Arts: Black and white and heard all over: How Jim Marshall shot the jazz festivals of the 1960s.
Jazz Festival: Jim Marshall is a lavish new book celebrating the legendary rock photographer's early work at the Newport and Monterey Jazz Festivals of the 1960s. Some 600 black-and-white images, most previously unseen, capture not only the musical icons of the time, but the freedom, excitement and intimacy of the events, whose integrated crowds led the way for the civil rights movement. ALLAN CAMPBELL introduces a selection of Marshall's best shots.
The Independent Publisher announced its 2015 Independent Publisher Regional and Ebook Awards, presented to the year's best titles, which include "The Haight: Love, Rock, and Revolution.
