Tag Archives: JazzTimes

John Abbott, jazz photographer

Throughout his career, John Abbott’s award-winning images of jazz have been featured on over 250 album and magazine covers; he has been the primary cover photographer for JazzTimes magazine since 2002.

On 7 September 2010, the 80th birthday of the jazz legend Sonny Rollins, Abbott’s Saxophone Colossus: A Portrait of Sonny Rollins was published by Abrams. As Rollins’s photographer of choice for the past 20 years, Abbott captured images of him at home and at work; essays by the jazz critic Bob Blumenthal are included.

Below, Abbott and Blumenthal discuss the making of the book.

Related article: The Jazz Baron

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Filed under Iconography, Jazz and blues

JazzTimes

In 1970 Ira Sabin, a Washington, D.C., record store owner, started a newsletter called Radio free jazz to update customers on new jazz releases and provide a liaison between local radio programmers and the music industry. Over the following decade the newsletter grew substantially, becoming an international publication; in 1980 these developments prompted a change to the name JazzTimes.

Today the magazine is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading jazz periodicals, featuring state-of-the-art graphics and extensive coverage of jazz news, along with performer interviews and reviews of recordings, videos, instruments, books, and performances.

Related article: John Abbott, jazz photographer

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Filed under Jazz and blues, Music magazines