Jazz: Body and Soul

The West Coast, 1950s. A time of youth, exuberance, hope and change. Nowhere was this more evident than in the music emanating from the San Francisco and Los Angeles jazz scene. Musical improvisation spilling over onto artist’s canvases, poet’s pages and comic’s standup routines.

Freezing in his garage darkroom, Bob Willoughby worked late into the night developing and printing his photographs with his radio firmly dialed into these new sounds. Live music was everywhere and it seemed only natural that he go out and document what was going on.

In Jazz you’ll find incredible images of the most famous artists of the time, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Billie Holiday and images never before published of performances and backstage jitters. On stage and in the studio, unrivaled images, combined with Bob Willoughby’s first person narrative provides a unique look at West Coast Jazz in the 1950s.