At the piano, part 3

Here's the third part of my series of Piano Portraits. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.

Duke Pearson by Francis Wolff, 1967

Nina Simone by David Redfern, 1968

Thelonious Monk by Herman Leonard, 1949

Elliott Carter by Bernard Schwartz, 1978

Aaron Copland by Arnold Newman, 1959

Nat King Cole by Fred Baker, 1961

Marvin Gaye by Jim Britt, 1973. This was taken at the recording session for "Let's Get It On".

Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen by Arnold Newman, 1963

Carole King by Jim McCrary, 1971

Willie "the Lion" Smith by Arnold Newman, 1960

Cole Porter by Frances McLaughlin-Gill, 1954

Frank Sinatra by Bob Willoughby, 1960

Johnny Mercer by William P. Gottlieb, 1946

Horace Silver by Francis Wolff, Café Bohemia, 1955

Wanda Landowska & a friend at the harpsichord, by Philippe Halsman, 1944

Ray Charles by Henry Diltz, 1980s

André Previn by William Caxton

At the piano, part 2

 Here's the second part of my series of Piano Portraits. Part 1 is here.

A great photo by André Kertész of Norman Dello Joio composing at the piano

Erich Auerbach's splendid photograph of Rosalyn Tureck at the piano, with the Philharmonia Orchestra, 1958.

Vladimir Horowitz by Philippe Halsman, 1966

"The music is behind those dots. You search for it, and that is what I mean by the grand manner. I play, so to speak, from the other side of the score, looking back."

Dave Brubeck by Julian Wasser, 1955

Leonard Bernstein by Don Hunstein, 1958

A great Slim Aarons shot from the Mister Roberts set: Harry Carey Jr. plays a jazz piano duet with Jack Lemmon. I love the convenient drinks on the piano.

Glenn Gould by Don Hunstein, 1957

After playing every piano in Steinway's Astoria factory, he had four sent to the studio for intensive auditions.

Maurizio Pollini by Barbara Pflaum, 1966

Dame Myra Hess by Howard Coster, 1940

Eartha Kitt by Russell Westwood, 1951

Vanessa Redgrave by Norman Parkinson, 1968

Sting by Michael Ward, 1982

Keith Jarrett by Abe Frajndlich, 1987

Marc Blitzstein by Arnold Newman, 1945

Jerome Robbins by Yousuf Karsh, 1986

George Gershwin by Edward Steichen for Vanity Fair, 1927

At the piano, part 1

 Here are some great portraits of musicians at the keyboard. This will be a series, I think.

Arthur Rubinstein by Evelyn Hofer, 1976

Mitsuko Uchida by Michael Putland, 1994

Friedrich Gulda by Franz Hubmann, Vienna, 1955

Angela Hewitt by Hiroyuki Ito, 2010

Gjon Mili photographs Joseph Hofman for Life magazine, 1940

Mili got lots of great shots & closeups of Hofman for the magazine feature.

André Kértesz's photograph of Hazel Scott at Café Society, 1941

Perhaps the greatest portrait at a piano: Arnold Newman's 1946 shot of Igor Stravinsky.

"I have Arnold Newman's portrait of Stravinsky in my studio staring right at me from the wall above where I work. The fact that the maestro is just down there in the corner of the photo, tiny, with this tremendous piano just filling up the frame is so brilliant."

- Danny Elfman

Arnold Newman's contact sheet from his 1946 photoshoot with Igor Stravinsky. The famous portrait (at the bottom right) is a very close crop!

This looks familiar! It's one of Sandro Miller and John Malkovich's great parodies of famous photographs, from 2014.

Chet Baker by William Claxton, Hollywood, 1954

"I saw his striking reflection in the piano top & placed my Rolleiflex on the piano. It was a one-time shot because he moved away almost immediately."

John Cage prepares a piano. A great shot by Fred McDarrah, 1957.

One of my all-time favourite photographs: Bud Powell at the piano with his young son Earl John, by Francis Wolff, from 1958.

Bill Evans by David Redfern, London, 1965

Martha Argerich by Lise Buhs, mid-1960s

Oscar Peterson by Ed Perlstein, Berkeley, May 1978

To end Part 1 of this ongoing series of Piano Portraits, Ebet Roberts' shot of Philip Glass and a friend, from 1987