William Claxton

The image in the tray drifted up slowly in the dark room--a youthful-looking Gerry Mulligan, his lanky body leaning back to balance his cumbersome baritone saxophone, his jazz quartet in action. But there was something else. As the picture gradually coalesced through the liquid, photographer William Claxton leaned down to look more closely. "It was Chet Baker's face," he recalls, shaking his head in wonder even now, more than 40 years after he first watched the emerging photograph.

No one embodies the spirit of Mod quite like Peggy Moffitt, L.A.'s own 1960s-era muse. Moffitt, model and collaborator with modernist designer Rudi Gernreich, appears in a number of memorable images from the period, including this black-and-white gem from "Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?" the 1966 cult French film by director and photographer William Klein that is a satirical send-up of the fashion industry. Seated at the far left, Moffitt, plays herself. She appears in only two scenes in the film, including this one, depicting a group of young models dressed in stripes, against a backdrop of stripes, applying their Kabuki-like makeup.

William Claxton is best known for five decades of photographing the greats of the jazz world. Less known is Claxton's fashion work with Rudi Gernreich, whose topless bathing suit and other designs made him one of the top fashion names of the 1960s.

The home of Herman Leonard is adorned with the rich décor of a man who has seen the world. Hanging on the wall are woven temple offerings from Bali and votive clay tablets from Burma. On a shelf is a damaged metal Buddha he rescued from a fire while stationed in Southeast Asia during World War II. An ancient American sign nearby reads: "Colored Only. No Whites Allowed." Just as prominent are artifacts from his love of jazz music, rows of books and CDs and, most preciously, the stacks of elegant photographs he's taken of musicians since 1948.

'For the photographer," says William Claxton, "the camera is like a jazz musician's ax. It's the tool that you would like to be able to ignore, but you have to have it to convey your thoughts and whatever you want to express through it." Few photographers have communicated and expressed their thoughts about jazz through their photographs better than Claxton, who has been the visual chronicler of choice for musicians since the '50s.

Back in the '50s and '60s, when jazz greats played clubs like Casablanca and the Jungle Room, L.A. was at its musical coolest. And legendary photographer William Claxton, a California native, was there. He chronicled the scene and captured the likes of Bird and Baker for what would become classic album cover art. Now the City of Angels is once again a hotbed for hip riffs.

THE RUDI GERNREICH BOOK by Peggy Moffitt and William Claxton (Rizzoli: $50; 224 pp.) . If you can recall the Kennedy assassinations, then surely you haven't forgotten the topless bathing suit from the same era. Los Angeles' most famous fashion designer, the late Rudi Gernreich, seared his name on history's time line with that garment. The Kabuki-eyed model who wore it to infamy was Peggy Moffitt, and the photographer of record was her husband, William Claxton. This was their most sensational collaboration, but it was only one of hundreds.

No one embodies the spirit of Mod quite like Peggy Moffitt, L.A.'s own 1960s-era muse. Moffitt, model and collaborator with modernist designer Rudi Gernreich, appears in a number of memorable images from the period, including this black-and-white gem from "Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?" the 1966 cult French film by director and photographer William Klein that is a satirical send-up of the fashion industry. Seated at the far left, Moffitt, plays herself. She appears in only two scenes in the film, including this one, depicting a group of young models dressed in stripes, against a backdrop of stripes, applying their Kabuki-like makeup.

CLAXOGRAPHY, THE ART OF JAZZ PHOTOGRAPHY photographs by William Claxton, with texts by William Claxton and James Gavin (Nieswand Verlag, distributed by DAP: $65; 132 pp.) Too often the term "stolen moments" finds itself tossed around in conjunction with jazz photography. It's an easy cliche that is not only dismissing but tacitly imprecise--especially in reference to William Claxton, who subtly eases past many jazz conventions. He insists on bending the cliche, twisting the irony.

William Claxton, the master photographer whose images of Chet Baker helped fuel the jazz trumpeter's stardom in the 1950s and whose fashion photographs of his wife modeling a topless swim suit were groundbreaking years later, has died. He was 80. Claxton died from complications of congestive heart failure Saturday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, actress and model Peggy Moffitt Claxton, told The Times.

A psychedelic flowered skull laughing into the darkness. A wave of text twisted across a blank field like a quicksilver melody line. A photographic lineup of serious young men in dark suits, staring back at the viewer with jarringly direct eye contact that offers an invitation as much as a confrontation. These are just a few of the sometimes simple but evocative images in Taschen's new book "Jazz Covers," a lush compendium of album art from more than 700 records spanning 50 years of the genre.

It's been a tough few weeks for West Coast geniuses. Still reeling from the death of David Foster Wallace, I was startled to see that photographer Bill Claxton passed away on Oct. 11, the day before his 81st birthday. In the nearly 20 years I've been writing about culture, rarely have I met a guy as unimpeachably cool as Claxton. He didn't do anything as radical as reimagine the literary novel, as Wallace did.

William Claxton, the master photographer whose images of Chet Baker helped fuel the jazz trumpeter's stardom in the 1950s and whose fashion photographs of his wife modeling a topless swim suit were groundbreaking years later, has died. He was 80. Claxton died from complications of congestive heart failure Saturday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, actress and model Peggy Moffitt Claxton, told The Times.

William Claxton is best known for five decades of photographing the greats of the jazz world. Less known is Claxton's fashion work with Rudi Gernreich, whose topless bathing suit and other designs made him one of the top fashion names of the 1960s.

Bill Claxton's still shooting. At 75, and fully recovered from a recent stroke, the photographer is standing in his glass-walled house cantilevered high atop a Beverly Hills canyon. He's fielding calls from Milan, Italy, where his Steve McQueen photo exhibit is a smash hit -- and from Nylon magazine, for which he'll do a fashion shoot in Santa Monica this week.

Back in the '50s and '60s, when jazz greats played clubs like Casablanca and the Jungle Room, L.A. was at its musical coolest. And legendary photographer William Claxton, a California native, was there. He chronicled the scene and captured the likes of Bird and Baker for what would become classic album cover art. Now the City of Angels is once again a hotbed for hip riffs.

A psychedelic flowered skull laughing into the darkness. A wave of text twisted across a blank field like a quicksilver melody line. A photographic lineup of serious young men in dark suits, staring back at the viewer with jarringly direct eye contact that offers an invitation as much as a confrontation. These are just a few of the sometimes simple but evocative images in Taschen's new book "Jazz Covers," a lush compendium of album art from more than 700 records spanning 50 years of the genre.

The home of Herman Leonard is adorned with the rich décor of a man who has seen the world. Hanging on the wall are woven temple offerings from Bali and votive clay tablets from Burma. On a shelf is a damaged metal Buddha he rescued from a fire while stationed in Southeast Asia during World War II. An ancient American sign nearby reads: "Colored Only. No Whites Allowed." Just as prominent are artifacts from his love of jazz music, rows of books and CDs and, most preciously, the stacks of elegant photographs he's taken of musicians since 1948.

CLAXOGRAPHY, THE ART OF JAZZ PHOTOGRAPHY photographs by William Claxton, with texts by William Claxton and James Gavin (Nieswand Verlag, distributed by DAP: $65; 132 pp.) Too often the term "stolen moments" finds itself tossed around in conjunction with jazz photography. It's an easy cliche that is not only dismissing but tacitly imprecise--especially in reference to William Claxton, who subtly eases past many jazz conventions. He insists on bending the cliche, twisting the irony.

'For the photographer," says William Claxton, "the camera is like a jazz musician's ax. It's the tool that you would like to be able to ignore, but you have to have it to convey your thoughts and whatever you want to express through it." Few photographers have communicated and expressed their thoughts about jazz through their photographs better than Claxton, who has been the visual chronicler of choice for musicians since the '50s.