| K. Abe |
|
| 1929 - 2008 |
|
| It was Benny Goodman’s guitarist Charlie Christian who inadvertently launched Katsuji Abe’s career as Japan’s great photographer and master graphic designer. A self taught guitarist and graduate of Waseda University, after hearing Christian play on record for the first time, Abe realized immediately he better find some other line of work. By 1951, Abe was a free lance album cover designer and part-time photographer not only in Japan but the United States, England and Austria. By 1955, Abe was busy enough to become a full time photographer and focus his primary interest in American jazz. His photographs have graced many jazz record covers and he has six published books, among them Jazz Giants-Vision of the Great American Legends, 50 Jazz Greats, and Parker’s Lullaby. Abe’s Jazz Giants remains the greatest compilation of jazz photographs ever assembled and is continually sought after by collectors. In 1986, the U.S. Postal Service honored Abe by using his photograph of Duke Ellington taken during a performance in Tokyo, for a commemorative 22 cent stamp. |
 |
|
|
