Ted Williams first heard jazz on the radio as a youngster in the 1930s in Wichita, Kansas. The sounds of Earl Hines, Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway broadcast from Chicago's legendary Grand Terrace Ballroom inspired him. In the late 1940s, Williams merged his love of music and photography and moved to Chicago where he captured unguarded photographic studies of some of the era's greatest jazz musicians.
Williams’s work appeared in major international publications, including Time, Newsweek, Look, Playboy and Ebony. His coverage of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival landed him a spectacular 21-page layout in DownBeat magazine. Williams was active on the jazz scene from the late 1940s until the late 1970s. He photographed many of the greats in jazz, including Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong.
Williams’s historic archive runs to more than 100,000 images and comprises perhaps the most intimate and complete collection of jazz’s greatest musicians at work, rest and play.
Find original Ted Williams photography on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by International Fine Arts Consortium – IFAC Arts)
Ted Williams - Charles Mingus Rhode Island, Photography 1959, Printed After
By Ted Williams
Located in Greenwich, CT
Estate-stamped, gelatin-print silver Charles Mingus On-stage at the Newport Jazz Festival, Rhode Island, 1959 Available sizes: 20”x16" Edition of 25 24”x20" Edition of 25 40”x30" ...
Silver Gelatin
Ted Williams - The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Chicago, 1961, Printed After
By Ted Williams
Located in Greenwich, CT
Estate-stamped, gelatin-print silver The Dave Brubeck Quartet At Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, Chicago, April 1961 Available sizes: 16”x20" Edition of 25 20”x24" Edition of 2...
Silver Gelatin
Ted Williams - Miles Davis Dressing Room, Photography 1960, Printed After
By Ted Williams
Located in Greenwich, CT
Estate-stamped, gelatin-print silver American jazz musician, bandleader and composer Miles Davis playing the trumpet in a dressing room before a performance. Available sizes: 20”x...
Silver Gelatin
Ted Williams - Louis Armstrong, Photography 1962, Printed After
By Ted Williams
Located in Greenwich, CT
Estate-stamped, gelatin-print silver Louis Armstrong At the University of Chicago Theater in the Round, IL Available sizes: 16”x20" Edition of 25 20”x24" Edition of 25 30”x40" Edi...
Silver Gelatin
Jerry Schatzberg - Kenny Dorham, Jazz Cat, Photography 1960, Printed After
By Jerry Schatzberg
Located in Greenwich, CT
Available Sizes: 11" x 14" $6,000.00 Edition of 25 + 5 AP 16" x 20" $8,000.00 Edition of 25 + 5 AP 20" x 24" $10,000.00 Edition of 20 + 4 AP 30" x 40" $16,000.00 Edition of ...
Silver Gelatin
Ted Williams - Benny Golson DownBeat Magazine, Photography 1960, Printed After
By Ted Williams
Located in Greenwich, CT
Estate-stamped, gelatin-print silver Available sizes: 16”x20" Edition of 25 20”x24" Edition of 25 30”x30" Edition of 25 48”x48” Edition of 25 This photograph will be printed once ...
Silver Gelatin
Eddie Jones, Count Basie Orchestra recording session, 1960
By Herb Snitzer
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed and dated in ink on recto
Silver Gelatin
Ted Williams 'John Coltrane playing the saxophone'
By Ted Williams
Located in New York, NY
Ted Williams John Coltrane playing the saxophone 1960 (printed later) Silver gelatin print 30 x 30 inches Estate stamped and numbered edition 25 with certificate of authenticity Ca...
Silver Gelatin
Barcelona 1958 – Boy with Double Bass - Original Vintage - Black & White
Located in Cologne, DE
Barcelona 1958 – Boy with Double Bass Original Vintage – Black & White Photographer: Klaus Redenbacher Captured during a journey to Barcelona in 1958, this evocative photograph by Kl...
Silver Gelatin
Thelonious Monk and Charlie Rouse, The United Nations, New York City, 1961
By Herb Snitzer
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed and dated in ink on recto
Silver Gelatin
Kenny Durham, Newport, 1960
By William Claxton
Located in Santa Monica, CA
William Claxton 1927-2008 Kenny Durham, Newport, 1960, printed 1992 Signed, titled, dated, & numbered in pencil with artist's copyright stamp on verso Gelatin Silver Print 11 x 14 in...
Silver Gelatin
Dizzy Gillespie, Performance at Hunter College, New York City, 1959
By Herb Snitzer
Located in Santa Monica, CA
Signed and dated in ink on recto
Silver Gelatin
