Written By: Ben Cosgrove
LIFE photographer Gjon Mili (who also directed the classic 1944 short film, Jammin’ the Blues) often hosted jam sessions at his photography studio in New York during the 1940s. The pictures in this gallery testify to the talent on hand both musical and photographic at those all-night parties. Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Cozy Cole, Gene Krupa . . . like the jam sessions themselves, the names of the greats who played at Mili’s studio go on and on and on.
Born in Albania, raised in Romania, Mili emigrated to America to study electrical engineering at M.I.T. Inspired, in 1937, by M.I.T.’s Harold Edgerton’s development of the stroboscopic light, Mili went on to experiment with strobes, film speeds, unusual compositions and subjects in short, he applied his prodigious technical prowess and dedicated his artist’s eye to new ways of seeing.
Time, he realized, “could truly be made to stand still. Texture could be retained despite sudden violent movement.” These insights, combined with his love of jazz, helped him create some of the most intimate, unique portraits of jazz legends ever made by any photographer all in what LIFE magazine called his “smoky sweaty barn of a studio.”
As for the jam sessions themselves, LIFE (helpfully) wrote in its Oct. 11, 1943, issue in which some of these pictures first appeared:
A jam session is an informal gathering of temperamentally congenial jazz musicians who play unrehearsed and unscored music for their own enjoyment. It usually takes place in the early morning hours after the participants have finished their regular evening’s work with large bands. . . . It represents the discarding of the shackles imposed by working with a band that plays You’ll Never Know and All or Nothing at All in the same unimaginative arrangements night after night. It represents the final freedom of musical expression.
Recently such a session took place in the New York studio of LIFE photographer Gjon Mili. From shortly before 9 p.m. until after 4 a.m. some of the most distinguished talents in jazz performed for an audience which, in the smoky sweaty barn of a studio, derived an alert, fascinated, almost frenzied enjoyment from what it heard.
Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.
Duke Ellington, New York, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Pearl Primus performed to “Honeysuckle Rose” as played by an all-star group consisting of Teddy Wilson (piano), Lou McGarity (trombone), Sidney Catlett (drums), Bobby Hackett (trumpet) and John Simons (bass).
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Billie Holiday sang her standard, “Fine and Mellow,” accompanied by James P. Johnson on piano and others, New York, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Duke Ellington was at the piano as Dizzy Gillespie (seated behind Ellington) and others accompanied, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Duke Ellington played ‘Don’t Get Around Much Any More,’ which was his best-selling composition of the moment.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Duke Ellington, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vocalist Lee Wiley sang, accompanied by her husband, pianist Jess Stacy, with Eddie Condon on guitar, Sid Weiss on bass and Cozy Cole on drums, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Vocalist Lee Wiley sang, accompanied by her husband, pianist Jess Stacy, with Eddie Condon on guitar, Sid Weiss on bass and Cozy Cole on drums, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Lee Wiley, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Conde Nast president Iva Patcevitch (in striped suit), Vogue editor-in-chief Edna Woolman Chase (far right, in hat) and other media types hung out at Gjon Mili’s studio during a jam session, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Unidentified jazz musicians, New York, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Josh White sung and played on guitar his ‘Hard Time Blues.’
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
“Milfred ‘Miff” Mole took a chorus on ‘Royal Garden Blues,’ a jam session perennial. Mole, at 45, was the acknowledged father of a hot trombone style that was widely copied.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
J.C. Heard Orchestra, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Duke Ellington and friends, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The legendary Billie Holiday sung ‘Fine and Mellow,’ a blues recorded for the Commodore Label.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Franz Jackson played saxophone, accompanied by James P. Johnson at piano, Wilbur De Paris on trombone, Irving Fazola (fifth from left) on clarinet, Al Mott on bass and Cozy Cole on drums.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Gene Krupa.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Eddie Heywood’s hands, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
An unidentified bass player’s fingers, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Count Basie, Lester Young, and other jazz greats at Gjon Mili’s Studio in New York, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
James P. Johnson (piano) and friends, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
This jam session included Lester Young (standing, in hat) on saxophone and Count Basie at the piano, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
James P. Johnson, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Cozy Cole on drums, Al Mott on bass and Irving Fazola, taking a break from his clarinet, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Roy Eldridge played trumpet during drummer Gene Krupa’s jam session at Gjon Mili’s studio, 1940s.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Mary Lou Williams (who arranged for Ellington’s band) jammed in Gjon Mili’s studio, New York, 1943.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Gjon Mili’s cat Blackie stepped gingerly among empty glasses left on top of the piano after an all-night jam session at his (Mili’s, not the cat’s) studio, 1942.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
On a morning after, Gjon Mili’s studio was littered with cigaret stubs, broken glasses, spilled liquor.
Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection/Shutterstock
