Jazz People

Jazz People, Thorsten Roth’s portrait series of American jazz musicians, is part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.—home to one of the world’s most significant archives of jazz imagery.

The portfolio comprises 55 black-and-white photographs created in Paris between 1993 and 2000, capturing musicians—primarily American, many based in New York—while on tour. The work includes figures such as Abbey Lincoln, Hank Jones, and Ahmad Jamal, alongside a younger generation including Joshua Redman, David Sanchez, Ravi Coltrane, and Roy Hargrove.

Since the 1940s, Paris has served as a vital cultural ground for American jazz. Artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzy Gillespie lived and performed there, establishing a lasting exchange between the United States and Europe. The musicians portrayed in this series continue that lineage—embodying a tradition that moves across borders, cultures, and time.

Working with sustained access to his subjects, Roth developed a proximity shaped by trust rather than distance. The process moved between preparation and improvisation—between structure and instinct—reflecting the nature of jazz itself.

The legendary Von Freeman once told him:
“I am playing the jazz on my horn—you are playing it with your camera.”

These photographs are both portraits and documents: a visual record of a specific cultural moment, and a study of individuals whose work defines one of America’s most influential art forms. Together, they form a transatlantic narrative—linking Paris and New York through image, music, and cultural memory.