Ernest Withers

The Memphis Blues Again

Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs

SIGNED Ernest Withers

 

New York. Viking Studio. 2001.175 pages. First edition, first printing. Signed by Ernest Withers in blue pen on the half title page. Very good in a very good dust jacket.

Printed in Japan on thick coated stock. Gorgeous photographs from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, taken primarily in Memphis. Ernest Withers photographed the clubs, dance halls, auditoriums, recording studios, churches and streets of Memphis, home to one of the most vibrant music scenes in America. Subjects include W.C. Handy, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, a young Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, James Brown, Charlie Pride, Rufus Thomas, Staples Singers, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Ike and Tina Turner, Isaac Hayes and many more. Incomparable collection of photographic images, beautifully presented.

Withers was an insider to the world he photographed. And this status gives his work a rare quality of intimacy over such a vast body of work. This sense of connection is heightened by the fact that his images of the great and near-great musicians and performers are always set within the local musical milieu and the larger social context. His photographs are and invaluable documentation of a time, a place, a people, and the music.

Out of print and a rare signed copy.

Boards are clean. Scratch to the mid point of the front board. Internally, binding tight. Hinges sound. Personal inscription to the first free endpaper. Beautiful images. Barely noticeable curling at the bottom edge of the dust jacket. Tiny tear to the bottom edge of the DJ front cover. Scratch to the mid point of the DJ front cover. Price clipped.

SIGNED Ernest Withers