Herb Snitzer: Jazz gold (in monochrome)

When he was asked to photograph the great tenor saxophonist Lester Young in New York City in 1958, Herb Snitzer was just a young man with a camera.

More than half a century later, he is regarded as one of the world's leading jazz photographers for capturing the golden age of the genre. His new book, Glorious Days And Nights: A Jazz Memoir, lifts the lid on the jazz scene in Manhattan throughout the 1960s and beyond. The collection includes such stars as Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Nina Simone and Duke Ellington.

Snitzer writes: "One night you could listen to Nina Simone at Town Hall, and the next night you could see John Coltrane. I also got to play ping-pong with Thelonious Monk." The anthology, containing 85 black-and-white images of the giants of jazz, provides a long-awaited testimony to Snitzer's career and a remarkable era in popular music.

From the book, 'Glorious Days and Nights – A Jazz Memoir' by ArenaPal photographer Herb Snitzer. Print sales : www.arenapal.com or call 020-7403 8542. Special editions andcanvas prints available on request