Jan Persson

{{infobox person

|name=Jan Persson

|birth_date={{birth date|1943|7|22|df=y}}

|death_date={{death date and age|2018|11|15|1943|7|22|df=y}}

|nationality=Danish

|occupation=Freelance photographer

|spouse=MajBritt Persson

|children=3, including Julie

|awards=Ben Webster Prize (2004)

}}

Jan Persson (22 July 1943 – 15 November 2018) was a Danish freelance photographer who worked for Danish newspapers and magazines in and around Copenhagen.

Early on, he specialized on documenting the jazz scene, later also the visiting beat and rock musicians who visited Copenhagen during the 1960s and the 1970s. His works have been documented in a series of books and exhibitions (see bibliography and exhibitions) and his pictures are used on more than 1,000 album and CD covers.

Career

Persson supplied photographs to Down Beat since 1962, Jazz Special (DK), Musica Jazz (IT), Melody Maker (UK) and Danish newspapers Politiken, Berlingske Tidende and Ekstra Bladet. His photographs were published by a number of magazines, reissue record companies, and documentary films on the history of both jazz and rock music. Persson's jazz and rock photographs feature American jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis to rock icons Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix.

His photographic archives have been exhibited internationally. More than [http://www.janperssoncollection.dk/ 15,000 pictures] are now in the files of Aalborg University in Denmark.{{cite web|url=http://www.jazzdanmark.dk/da/nyheder/jan-perssons-jazzfotos-er-online |title=Jan Perssons jazzfotos er online | JazzDanmark |language=da |publisher=Jazzdanmark.dk |date=2013-09-02 |accessdate=2013-11-17}}

=Award=

Persson received the Ben Webster Prize in March 2004.

Death

Persson died in 2018 at age 75 due to cancer in a hospice near Copenhagen. He was survived by his wife, MajBritt Persson, and three children from an earlier marriage, Christina Persson, Louise Persson, and Julie Lund.

Bibliography

[http://www.janperssoncollection.dk/perssonandcdj/publications.html Jan Persson's books (primarily in Danish)]:

{{cite book|author1=Børge Roger Henrichsen|author2=Jan Persson|title=Af jazzens billedbog|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kBe6GQAACAAJ|year=1965|publisher=P. Fogtdal|language=Danish}}
{{cite book|author=Jan Persson|title=Jazz Portraits|year=1996|publisher=Tiderne Skifter|language=Danish}}{{cite book|author=Finn Slumstrup|title=Jazz – en musikalsk guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yid1kB-UYSYC&pg=PA301|year=2007|publisher=Gyldendal A/S|language=Danish|isbn=978-87-02-05465-1|page=301}}
{{cite book|author1=Peter H. Larsen|author2=Thorbjørn Sjøgren|title=Politikens jazzleksikon : udenlandske og danske jazzbiografier|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0RynAAAACAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Politikens Forlag|language=Danish|isbn=978-87-567-6761-3}}
Finn Slumstrup Gyldendals bog om Jazz ("Gyldendal's Book on Jazz") (Gyldendal Publ. Coorp., 2003)
Erik Moseholm Den Hemmelige Krystal ("The Secret Crystal")(elkjaeroghansen, 2003)
Peter H. Larsen & Thorbjørn Sjøgren NHØP (Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen)(Gyldendal Publ. Company, 2005)
Torben Bille & Jan Persson: Gas (Gasolin) (Gyldendal Publ. Company, 2006)
Finn Slumstrup Jazz – En musikalske guide (Gyldendal, 2007)
Torben Bille & Jan Persson Midt i en Beattid ("The World’s Greatest Rock Stars in Denmark 1964-74") (Gyldendal Publ. Company, 2008)
Christian Munch-Hansen By af Jazz ("City of Jazz") (Thanning og Appel 2008)
Frank Büchmann-Møller & Henrik Wolsgaard-Iversen Montmartre, Jazzhuset i St. Regnegade 19, København K (Jazzsign & Syddansk Universitetsforlag 2008)
Tore Mortensen Fortællinger om Jazzen. ("Tellings of Jazz") (Aalborg Universitetsforlag 2010)
{{cite book|author=Mia Fuglsang Holm|title=Musical Portraits: Photographs and Reflections by Jan Persson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dlS3uAAACAAJ|date=1 September 2011|publisher=Publishing House Ajour|isbn=978-87-92241-60-3}}
{{cite book|author=Olav Harsløf|title=Jazz i Danmark 1950-2010|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ixQFywAACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=Politikens Forlag|language=Danish|isbn=978-87-567-9565-4}}

;FURTHER REPRESENTED IN THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATIONS:

Lee Tanner The Jazz Image, Masters of Jazz Photography (Harry N. Abrams, New York 2006)
Richard Williams Dylan, A Man Called Alias (Bloomsbury, London 1992)
Richard Williams Miles Davis, The Man in the Green Shirt (Bloomsbury, London 1993)
Richard Williams Jazz, A Photographic Documentary (Studio Editions Ltd., London 1994)
Lee Tanner & Lee Hildebrand Images of the Blues (Freedman/Fairfax, New York 1998)
Scatti Jazz: La Tradizion del nuova (Lucianno Vanni Editore, Milano 2003)

Exhibitions

Musikhuset Århus, Denmark,1990
Govinda Gallery, Washington, USA ”Monks World", 1997
The Jazz Gallery, New York, USA ”Images of Miles Davis", 1998
North Sea Jazz Festival, Den Haag, Holland with Gorm Valentine & Jørgen Bo, 1999
Travelling Exhibition in Spain with Gorm Valentin & Jørgen Bo, 2001
Missouri History Museum, St.Louis USA. 24 fotos af Miles Davis, 2001
Travelling Exhibition in Italy with Gorm Valentin & Nicola Fasano, 2003
Studio Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, 2005
The Jazz Bakery, Los Angeles, USA, 2005
Copenhagen Central Library, Denmark, 2006
Gladsaxe Main Library, Denmark, 2007
Casa Bossi, Novara Jazzfestival, Italy, 2011

Awards

Ben Webster Prize, Denmark, 2004{{cite web|url=http://politiken.dk/kultur/ECE82688/jazzpris-til-fotograf/ |title=Jazzpris til fotograf |language=da |publisher=Politiken.dk |date=2013-01-01 |accessdate=2013-11-17}}
Jazzformidlerprisen (The Jazz Communicator Award), Denmark, 2009{{cite web |url=https://www.jazzdanmark.dk/en/nyheder/fotografen-jan-persson-modtager-jazzformidlerprisen |title=Fotografen Jan Persson modtager jazzformidlerprisen | JazzDanmark |language=da |publisher=Jazzdanmark.dk |date=2009-09-18 |accessdate=2017-10-16 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053716/https://www.jazzdanmark.dk/en/nyheder/fotografen-jan-persson-modtager-jazzformidlerprisen |archivedate=2016-03-04 }}
jazzahead! Skoda Award, Bremen, Germany, 2014.