It's always busy in Leonard-Land (despite Herman being 86!). "Legends of Jazz Photography" at Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles features the work of Herman Leonard, William Claxton and William Gottlieb, April 1 - May 15, 2010 / "Jazz Giants: The Photography of Herman Leonard" is at the Jazz Heritage Center in San Francisco, April 5 - May 16, 2010 / June 1, 2010 sees the release of Heather Pinson's book for the University of Mississippi Press, "The Jazz Image: Seeing Music Through Herman Leonard's Photography" / And the Jazz at Lincoln Center exhibit "In the Best Possible Light: Herman Leonard's Jazz" has been extended until June 19, 2010.

Aside from his historic music photos, Herman also worked in fashion.You can read about his time in Paris in the 50s and 60s in ZOOZOOM.

Ella Fitzgerald singing to Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, NYC 1949 © Herman Leonard Photography, LLC

Legendary and controversial photographer Jim Marshall has died in New York. Jim was in town from San Francisco to launch "Match Prints", his new book with Timothy White. He will definitely be missed by the whole community.

Johnny Cash © Jim Marshall

Founder of the scientific art of jumpology, Philippe Halsman's Jump will be on view at Laurence Miller Gallery in NYC from April 1st to May 28th, 2010. His book, Jump, was originally published in 1959 and contained a whopping 178 celebrity jumpers. Irene Halsman, Philippe's daughter, manages his estate, and is a member of the American Photography Archives Group along with me and a whole host of famous photographers and their estates.

In other news, Marilyn Monroe LLC is currently lobbying in Albany, NY, to retroactively change New York state law to allow for a right of privacy after a person dies (see S.6790 Sampson). The NY Times, AP, Getty, Hearst, NBC, CBS and many more oppose the Bill. It's hard to imagine it passing, but if you plan to make any Marilyn Monroe merchandise, do it sooner rather than later.

Marilyn Monroe and Philippe Halsman © Halsman

Health care reform has passed the House. Karsh thought he might have become a doctor, but rather he photographed many of the ground breakers of the 20th century including Dr Jonas Salk, Dr Helen Taussig, Dr Christiaan Bernard and Dr Alfred Blalock, to name just a few.

Dr Alfred Blalock, co-developer of the Blalock-Taussig Shunt, 1950 © Yousuf Karsh

Having just been avidly reading about Lithuanian photographer Rimaldis Viksraitis in my colleague Charles Taylor's magazine, Hot Shoe, the next day I was happy to see a few prints by him at AIPAD. Viksraitis won the Discovery Award at Les Rencontres D'Arles last year, and Martin Parr presented the body of work "Grimaces of the Weary Village" at the festival, calling the images "slightly insane and wonderfully surreal". I say fascinating.

Grimaces of the Weary Village © Rimaldis Viksraitis

This has always been a really popular Putland image. Michael photographed the women in Kensington, London, for New Musical News and it was quite unusual to get such an assortment of musicians together. Referring to this photo, Pauline Black recently hosted a half hour segment on BBC Radio 4 and talked to Viv Albertine and Poly Styrene about what it was like to be a woman on the punk and rock scenes and what impact strong women in rock have had.

Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, Viv Albertine, Siouxsie Sioux, Poly Styrene and Pauline Black, 1980 © Michael Putland

Mrs Karsh told me today that despite 45 years believing otherwise, she has learned that Chairman Khrushchev's coat is made from lynx. And thus another chance to run this photo presents itself!

Nikita Khrushchev, 1963 © Yousuf Karsh

This landed in my inbox from Niels and I really enjoyed the colours on an otherwise dull day - perhaps not what one might expect from a shoot at a tyre factory. It's always good to see what Niels is up to so subscribe to his Photo of the Month newsletter. I'm getting spell-check underlines, it must be tire in American. Sometimes, no matter how long you've been here, you just forget.

Tyre factory, Bogota, Colombia © Niels Van Iperen

The artist reception at Aperture Foundation tonight, March 11, is for Australian photographer Michael Corridore whose show "Angry Black Snake" is opening. Corridore photographs public events in such a manner as to make the viewer question what they are seeing - drag race or apocalypse?

More on Michael Corridore from aCurator soon; in the meantime see his work online at Aperture or visit the show and then buy a limited edition print.

Untitled, 2006 from Angry Black Snake © Michael Corridore, courtesy Aperture Foundation