Though I am preparing to shed some belongings, I like to imagine that one day I’ll have enough money, space, and time for appreciating it to buy certain large, expensive items, and ever since I first set eyes on it five years ago, one of those objects has been Jazz Life, a $200-retail oversize Taschen volume by the master jazz photographer William Claxton, who died Sunday. This was his major work, the chronicle of a year-long trip around the U.S. talking to and snapping as many musicians as he could meet along the way. I’ve had the opportunity to thumb through a display copy or two, but to give you an idea, Taschen’s site has a gallery from it. Claxton also shot countless jazz album covers and was a founding member of the RIAA. He was 80. [AP]