Charlie “Bird” Parker and his saxophone become one in this intensely emotional shot by Herman Leonard, taken at Birdland, the club in Manhattan named after Parker. In the late 1940s, Leonard photographed jazz legends including Duke Ellington, Billie Holliday and Louis Armstrong at the New York clubs on Broadway, 52nd Street and in Harlem for “Cosmopolitan,” “Esquire,” “Life,” “Look,” “Playboy,” and “Time.” The Smithsonian made Leonard’s work part of its permanent collection, honoring him for his photos of luminaries such as Albert Einstein, Harry Truman and Clark Gable as well as in fashion and advertising.

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