Jim Marshall It was a rather short, four-paragraph review of his new photo book "Proof" but legendary rock photographer Jim Marshall saw the writeup in a newspaper in flyover land in 2004 and felt compelled to call the reviewer. He unexpecteldy offered me a choice of any photo in his archives. I debated between Johnny Cash flipping the bird at San Quentin Prison or Bob Dylan pushing a tire down a Greenwich Village street. Then I looked at the prices on Marshall's website. These iconic photos started at a small four-figure sum, which hugely exceeded the gift policies of the Star Tribune. So I could not accept Marshall's generous offer. Marshall, 74, rock's first bigtime photographer, died in his sleep Wednesday in New York City where he was to make an appearance to promote an exhibition of photos from his brand new book, "Match Prints." In the 1960s, Marshall had unlimited access to photograph the stars onstage and off without interference from stylists, publicists, managers, bodyguards, image-makers or whoever else gets in the way these days. The stars trusted Marshall, and that enabled him to capture their souls on film. In 1963, the photographer snapped a single frame of an unguarded Dylan pushing a whitewall tire while he was walking with friends to breakfast. Miles Davis, who was as notoriously private as Dylan, allowed Marshall to document him working out in a boxing ring in 1971. The San Francisco shooter also recorded iconic concert moments, including Jimi Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire at the Monterrey Pop Festival in 1967 and the Beatles' final concert in 1966 in the Bay Area. He was the official photographer of Woodstock, and he shot many album covers. And he kept working into his 70s, shooting such contemporary stars as John Mayer and Lenny Kravitz. Marshall published five books of his music photos. His 2009 book of mostly color photos was entitled "Trust." "Proof," which featured black-and-white photos, included the proof sheets from each shoot.

Johnny Cash at San Quentin Prison, 1969, by Jim Marshall/ marshallphoto.com