In celebration of Nonesuch Records' 60th anniversary, the label has partnered with photographer Michael Wilson—who has exquisitely captured dozens of Nonesuch artists over the past quarter-century—to produce Michael Wilson / 25 Years: A Nonesuch Collection, an extremely limited quantity of 100 box sets containing newly created prints from his Nonesuch archive, due September 13. Designed by the Grammy-winning team at SMOG Design, each box will comprise twenty 12" x 12" prints, numbered and signed by the photographer. Below, Wilson shares stories from the photo sessions behind the images in the box, with Allen Toussaint, Ambrose Akinmusire, Audra McDonald, Bill Frisell, The Black Keys, Brad Mehldau, David Byrne, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris, Frederic Rzewski, Jeremy Denk, Kronos Quartet, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Manuel Galbán and Ry Cooder, Philip Glass, Randy Newman, Rhiannon Giddens, Stephin Merritt and Lemony Snicket, Steve Reich, and Timo Andres.

Michael Wilson / 25 Years: A Nonesuch Collection is available to pre-order here.

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Allen Toussaint | September 2008 | New Orleans, Louisiana

What a graceful man. In my memory, he seems more to have glided than walked. We made this picture in a French Quarter courtyard ... can't remember the street. I have to thank Joe Henry, who was producing Allen's record, for suggesting that I make pictures with Allen.

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Ambrose Akinmusire | April 2023 | Berkeley, California

This, the most recently made picture in the portfolio, was done at Ambrose's dining room table. I rarely bring lighting to a photo session, so I'm always noticing how light comes into rooms and how it falls on the subject. It feels like a gift ... which it is.

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Audra McDonald | May 2006 | Westchester County, New York

We found a pathway in some lovely woods on a quiet day. Audra had a fancy dress. She sat on an old-fashioned steel chair we'd brought along from her home. It must have been cool that day. It looks to have been breezy too.

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Bill Frisell | November 1998 | Seattle, Washington

This is the earliest picture in the portfolio. It was made in the backyard of Bill's house. I seem to recall this being near the end of the day. Wesley, the dog, helped immeasurably with this one.

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The Black Keys | July 2006 | Akron, Ohio

I had driven from Cincinnati to Akron that morning with my three children, who were teenagers at the time. They hung out at the library while I made pictures but not before getting to meet The Black Keys at Patrick's house. Among the pictures made that day were some of Dan and Pat playing music in the basement—making me wish now that my camera was a tape recorder—and this one taken on the front porch. Ate at Swensons Drive-In and then drove home. A good day.

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Brad Mehldau | June 2004 | Newburgh, New York

Looking back, I’m somewhat startled at the gift I’ve been given in working with Brad on nine occasions, in three different countries for a range of musical projects—solo, duo, trio, and quartet. This picture is from the first time we worked together and was used as the cover for his album, Live in Tokyo. We made the picture in his garage, not in Tokyo. Good light is good light no matter where you find it.

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David Byrne | December 2003 | New York, New York

We must have met, but I can’t remember anything we talked about! I can tell from the pictures that the day was bright and clear—and most likely cold. One of the pictures we made (not this one) was used on the silvery cover of David’s Grown Backwards album. This picture comes from near the end of our time together with the sun going down fast like it does in the December sky. The poorer my memory gets the more grateful I am for pictures.

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Dr. John | February 2012 | New Orleans, Louisiana

Dr. John (Mac Rebennack) dressed to the nines and holding sway on a balcony in New Orleans—what is not to be liked? His sense of playfulness on this day is the thing that stands out strongest in my memory. It is kind of an odd thing to meet and photograph people whose name and work are well known, because, in spite of any such knowledge, at the core of the encounter is the reality that two strangers are meeting and must look for a way into a conversation that is both verbal and visual and which will hopefully prove to be honest and interesting to others.

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Emmylou Harris | May 2000 | Nashville, Tennessee

This picture became the cover of Emmylou’s album Red Dirt Girl. The day began at Emmylou’s house, where her well-loved and loving posse of dogs helped out with no small number of pictures. We ended the day at a building in downtown Nashville chock-full of odd rooms filled with beautiful light that had been built as the Sunday school annex of a church in a bygone era. Between these two stops, we went to a restaurant/bar I had scouted out that was not yet open for the day. It was in a quiet corner here that we made this picture. A little light, a little time, a little trust ...

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Frederic Rzewski | January 2002 | Brussels, Belgium

I can’t remember how or why Frederic and I came to climb the stairs to the attic of the Brussels apartment building where he lived with his family, but that is where we wound up. A small skylight in the roof provided a sweet light and just enough for us to make this picture on a grey January day.

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Jeremy Denk | January 2012 | New York, New York

In the kitchen of Jeremy’s apartment in New York City just a few days into a new year. Musical notation looks like secret code to me—characters from some obscure language. Thank goodness for people like Jeremy who can translate the characters, form the sounds and share the stories they contain!

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Kronos Quartet | March 2009 | Cincinnati, Ohio

Kronos was playing at a music festival in Cincinnati when this picture was made. Cincinnati is my home. It is where I grew up and the only place I’ve lived, so it was a special treat for me to have a few hours with the quartet and pilot them to a couple of my favorite ‘secret’ spots for making pictures. In this picture, they are standing in front of one of the flood walls built to protect the city from the Ohio River.

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Lorraine Hunt Lieberson | February 2003 | New York, New York

At the time I was asked to make pictures with Lorraine, I knew nothing about her or her music—my loss. What a voice. I treasure the opportunity to have spent a little time with her, especially in light of her too early passing several years after this picture was made. I can’t help but smile thinking back at how we got kicked out of Lincoln Center for trying to take pictures in the lobby while a matinee was underway. Lorraine’s being a member of the Metropolitan Opera notwithstanding!

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Manuel Galbán and Ry Cooder | December 2002 | Paris, France

Ry Cooder and Cuban guitarist Manuel Galbán’s Mambo Sinuendo record was being released, and the two were in Paris doing press for the album. My good fortune was to be asked to go and make pictures of them for publicity use. There are some very big doors in Paris.

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Philip Glass | April 2001 | New York, New York

Arrangements had been made for me to meet Philip at his house in Manhattan. He was working in his studio when I arrived, so we didn’t meet right away, but I was invited to look around the house and see if there might be some places I thought might work for pictures. Indeed there were. I was intrigued when he told me of his daily practice of writing a certain number of measures of music every day.

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Randy Newman | June 2003 | Los Angeles, California

On the drive to meet Randy, I noticed a street not too far from his house that was lined with palm trees and, very surprisingly, had almost no car traffic. Such sights to a Midwesterner were quite exotic. At some point, I mentioned the idea of trying to make some pictures there. Randy kindly obliged. While we were standing there, he pointed to a house next to us—it was the house he had lived in when he was young.

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Rhiannon Giddens | November 2008 | Winston-Salem, North Carolina

An unexpected gift that comes with photographing people is to discover, in a picture of someone you have photographed, just how much good can be distilled in that simple act of sharing space and light with another in an attitude of openness and hopeful intent. And words aren’t really that important in this act, so you don’t have to be good at them. This picture of Rhiannon was made in a room somewhere in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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Stephin Merritt and Lemony Snicket | July 2006 | San Francisco, California

This photo shoot was unlike any I had done before or have done since in that one of the demands was that the face of Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, not be identifiable in any of the pictures. The day had a distinct feel of play about it. I have no idea where the swords came from.

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Steve Reich | May 2001 | New York, New York

Looking back on the day spent with Steve in May 2001, one of the things I am struck by (and slightly embarrassed about) is the generosity and patience he showed in allowing me to photograph him using a cardboard pinhole camera which required that he hold a pose for extended periods of time. I can only imagine what he might have been thinking! This picture—not taken with a pinhole camera—was made somewhere near City Hall. Going through the contact sheets from the shoot and catching glimpses of the World Trade Center in the background gives pause.

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Timo Andres | November 2009 | New York, New York

I’m glad to have met Timo. This picture is from the first time we worked together, and it makes me happy to look at it again. The light coming through the windows is beautiful, without a doubt, but it is the things that I wasn’t paying attention to at the time that please me the most now: the lamp with the burnt-out bulb, the sheet music on the ground at Timo’s feet, and the effortless way he has settled himself in front of the camera. The great photographer Garry Winogrand said something along the lines that if a picture isn’t more interesting than what you were photographing, it probably doesn’t work.