{"id":17408,"date":"2024-06-04T21:57:36","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T20:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=17408"},"modified":"2024-06-05T06:49:11","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T05:49:11","slug":"book-review-art-blue-note-album-covers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sebpalmer.com\/blog\/?p=17408","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REViEW\/ART: The Cover Art of Blue Note Records"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I got this book many<\/em> years ago. And I\u2019ve always loved it. It\u2019s now just one of three or more books I have dedicated to this most excellent of jazz labels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What special about this one – and there\u2019s a second volume I\u2019m keen to acquire as well – is the decent number of large reproductions of album covers, near enough full original size. Plus lots more at smaller sizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m thinking of buying a second copy of this first volume, purely for cutting out pages and framing a load of them. Indeed, I shall<\/em> do so. Though I\u2019d better put in an extra shift or two to raise the funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve also decided to pick up a copy of the book pictured below. By the same editorial team. I very much look forward to perusing that, in dew coarse\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Got this on order as well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A bit of trivia for the discerning bop-cat? The trumpeter on the cover of California Cool<\/em> is Jack Sheldon. I know Jack best through two sources\/routes: as a talking head on Let\u2019s Get Lost<\/em>, reminiscing about Chet Baker (he\u2019s great, an absolute card!), and as a featured musician on several sublime Tom Waits recordings, from the latter\u2019s purplest of patches (mid \u201870s to early \u201880s).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The range of styles across the board is pretty huge. From \u2018scenes\u2019, such as the above, to the more typical \u2018in session\u2019 portraits, by Francis Wolff, often massively cropped by Reid Miles, such as Grant Green\u2019s Idle Moments\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026 to bold typographic or graphic stuff, such as these doozies\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sadly these personal faves don\u2019t<\/em> feature:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Love this!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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And this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Maybe they\u2019re included in volume 2? R<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
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U.K.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A CD, perhaps?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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U.S.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Japan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rather oddly, the second volume appears to have come out in several different editions. But hardly any of these are easily or economically available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As if the incredible music were not in itself enough, we are truly blessed to have had the combined skills and passion of all at Blue Note. As well as the artists themselves, the vision and passion of guys like Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff, is to be rightly commended and celebrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And then there were all the engine room guys, like Paul Bacon, in the earlier years, even (very briefly) Andy Warhol, and of course Reid Miles, the classical music lover whose visual genius has helped make classic Blue Note both a byword for sublime music, and a whole aesthetic, based around albums as total works of art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fabulous. Essential stuff!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Is this Reid Miles?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FOOTNOTE<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather shockingly, it\u2019s next to impossible to source a photo of Reid Miles<\/a>. I can\u2019t recall where I originally found the above image. But one website – see photo at bottom! – has a mis-attributed photo of Woody Allen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Apparently this is Reid Miles work, post Blue Note.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Say wha\u2019!?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Miles stopped working for Blue Note in 1967. And after that, their album cover design grew ever less uniquely stylish. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I got this book many years ago. And I\u2019ve always loved it. It\u2019s now just one of three or more books I have dedicated to this most excellent of jazz labels. What special about this one – and there\u2019s a second volume I\u2019m keen to acquire as well – is the decent number of large … <\/p>\n

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