Album covers of Blue Note Records

Artwork on the front cover of albums by Blue Note Records

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From top left:

* Art Blakey \- A Night at Birdland, Volume 1 (1954)
* Sonny Clark \- Cool Struttin' (1958)
* Hank Mobley \- No Room for Squares (1964)
* Joe Henderson \- Mode for Joe (1966)

The album covers of Blue Note Records, an American jazz record label, have been recognized for their distinctive designs. Many of these covers feature a combination of bold colors, experimental typography, and candid photographs of the album's musicians, and have been described as belonging to the Bauhaus and Swiss Style movements.

In the early 1950s, Blue Note Records began investing in dedicated designers as LP records gained popularity, with artists like Gil Mellé, Paul Bacon, and John Hermansader creating album covers often featuring photos by label executive Francis Wolff. In 1956, Reid Miles, a former assistant to Hermansader, was hired as Blue Note's art director. Miles made approximately 400 to 500 album covers for the label, which utilized various typefaces, mixed letter cases, and design principles and techniques such as asymmetry and image cropping; he left Blue Note in 1967 following founder Alfred Lion's retirement. After Miles's departure, Forlenza Venosa Associates and other artists, including Mati Klarwein and Bob Venosa, designed many of the label’s covers. In the 1970s and 1980s, Blue Note records were reissued in Japan with new covers designed by Japanese artists, while in the mid-1980s and 1990s, artists like Richard Mantel, Terry Koppel, and Patrick Roques contributed to the cover designs for the label's releases.

The Blue Note album covers, particularly those designed by Miles, have been highly regarded and considered definitive of jazz's visual identity. Critics have praised the covers' designs as iconic and noted their ability to capture the spirit of the musicians and their music. The style of these covers has inspired several graphic designers and musicians, influencing a wide range of album art and other visual media.

## Background[edit]

Main article: Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label, founded in March 1939 in New York City by German-Jewish immigrant Alfred Lion.[1] The label initially comprised Lion and American writer Max Margulis, who provided funding and copywriting services.[2] Blue Note's first releases were Dixieland "hot" and boogie-woogie-style jazz, and featured acts such as Albert Ammons, Frankie Newton, and J. C. Higginbotham.[3] The label's first hit record was a version of George Gershwin's "Summertime" recorded by saxophonist Sidney Bechet.[4]

Lion's friend, photographer Francis Wolff, joined the label in October 1939 and headed the business during Lion's military service in the early 1940s, distributing Blue Note records through the wholesale division at producer Milt Gabler's Commodore Music Shop.[5] Following Lion's return in November 1943, the label began to embrace the increasingly popular bebop style of jazz, releasing records from musicians such as Ike Quebec and Thelonious Monk in the mid-1940s.[6]

## History[edit]

### 1951–1956: Early years[edit]

The cover of Wynton Kelly's Piano Interpretations (1951) features a photograph taken by Wolff, and was designed by Gil Mellé.

At almost every Blue Note recording session, Francis Wolff would photograph the musicians as they played, seeking to capture honest and unrehearsed moments.[7] Though they were taken primarily for personal reasons rather than marketing purposes, the photographs would be used infrequently in Blue Note advertising material, publicity photos, and on record sleeves.[8] However, the growing popularity of LP records amplified the need for cover art, and Wolff's photos would be featured on more of Blue Note's album covers after the label began issuing 10-inch LPs in 1951.[9]

One of the first noted appearances of Wolff's photographs on a Blue Note album cover was on Wynton Kelly's album Piano Interpretations (1951), which was designed by saxophonist Gil Mellé.[10] The photo used on the cover portrays Kelly with his "eyes almost closed, mouth open in an appreciative smile", described as an "oasis of calm" by jazz writer Richard Cook.[11] Graphic designers Paul Bacon and John Hermansader would also incorporate Wolff's photos in their designs, such as those for Thelonious Monk's Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (1952) and Bud Powell's The Amazing Bud Powell (1952).[12] While the album covers during this period did utilize Wolff's photography, the textual information and designs featured on the covers were prioritized over the inclusion of images.[11]

Bacon and Hermansader would create most of Blue Note's cover art throughout the early to mid-1950s, including Dizzy Gillespie's Horn of Plenty (1953), Bud Powell's The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2 (1953), and the Jazz Messengers's At the Cafe Bohemia (1956).[13] Their designs, which balanced fanciful typography with Wolff's pictures, would later serve as inspiration for the work of designer Reid Miles, then an assistant to Hermansader.[14]

### 1956–1967: The Reid Miles era[edit]

The covers of volumes 1 and 2 of Thelonious Monk's Genius of Modern Music (1956)

In late 1955, Blue Note began issuing twelve-inch LPs after previously being unable to afford to adopt the format.[15] In 1956, Reid Miles, now working in the art department of the magazine Esquire after leaving Hermansader's studio in the same year, was hired by Francis Wolff as Blue Note's art director, and was tasked with designing the covers for the early twelve-inch releases.[16][a] Wolff and Blue Note founder Alfred Lion had been impressed by Miles's work at the label in the year and a half before his exit, which included co-design credits on the cover of Miles Davis's Volumes 1 & 2 (1956) with Hermansader.[18] Miles was paid US$50 (equivalent to $560.34 in 2023) for each cover he made.[19]

Miles, a fan of classical music, was not interested in jazz, and relied solely on Lion's descriptions of the music on the albums in order to design their covers.[20] His first twelve-inch designs were for reissues of Milt Jackson's Milt Jackson and the Thelonious Monk Quintet (1956) and the two volumes of Thelonious Monk's Genius of Modern Music (1956).[17] The covers of the latter releases each feature single-color backgrounds; on both, the name "Thelonious" is displayed in a black type, split by a hyphen across two lines, while "Monk" appears in a contrasting white type. A photo of Monk, taken by Wolff, is placed in the top of the frame, while the title "Genius Of Modern Music" is written in all lowercase in a small font size and situated to the left of the word "Monk".[17]

The cover of Johnny Griffin's The Congregation (1958) features an illustration from Andy Warhol.

Miles continued designing for Blue Note throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, employing a number of techniques across the covers. On some, he made minimal edits to Wolff's portraits, such as on the cover of John Coltrane's Blue Train (1957), while on others he included photographs of objects, as seen on Hank Mobley's Peckin' Time (1958) and Jackie McLean's Jackie's Bag (1961), which depict a red suitcase and a string-tied file folder, respectively.[21] The latter album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover – Other Than Classical at the 4th Grammy Awards.[22] For some designs, he collaborated with a then-unknown Andy Warhol, whose illustrations appeared on the covers of Johnny Griffin's The Congregation (1958) and Kenny Burrell's Kenny Burrell, Volume 2 (1957) and Blue Lights, Vols. 1 & 2 (1958).[23] Miles also designed the covers for albums such as Baby Face Willette's Face to Face (1961) and Andrew Hill's Smoke Stack (1963) during this time.[24]

In 1963, Miles was hired as the art director of Columbia Records by company president Goddard Lieberson, but was still allowed to design for Blue Note.[25] In the following years, he became more experimental with his typography, sometimes omitting photos entirely, such as on the cover of Larry Young's Unity (1966).[26] He would also design covers for Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch! (1964), Tony Williams's Spring (1965), Horace Silver's The Jody Grind (1966), and Cecil Taylor's Unit Structures (1966).[27] Miles later began to take photographs himself; a picture of a woman, taken by Miles, is shown on the cover of Lou Donaldson's Alligator Bogaloo (1967).[28] Simultaneously, additional designers and artists, including Bob Fuentes and Ornette Coleman, began creating covers for Blue Note. Coleman, a saxophonist for the label and also a painter, contributed his artwork to the cover of his album The Empty Foxhole (1966).[29]

Alfred Lion sold Blue Note to Liberty Records in 1965 and soon became dissatisfied with the pressures of the corporate system.[30] This frustration, coupled with heart problems, prompted his retirement from the label in 1967.[31] Following Lion’s departure, Miles also left, as Liberty's marketing team became more involved in the design process.[32] During his eleven-year tenure as art director at Blue Note, Miles designed approximately 400 to 500 covers for the label's musicians.[b]

### 1967–present: Post-Miles era[edit]

The cover of Jackie McLean's Demon's Dance (1970) was designed by Bob Venosa.

After Miles left Blue Note in 1967, many of the label's covers were designed by Forlenza Venosa Associates, whose works included Bobby Hutcherson's Total Eclipse (1967), Jackie McLean's 'Bout Soul (1967), John Patton's That Certain Feeling (1968), Lou Donaldson's Midnight Creeper (1968), and Horace Silver's Serenade to a Soul Sister (1968).[37] Artist Mati Klarwein was credited with the design on the cover of Reuben Wilson's Blue Mode (1970), which features artwork from painter Bob Venosa.[38] Venosa also created cover designs, such as those for Hank Mobley's The Flip (1969) and Jackie McLean's Demon's Dance (1970).[39]

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Japanese King Records, along with other Japanese labels, began reissuing Blue Note records domestically.[40] These reissues, which included Dexter Gordon's Clubhouse (1979), Art Blakey's Pisces (1980), and Grant Green's Oleo (1980) and Nigeria (1981), featured illustrations, photographs, and designs from Japanese artists such as Toshikazu Tanaka, Akiyoshi Miyashita, K. Abe, and T. Fujiyama.[41] In the mid-1980s, Richard Mantel and Terry Koppel designed the covers of Hank Mobley's Far Away Lands (1984) and Grant Green's Born to Be Blue (1985), respectively.[42] Designer Patrick Roques created several Blue Note covers in the mid-1990s, including those of Bobby Hutcherson's Patterns (1995), Hank Mobley's A Slice of the Top (1995), and Wayne Shorter's Et Cetera (1995).[43]

## Style[edit]

Reid Miles is generally credited with developing the style of Blue Note's album covers and shaping the label’s overall visual identity.[44] His work has been described as belonging to the Bauhaus and Swiss Style movements; however, he never adhered to a structured design system.[45] His designs were characterized by their bold use of colors like ochre, vermilion, and indigo,[46] and techniques such as contrast, negative space, asymmetry, and tinting.[47] Some covers featured abstract artwork with blocks of colors and shapes, as seen on Sonny Clark's Sonny Clark Trio (1959).[19] When working on typography, Miles toyed with upper and lower case lettering and used a variety of typefaces, including sans-serif and calligraphic fonts, the latter of which are featured on the covers of Lee Morgan's Lee Morgan Indeed! (1956) and Dizzy Reece's Soundin' Off (1960).[48] Later in his career, he would experiment more with his typographic style, such as on the covers of Jackie McLean's It's Time! (1964), which features multiple exclamation marks in a black type on a white background, and Joe Henderson's In 'n Out (1964), which integrates arrow symbols into the text.[49] At times, he would exclude personnel or track listings from his designs.[19]

Miles's covers were often supplemented by the photography of Francis Wolff, whose candid black-and-white photographs of musicians at recording sessions appeared on hundreds of Blue Note album covers.[50] On several covers, Wolff's pictures were cropped for accentuation, such as on the covers of Thelonious Monk's Genius of Modern Music (1956) and Jackie McLean's It's Time! (1964), or were used as canvasses for typography.[51] For the cover of Kenny Dorham's Una Mas (1963), Miles selected a seemingly unremarkable photo of Dorham gesturing with his hand and positioned the album's title to fit in the space between his index finger and thumb; he applied similar methods of arranging text around the cover image's contents on the covers of Freddie Roach's Good Move (1963) and Dexter Gordon's Our Man in Paris (1963).[52]

* Blue Note album covers
* Lee Morgan's Lee Morgan Indeed! (1956)

* Sonny Clark's Sonny Clark Trio (1959)

* Kenny Dorham's Una Mas (1963)

* Joe Henderson's In 'n Out (1964)

## Reception[edit]

The cover of singer Joe Jackson's Body and Soul (1984, left) was inspired by the cover of Sonny Rollins's Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2 (1957, right).[53]

The Blue Note album covers, particularly those designed by Reid Miles, have been considered definitive of the visual identity of jazz, serving as a symbol of the genre's imagery.[54] Estelle Caswell of Vox praised the covers as "iconic", while David Hinckley of the New York Daily News called Miles "visionary", and commented on "how expertly [he] caught the spirit of the artists" when using Francis Wolff's photography on his covers.[55] Design writers Steven Heller and Greg D'Onofrio stated that Blue Note's covers "were always inventive", and noted their ability to "[evoke] the feeling of the music".[36] Dave Gelly of The Observer labeled them as "classics", writing:

> "Every album cover was tantalising, with its bold, futuristic design and a photo of the artist slotted into the pattern, like an icon. Sometimes the picture was tiny, squeezed up into one of the letters of the title; sometimes it was cropped into a weird shape; sometimes it was a great, big, handsome portrait. Blue Note bathed its artists in glamour. They were heroes. They seemed to inhabit a charmed world and who would not yearn to be part of it?[56]

Several graphic designers and musicians have used the style of Blue Note's album covers as inspiration for their own work. Artist Logan Walters reimagined the album covers of Wu-Tang Clan in the Blue Note style.[57] Graphics featuring US president Barack Obama have emulated the designs of the label's covers.[34] The album covers of other musicians have been influenced by Blue Note's artwork, including Elvis Costello's Almost Blue (1981), whose cover is an homage that of Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue (1963), Van Morrison's The Skiffle Sessions – Live in Belfast (1998), which has a cover inspired by Art Blakey's Free for All (1965), and Aesop Rock's Float (2000), whose cover features a design reminiscent of Cecil Taylor's Conquistador! (1968).[58]

## See also[edit]

* Cover art
* Blue Note Records discography

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ Hermansader designed the covers of first eight twelve-inch releases.[17]
2. ^ Sources vary on the number of covers Reid Miles designed for Blue Note. The Los Angeles Times states that Miles created "about 400 album covers for Blue Note".[33] Estelle Caswell of Vox states that "Miles designed well over 500 album covers for Blue Note between the mid-’50s and late ’60s".[34] David Hinckley of the New York Daily News states that Miles made "500-plus LPs over... 11 years" for the label.[35] Steven Heller and Greg D'Onofrio state that Miles designed "nearly five hundred covers".[36]

## References[edit]

### Citations[edit]

1. ^ Cook 2003, p. 10; Larkin 1998; Fordham 2014.
2. ^ Cook 2003, p. 10.
3. ^ Morton 2014; Cook 2003, p. 11.
4. ^ Cook 2003, p. 11; Jarenwattananon 2009.
5. ^ Cook 2003, p. 15; Cuscuna, Lourie & Schnider 1995, pp. 16, 17.
6. ^ Cook 2003, pp. 16–21; Cuscuna, Lourie & Schnider 1995, p. 17.
7. ^ Cook 2003, p. 50; Cuscuna, Lourie & Schnider 1995, p. 11.
8. ^ Cook 2003, p. 51; Cuscuna, Lourie & Schnider 1995, p. 11.
9. ^ Cuscuna, Lourie & Schnider 1995, pp. 11, 17.
10. ^ Cook 2003, pp. 48, 51.
11. ^ a b Cook 2003, p. 51.
12. ^ Cook 2003, pp. 49–50, 88; Fordham 2014.
13. ^ Alter 2015; Cook 2003, pp. 87–88.
14. ^ Cook 2003, pp. 49, 87; Heller & D'Onofrio 2017.
15. ^ Marsh & Callingham 1991, p. 18; Cuscuna, Lourie & Schnider 1995, pp. 17–18.
16. ^ Cook 2003, p. 88; Heller & D'Onofrio 2017; Cuscuna, Lourie & Schnider 1995, p. 18.
17. ^ a b c Cook 2003, p. 88.
18. ^ Marsh & Callingham 1991, p. 10, 26; Fordham 2014.
19. ^ a b c Cook 2003, p. 89.
20. ^ Cook 2003, p. 88; Cuscuna, Lourie & Schnider 1995, p. 18.
21. ^ Cook 2003, pp. 89, 103; Marsh & Callingham 1991, p. 140.
22. ^ Anon. n.d.
23. ^ Cook 2003, p. 129; Adams 2009; Marsh & Callingham 1991, pp. 128–131.
24. ^ Cook 2003, p. 89, 127.
25. ^ Cook 2003, p. 209.
26. ^ Caswell 2018, 4:49-4:59; Marsh & Callingham 1991, p. 149.
27. ^ Morton 2014; Cook 2003, p. 173; Marsh & Callingham 1991, p. 18; Fordham 2014.
28. ^ Cook 2003, pp. 191–192.
29. ^ Kowalski Dougherty 2007, pp. 52–53.
30. ^ Marsh & Callingham 1991, p. 18.
31. ^ Cook 2003, p. 193; Marsh & Callingham 1991, p. 18.
32. ^ Cook 2003, p. 194.
33. ^ L.A. Times writer 1993.
34. ^ a b Caswell 2019.
35. ^ Hinckley 2005.
36. ^ a b Heller & D'Onofrio 2017.
37. ^ Marsh & Callingham 1991, pp. 262–263; Kowalski Dougherty 2007, pp. 58–59; Waring 2024.
38. ^ Marsh & Callingham 1991, p. 268.
39. ^ Marsh & Callingham 1991, pp. 261, 268.
40. ^ Cook 2003, pp. 213–214.
41. ^ Marsh & Callingham 1991, pp. 274–277.
42. ^ Marsh & Callingham 1991, p. 270.
43. ^ Marsh & Callingham 1991, pp. 272–273.
44. ^ Caswell 2019; Goddard 1992; Russonello 2019; Kinross 1990.
45. ^ Cuscuna, Lourie & Schnider 1995, p. 18; Heller & D'Onofrio 2017; Cook 2003, pp. 88–89.
46. ^ Cook 2003, p. 88; Goddard 1992.
47. ^ Heller & D'Onofrio 2017; Adams 2009.
48. ^ Cook 2003, pp. 88–89; Heller & D'Onofrio 2017.
49. ^ Caswell 2018, 4:49-5:22.
50. ^ Cook 2003, pp. 49–51; Cuscuna, Lourie & Schnider 1995, p. 11.
51. ^ Cook 2003, p. 88; Caswell 2018, 5:11, 5:28; Heller & D'Onofrio 2017.
52. ^ Caswell 2018, 5:37-6:19.
53. ^ Magidsohn 2015; Caswell 2019.
54. ^ Caswell 2019; Russonello 2019; Morton 2014.
55. ^ Caswell 2019; Hinckley 2005.
56. ^ Gelly 1999.
57. ^ Jarenwattananon 2011.
58. ^ Clayton-Lea 1999, p. 83; Caswell 2019.

### Sources[edit]

#### Books[edit]

* Clayton-Lea, Tony (1999). Elvis Costello: A Biography. London: Andre Deutsch Ltd. ISBN 978-0-233-99339-3.

* Cook, Richard (2003). Blue Note Records: The Biography. Boston: Justin, Charles & Co. ISBN 978-1-932112-10-8.

* Cuscuna, Michael; Lourie, Charlie; Schnider, Oscar (1995). The Blue Note Years: The Jazz Photography of Francis Wolff. New York: Rizzoli International Publications. ISBN 978-0-8478-1912-6.

* Larkin, Colin (1998). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1 (3 ed.). MUZE UK Ltd. pp. 613–614. ISBN 978-1-56159-237-1.

* Heller, Steven; D'Onofrio, Greg (19 September 2017). The Moderns. Abrams Books. p. 262\. ISBN 978-1-68335-012-5.

* Marsh, Graham; Callingham, Glyn (1991). Blue Note: Album Cover Art. London: Collins & Brown. ISBN 978-1-85585-096-5.

#### Academic sources[edit]

* Kowalski Dougherty, Carissa (2007). "The Coloring of Jazz: Race and Record Cover Design in American Jazz, 1950 to 1970". Design Issues. 23 (1): 47–60. ISSN 0747-9360. Archived from the original on 2023-02-23. Retrieved 2024-06-06.

#### Articles[edit]

* Adams, Owen (10 August 2009). "Label of love: Blue Note". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

* Alter, Alexandra (11 June 2015). "Paul Bacon, 91, Whose Book Jackets Drew Readers and Admirers, Is Dead". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 May 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2024.

* Caswell, Estelle (2 January 2019). "How one designer created the 'look' of jazz". Vox. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2024.

* Fordham, John (14 November 2014). "Blue Note: 75 years of the coolest visuals in jazz". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

* Gelly, Dave (4 April 1999). "The best things come in Blue Note packages". The Observer. Archived from the original on 8 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

* Goddard, Peter (7 March 1992). "Album covers define the art of the hip". The Toronto Star. p. 149\. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

* Hinckley, David (15 December 2005). "Oozing cool: that Blue Note look". New York Daily News. p. 43\. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

* Jarenwattananon, Patrick (24 June 2009). "Listening, Party For Two: Sidney Bechet's 'Summertime'". NPR. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

* Jarenwattananon, Patrick (29 March 2011). "Where The Wu-Tang Clan Meets Jazz". NPR. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2024.

* Kinross, Robin (1990). "Cool, clear, collected". Eye. London: Eye Magazine Ltd. ISSN 0960-779X. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2024.

* L.A. Times writer (12 February 1993). "Reid Miles; Designed Album Covers, TV Ads". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 8 June 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2024.

* Magidsohn, Jon (15 January 2015). "Joe Jackson got to me, Body and Soul". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 June 2024. Retrieved 9 June 2024.

* Morton, Brian (11 November 2014). "Blue Note at 75: All that jazz". BBC. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

* Russonello, Giovanni (26 July 2019). "A History of Blue Note Records in 15 Albums". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 7 June 2024.

* Waring, Charles (1 April 2024). "Best Blue Note Album Covers: 20 Groundbreaking Artworks". uDiscover Music. Archived from the original on 4 April 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2024.

#### Other sources[edit]

* Anon. (n.d.). "4th Annual Grammy Awards". The Recording Academy. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2024.

* Caswell, Estelle (19 November 2018). The greatest album covers of jazz. Michael Cuscuna, interviewee. Vox Media. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2024.

## External links[edit]

* Official Blue Note Records website
* "The greatest album covers of jazz" by Vox on YouTube, featuring an interview with Blue Note historian Michael Cuscuna