Blue Note Album Cover Books

[sheldonm]

I saw several of the Blue Note Album Cover books at a local used book store, but the books are actually new. This is the original soft cover book that came out several years ago and may be out of print at this time. The cover is blue and is 12x12 in size with tons of great Wolff photographs in it. If anyone is looking for one of these, let me know and I'll pick it up for you. I don't remember the cost but it was substantially lower than the origianal cost.

Mark

[Rooster_Ties]

Just volume one, or were there any of volume two??

(I've got 'one', but not 'two'. I've also got the more recent mini-format, that appears to combine both books - in a 7"x7" size book.)

[Out2Lunch]

I bought Vol One a few years ago and when I tried to order Vol 2, it was out of print. I recently bought the 7x7 book which is a combination of both volumes.

[sheldonm]

I believe it was only volume 1 but I will check it out tonight. I think the cost is $10.75 with tax. I also have volume 2 and the smaller 7x7 book plus one called California Cool and one that the name escapes me at the moment. This store had several different books on jazz; I picked up one on Billie Holiday for $3.00! If anyone has a request, I will ge glad to see if they may have it.

Mark

[Late]

I'm still looking for California Cool, but so far the lowest price I've come across is around $75. Ouch!

[Jim R]

$75! Wow- was that on eBay, or at a bookstore, or...?

A few other 12 X 12's that haven't been mentioned:

"New York Hot" (east coast labels)

and two published in Japan:

"Jazz West Coast" (Pacific Jazz / William Claxton photos)

"Jazzical Moods" (artistic collection encompassing many labels, and possibly my favorite)

There were also two nice books of David Stone Martin's work, compiled by Manek Daver:

"Jazz Graphics" and "Jazz Album Covers: The Rare and the Beautiful"

Another fun book to watch for is "In The Groove" by Eric Kohler (goes back to the 78 era, and includes sections on great cover artists like DSM, Alex Steinweiss, Jim Flora, Burt Goldblatt, Reid Miles and others).

There was also an expensive book from Italy, which was associated with an art exhibition, I believe. I saw it once on eBay, but it was WAY expensive. The title is escaping me...

[brownie]

There were TWO volumes of Graham Marsh' The Covert Art of Blue Note Records.

Volume 1 was widely distributed but volume 2 quickly disappeared. Managed to get volume 2 before it disappeared.

[Claude]

I have both Blue Note volumes. The first one contains all the famous covers and the second the lesser known (and also less good) ones.

The price per book was $30 back then in Brussels but it was definitely worth it. The binding of the books is not very solid though.

[sheldonm]

Another great book is called "Cat on a Hot Thin Groove" by Gene Deitch. It show the cover, articles and all the cartoons that were published in the jazz magazine called "The Record Changer" which was published in the 40/50's. Gene was the animator for this magazine and also drew Crazy Cat, Tom Terrific, Tom & Jerry and Popeye (for a period). He is now 79 years old and lives in Prague; I count him as a good friend and wonder person. Although I had never heard of the magazine until I saw this book, many of the more "experienced" board members will probably remember this magazine. A friend of mine gave me an original copy of a 1949 edition, which I have framed. As I am a freelance photographer who specializes in jazz musicians, Gene made a drawing for me, using the original character (the "Cat") from the Record Changer magazine; one of my prized possessions! Pick one up today!!!

Mark

[sidewinder]

Is there much more additional material in the two 12x12 books that is not included in the 7x7? I have the 7x7 (bought at an HMV store recently at half price) but not the big volumes, which I really regret not picking up when they first came out. Ditto 'California Cool'

[Jim R]

Is there much more additional material in the two 12x12 books that is not included in the 7x7?

The original Volume 1 includes about 230 covers, plus a few pages of rear covers, Wolff photos, and Downbeat ads (many of these are also in the 7 X 7 book).

It's stated in Volume 2 that there are "over 200 more" cover images within that volume. (BTW, it includes a lot of covers from the 1500 and early 4000 series, in addition to the later U.S. and Japanese covers).

The 7 X 7 book states that it contains "nearly 400" covers.

So, doing a little rough math, I would say that there are probably some 30-40 covers not included in the 7 X 7.

BTW, the thing that always disappointed me was the absence of images from the 10" LP era. There must be some reason why nobody decided to do a comprehensive BN collection... I'm just not sure what the actual reason is.

Edited November 14, 2003 by Jim R

[sidewinder]

Thanks for this. I noticed that some of the lesser-known Liberty era releases don't seem to appear in the 7x7 book. Agree with you re: the 10 inch covers (I would have liked to see the Lou Mecca, Gil Melles etc.). Maybe the lack of a 'designer' slant has something to do with this?

[Jim R]

Maybe the lack of a 'designer' slant has something to do with this?

The classic Reid Miles era was certainly the primary inspiration for these books to begin with, but IMO, there is much to like about the designs of a lot of those ten inchers. Oh well, at least we have this: Vintage Vanguard

Where we can view things like this:

[Late]

Jim, that price was at an online vendor's site. If anybody could point me in the direction of "affordable" copies of either California Cool or East Coast Hot, I'd be most appreciative! I am a big dumb sucker for cover art.

Love that Vintage Vanguard site, too. Never thought I'd see the original cover to Coltrane Time, which of course is a Cecil Taylor record:

Dig the UA tagline: "Recorded for the Talented Listener." Ah yes, pass the Pinot Grigio, would you please?

Edited November 14, 2003 by Late

[Jim R]

If anybody could point me in the direction of "affordable" copies of either California Cool or East Coast Hot, I'd be most appreciative! I am a big dumb sucker for cover art.

I'll keep my eyes open. In case you'll be doing any eBay searching (or for that matter, any kind of searching where OOP items can be had), I would urge you to be on the lookout for those Japanese issues I mentioned above- especially "Jazzical Moods". It's unbelievably cool. B)

[Late]

Some details I spotted on the "inter-net":

• The album cover art of BLUE NOTE, 1991, 126 pages, Collins & Brown

• The album cover art of BLUE NOTE, vol. 2, 1997, 112 pages, Collins & Brown

• CALIFORNIA COOL: West Coast cover art, 1992, 110 pages, Collins & Brown

• EAST COASTING, the cover art of PRESTIGE, RIVERSIDE and ATLANTIC, 1993, 110 pages, Collins & Brown

• JAZZ WEST COAST, 1992, 124 pages, Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, Tokyo

• JAZZICAL MOODS, 1993, 132 pages, Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, Tokyo

[Quincy]

I've never shopped at this site, but they claim to have California Cool for just $18.42.

The link to Ca. Cool.

Good luck!

--Ah hell, I just noticed the words "out of stock." Sorry about that.

Edited November 15, 2003 by Quincy

[brownie]

There was also an expensive book from Italy, which was associated with an art exhibition, I believe. I saw it once on eBay, but it was WAY expensive. The title is escaping me...

You sure this was not the Spanish book 'Grafico Jazz'? That softcover coffeetable size book was published in conjunction with a 1999 exhibition of jazz albums covers in Valencia, Spain. Full title is 'Disco y Fotografia en el disco de jazz 1940/1968'.

Saw a copy of it in a bookstore while vacationing in Spain last year and bought it. Not that expensive, compared to some other books on jazz.

It has interesting photos of rare album covers and an essay on the subject by Bob Blumenthal plus interviews with Burt Goldblatt and Jim Flora. Text in Spanish with english translations.

About 'Jazzical Moods', agree that this is the best book so far on the subject. A well-researched and excellently designed album-sized volume.

[Jim R]

FWIW, the one I have with Prestige/Riverside/Atlantic covers is titled NEW YORK HOT. Also, "Collins & Brown" is the publisher in the UK (my BN Vol. 1 was published by C&B). The others I have (besides the Japanese ones) are U.S. publications by Chronicle, in San Francisco.

I just noticed that all of the 12 X 12 Marsh/Callingham books were distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books in Vancouver. Coincidentally, I was in Vancouver in the Summer of 2002, and found my copy of BN Vol. 2 in one of the bookstores there (don't recall the name) where they had about 10 copies at a discounted price. Might be a good town to conduct a search...

[Jim R]

Brownie, that's the one. I was thinking Italy for some reason, but your description sounds like the one I was thinking of. As I recall, the copy I saw on eBay was going for something like $175 - $200. This was about four years ago.

[brownie]

Well, if it's worth that much, I know what I will do when I will be needing money

Edited November 16, 2003 by brownie

[Claude]

The german store JPC has the two original Blue Note Cover books for 7.99 Euro each:

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/books/detail/-/hnu...oks/rsk/hitlist

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/books/detail/-/hnu...oks/rsk/hitlist

It's newly found old stock, so order them quickly. The books are long OOP.

Edited August 10, 2006 by Claude

[sidewinder]

Anyone in the UK who has access to the FOPP stores can also find the two Blue Note books for £4.99 each !

Too bad they don't also have the 'New York Hot'

[Parkertown]

Thanks Claude, for the links! I just ordered Vol. 2.

I think I have Volume 1, but it has a different cover than the one in Claude's links:

Here's the one I have:

----------------------

Are these the same? They're both dated 1991...

Edited August 11, 2006 by Parkertown

[andybleaden]

Yup both the same, I got the one on the top and the red one (vol 2) . They were my fav books for years.....also got the japanese ones too when I could