Cover Art Books Jazz & other topics

[jazzcorner]

Beside collecting records I am also a fan of cover art books. This started with the discovery  cover art of David Stone Martin   on Down Beat Magazine  &  on JATP & Norman Granz LP's and step by step I discovered other great artists as Jim Flora and/or some photographers as Claxton.

These books can be very expensive but al least you can find the covers of some long oop vinyls. There exists also a great book about movie posters and sound track records.

Any fans here in that forum?

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by jazzcorner
typos

[Big Beat Steve]

Within limits - yes.
The limits being that I don't go for those books that try to cram everything into one book to satisfy ANY buyer's tastes and therefore won't sufficiently satisfy specific personal tastes (neither musically nor graphically nor period-related). Taschen and similar editors did a couple of books like this that I really found to be dispensable.

What I bought through the years ...
Those LP-sized books that came out in the 90s:

Jazzical Moods

California Cool

Jazz West Coast

East Coasting

The Blues Album Cover Art (though I feel they could have incluided a bit more original artwork from before 1960)

(No, I don't have the Blue Note cover art books - they really were a bit too pricy for too much of a same-y thing IMO that they offered overall).

And then:

- In The Groove - Vintage Record Graphics 1940-1960 by Eric Kohler

- Jazz Album Covers - The rare and the beautiful by Manek Daver

- The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora (which IMO supersedes the other two Jim Flora books by the same editor if you are mainly after his music-related artwork)

- The Alex Steinweiss book by Taschen is great if you can get it for a good price but the non-classical music contents are relatively slim, unfortunately, and in the long run you CAN tire a bit of that Columbia "house style" of his covers. It may be just me but I find an entire book on Jim Flora more fun to look at than one on Alex Steinweiss or DSM.

Two that straddle the fence (because they also focus a lot on advertisements, sheet music, concert posters, etc.):

- The Art of the Blues by Bill Dahl

- Heart & Soul - A Celebration of Black Music Style in America 1930-1975

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2019 by Big Beat Steve

[Bluesnik]

I like cover art very much and therefore have some books, though most have been previously mentioned by Big Beat Steve. I'm also a great fan of Taschen, of which I have some books, like the iconic Rock Dreams, although that is not a cover book. I have California Cool, the Taschen book on Alex Steinweiss, a Jazz Covers book by Taschen, another about Prestige covers published by Concord, In the groove, a Taschen book called 1000 covers and The 100 best-selling albums of the 50s, another little book on record covers with Kind of blue and Come fly with me. And also a couple of books on book jacket or covers. One of them titled Penguin by design by Penguin and about the design history behind the Penguin paperbacks. And a BN cover book by Graham Marsh I didn't think of yesterday. And yes, there was a Taschen edition of Rock Dreams, but only of Guy Peellaert's drawings and Nick Cohn's texts, not of the Rock Album that used to go bundled with it.

And I also agree that the Steinweiss book was a bit of let down. There was I think about 2005 or 2006 a second and cheaper edition of that book for 50 €.

Edited November 30, 2019 by Bluesnik
Penguin by design details added

[Big Beat Steve]

Rock Dreams has been reissued by Taschen?? Never knew (or didn't pay attention) ...

I have the original German edition of c.1974 (that also has the huge rock bio/discography section compiled by Ingeborg Schober)  as well as the English edition printed by Popular Libray, New York (likely a somewhat later reprint of the original edition).

FWIW, i found the 1000 Covers and Jazz Covers books by Taschen less impressive (those were among those with a too broad and therefore IMO too superficial coverage I mentioned). But I realize that tastes differ.

Edited November 29, 2019 by Big Beat Steve

[Dave Garrett]

I have several of the ones mentioned previously: Blue Note, Blue Note 2, California Cool, New York Hot, Jazz West Coast, Jazzical Moods, Jazz Album Covers: The Rare and the Beautiful, and the Concord book on Prestige Records. Never did get around to getting Daver's Jazz Graphics book on David Stone Martin covers, as I've yet to find one at what I'd consider a reasonable price. 

Also have one that's in a similar oversized paperback format as most of the above called Vinyl Hayride, featuring country music album covers:

 

 

and this one:

 

There's a beautiful book covering Bossa Nova album covers that was discussed here previously (http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/17547-bossa-nova-e-outras-bossas/), but it's very difficult to find a copy now. I lucked into one that Strand listed online about ten years ago and haven't seen another one since. 

 

[Bluesnik]

10 hours ago, Dave Garrett said:

There's a beautiful book covering Bossa Nova album covers that was discussed here previously

That book must be really great. Caetano Rodrigues is one of the experts in bossa.

[Big Beat Steve]

11 hours ago, Dave Garrett said:

Also have one that's in a similar oversized paperback format as most of the above called Vinyl Hayride, featuring country music album covers:

That's an interesting one and no doubt it fills a gap. But the time span is one that would put me off as my interest in the styles of country music ends more or less with the early 60s, excepting some later "retro" or tradition-minded bands and artists, of course. As country music was largely a 45rpm market in the 50s and even into the 60s albums often were  afterthoughts or compilations designed to appeal to the entire family in an oh so "wholesome" homeboy manner I am not sure the graphic artwork always really reflected the at least somewhat "modernist" state of the art in graphics of those earlier periods. And my indifference vs the later styles of country music aside, from what I have seen in 60s and 70s country LP covers (and after having waded through this or that HUGE collection when it was dissolved I think I have seen a LOT) I really wonder how many covers does one REALLY need with variations on the theme of the artist sitting on a corral fence and gazing into the wide open or sitting on the front porch or under a shade tree strumming his guitar (or covers showing Porter Wagoner wearing garish outfits that should even make Nudie cringe )?

So this would be one I'd definitely need to take a close look into first. (Amazon does not have online sample pages, it seems)

Edited December 2, 2019 by Big Beat Steve

[BFrank]

This is an interesting book based on an exhibition at the Fraenkel Gallery in SF. So the emphasis is on "Art" more than music, but worth checking out.
ART & VINYL

 

[mjazzg]

2 hours ago, BFrank said:

This is an interesting book based on an exhibition at the Fraenkel Gallery in SF. So the emphasis is on "Art" more than music, but worth checking out.
ART & VINYL

 

Now that looks really interesting. Not cheap over here but it is Xmas soon...present to selve? Thanks for posting it

[BFrank]

2 hours ago, mjazzg said:

Now that looks really interesting. Not cheap over here but it is Xmas soon...present to selve? Thanks for posting it

I saw the show. It was interesting!

Fraenkel has it on sale right now - cheaper than Amazon (which is unusual).

[Bluesnik]

Yes, I might go for it too. After all I'm a big cover art fan.

2 hours ago, mjazzg said:

Not cheap over here but it is Xmas soon...present to selve?

Yes, the most expensive is the shipping . I'm in the middle of the ordering proceess, but I saw they have no PayPal option. So for me it's out.

[jazzcorner]

 

On 29.11.2019 at 0:55 PM, Big Beat Steve said:

Within limits - yes.
The limits being that I don't go for those books that try to cram everything into one book to satisfy ANY buyer's tastes and therefore won't sufficiently satisfy specific personal tastes (neither musically nor graphically nor period-related). Taschen and similar editors did a couple of books like this that I really found to be dispensable.

On 29.11.2019 at 0:55 PM, Big Beat Steve said:

Within limits - yes.
The limits being that I don't go for those books that try to cram everything into one book to satisfy ANY buyer's tastes and therefore won't sufficiently satisfy specific personal tastes (neither musically nor graphically nor period-related). Taschen and similar editors did a couple of books like this that I really found to be dispensable.

Yes can agree to that

Quote

What I bought through the years ...
Those LP-sized books that came out in the 90s:

Jazzical Moods  (dont knbow this one)

California Cool (have)

Jazz West Coast (Have)

East Coasting (have)

The Blues Album Cover Art (though I feel they could have incluided a bit more original artwork from before 1960)

(No, I don't have the Blue Note cover art books - they really were a bit too pricy for too much of a same-y thing IMO that they offered overall).

And then:

- In The Groove - Vintage Record Graphics 1940-1960 by Eric Kohler (have)

- Jazz Album Covers - The rare and the beautiful by Manek Daver (have - the most expensive today in that series of cover art books)

- The High Fidelity Art of Jim Flora (which IMO supersedes the other two Jim Flora books by the same editor if you are mainly after his music-related artwork)

(have - There are 4 volumes of his art)

- The Alex Steinweiss book by Taschen is great if you can get it for a good price but the non-classical music contents are relatively slim, unfortunately, and in the long run you CAN tire a bit of that Columbia "house style" of his covers. It may be just me but I find an entire book on Jim Flora more fun to look at than one on Alex Steinweiss or DSM. For me the DSM coverart ist the best you can get ---> private opinion!

Two that straddle the fence (because they also focus a lot on advertisements, sheet music, concert posters, etc.):

- The Art of the Blues by Bill Dahl

- Heart & Soul - A Celebration of Black Music Style in America 1930-1975

Re Taschen-Verlag:

1. TASCHEN-Verlag 2008 Cologne - Authors / Editors: Joaquim Paulo and Julius Wiedeman - printed in China - ISBN 978-3-S365-2406-3
   
   Two heavy volums in a slip case
   
   a) the picture of the slip case
   
   
   
   

    

1. b)  the 2 volumes
   
   

    

   1. 
      
      

       

       

      Not mentioned yet the biggest volume  from Taschen-Verlag "Jazzlife" a huge coffetable book  by William Claxton & the late german jazzcritic J.E. Berend. Cant do scans on a normal scanner so I have to try to do some fotos for displaying here.

   1.    

Here are 2 pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by jazzcorner
pix added & typos

[Big Beat Steve]

JAZZLIFE has been discussed here before. I considered this way outside the scope of LP cover art books so did not dwell on that. But since oyu mention it ...
There seem to be outrageously expensive "Limited editions" by Taschen and then more (much more) affordable ones. I found a copy of the hardcover original of that book from 1961 close to 30 years ago and bought a copy of the Taschen issue in c.2012 at a very good price at a 2001 shop and find that whatever contents were expanded in later extremely expensive releases of JAZZLIFE do not justify in the least that extreme price hike. 

BTW, as you probably are aware if you reflect on it, the author credits of JAZZLIFE are an insult and a corruption of the actual facts. That US tour project of 1961 was organized and seen through by Joachim Ernst Berendt who masterminded it all and called in William Claxton as the photographer to document it visually. Credit to whom credit is due ... So the VERY least they ought to have done is print BOTH names in identically sized fonts on the cover and spine, and strictly speaking  the order ought to have been Berendt first and Claxton next. I suppose Taschen just went the easy way of marketability, figuring Claxton still had some "cult" draw whereas Berendt (partiuclarly on a worldwide scale) was one for the initiated and specialists "only" and therefore not that much of a selling argument. Lame and a distortion of history anyway ...

 

 

 

[jazzcorner]

 

2 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

JAZZLIFE has been discussed here before.

Thanks for your Informations. Yes it is correct to argue this book is not  a cover art book per se. But to create a new thread for books just on the border line (jazz & other topics dealing with jazz) looks a bit bueraucratic  to me. I dont know how the toleration here is. Is there a special thread for such Items here in the forums?

BTW I have most of my cover art books from OLMS, Switzerland and some pocket editions from Beck, Munich (Jazz is Beck) so you might know this source.

 

 

[Big Beat Steve]

I suppose you've noticed there is an entire subforum called "Jazz in Print".

Anything in print and related to jazz (and here and there even to other forms of collectible popular music) goes and fits in
there. Just like THIS thread actually would.
Not a matter of bureaucracy or tolerance limits, just a matter of keeping some sort of (rough) order in the coverage. Otherwise everything would become ONE big blur and blob before (not long but) short.

 

[jazzcorner]

Thanks. That was very helpfull. I am also a Down Beat collector and some other magazines (jazz only) too. So I posted there a request.

 

[Bluesnik]

On 03/12/2019 at 10:59 AM, jazzcorner said:

Not mentioned yet the biggest volume  from Taschen-Verlag "Jazzlife" a huge coffetable book  by William Claxton & the late german jazzcritic J.E. Berend.

I also have Jazz Life, the biggest coffee table book ever. But I didn't now it was a cover book. Well the pics are by William Claxton, but I still haven't looked much into it, and I've had it for more than 10 years!

[Bluesnik]

1 hour ago, Bluesnik said:

the biggest coffee table book ever

It's so big it doesn't fit into any of my book cabinets and I have it standing on the floor next to one.

[jazzcorner]

22 hours ago, Bluesnik said:

I also have Jazz Life, the biggest coffee table book ever. But I didn't now it was a cover book. Well the pics are by William Claxton, but I still haven't looked much into it, and I've had it for more than 10 years!

Yes agreed. It is not a normal  "cover art" book [my fault]. Some other member informed me about the thread of written material where it belongs.

So hopefully that matter is vleared.

Thanks

[Dave Garrett]

On 12/2/2019 at 10:11 AM, Bluesnik said:

That book must be really great. Caetano Rodrigues is one of the experts in bossa.

It's a wonderful book. Rodrigues was said to have the most comprehensive bossa nova collection in private hands, and it was that collection that formed the basis for the book. He passed away in 2010. 

On 12/2/2019 at 10:34 AM, Big Beat Steve said:

That's an interesting one and no doubt it fills a gap. But the time span is one that would put me off as my interest in the styles of country music ends more or less with the early 60s, excepting some later "retro" or tradition-minded bands and artists, of course. As country music was largely a 45rpm market in the 50s and even into the 60s albums often were  afterthoughts or compilations designed to appeal to the entire family in an oh so "wholesome" homeboy manner I am not sure the graphic artwork always really reflected the at least somewhat "modernist" state of the art in graphics of those earlier periods. And my indifference vs the later styles of country music aside, from what I have seen in 60s and 70s country LP covers (and after having waded through this or that HUGE collection when it was dissolved I think I have seen a LOT) I really wonder how many covers does one REALLY need with variations on the theme of the artist sitting on a corral fence and gazing into the wide open or sitting on the front porch or under a shade tree strumming his guitar (or covers showing Porter Wagoner wearing garish outfits that should even make Nudie cringe )?

So this would be one I'd definitely need to take a close look into first. (Amazon does not have online sample pages, it seems)

If memory serves (it's been a while since I looked through it), although there are some covers depicting the well-worn tropes you mention, in general the cover selection is more diverse than you might think. I enjoyed it and found it to be a nice companion to my other album cover books, but my expectations may have been adjusted by the fact that the book was heavily discounted from the cover price. Your mileage may vary. 

[Bluesnik]

14 hours ago, Dave Garrett said:

He passed away in 2010. 

Oh, I didn't know this. So I didn't know he's already dead.

[bakeostrin]

Also, "Jazz Grafico" Jorge Garcia listed as author; an oblong softcover issued by a museum in conjunction with an exhibit of jazz album cover art.

Includes an interview with Burt Goldblatt; separate sections on Goldblatt, Claxton, Herman Leonard and other artists/designers.

I can't remember how many, if any, images from "Jazzlife" appeared on album covers.  Possibly, photos from the same session that produced the photo of Art Pepper ("the road is long") walking with his sax up Fargo Street (the steepest hill in Los Angeles) appeared on some Contemporary albums (but not the one from the book). Quite a number of images from Claxton's "Jazz West Coast" (the 1955 original) appeared as covers on Contemporary albums.

 

[jazzcorner]

14 hours ago, bakeostrin said:

Also, "Jazz Grafico" Jorge Garcia listed as author; an oblong softcover issued by a museum in conjunction with an exhibit of jazz album cover art.

Includes an interview with Burt Goldblatt; separate sections on Goldblatt, Claxton, Herman Leonard and other artists/designers.

 

 

Here are some scans

[Bluesnik]

On 16/12/2019 at 3:53 AM, bakeostrin said:

Also, "Jazz Grafico" Jorge Garcia listed as author; an oblong softcover issued by a museum in conjunction with an exhibit of jazz album cover art.

Oh, this one looks interesting. I might be interested in it. If I can still find it.

[jazzcorner]

Just discussede in another forum the cover art of Jim Flora.

Here are his books of his art and style:

Some of the RCA Sauter-Finegan have Jim Flora cover art.