John Coltrane Album Covers

[Rabshakeh]

Seriously, why do they all look like that?

Atlantic wasn't always so hot, but Impulse! at least put decent money towards innovative and varied design. 

Why are all John Coltrane records basically the same?

[Niko]

A good one... I guess that if Coltrane would have said "this record is about spaghetti" and "this record is about rabbits" covers might have looked different... Instead, he said "this record is about myself, where I stand right now" and because that happened every few weeks, and because designers didn't listen to the music...

[JSngry]

Look like what?

[JSngry]

Do you mean the ones with all the shots from a C. Stewart shoot where the lighting makes it look like his jacket is purple?

If so, laziness, imo. Maybe they own them outright?

[Rabshakeh]

7 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Do you mean the ones with all the shots from a C. Stewart shoot where the lighting makes it look like his jacket is purple?

If so, laziness, imo. Maybe they own them outright?

Those are particularly bad. They somehow look so cheap and 80s. Even though they aren't.

But even the others are just basic. As Niko says, just the same photo over and over. Coltrane looking stolid, playing his horn, sweating. 

All the other records that Impulse! put out look great. Archie Shepp, Alice Coltrane, Marion Brown, Sun Ra, all have great covers. Whereas all Coltrane records are the same, barring maybe Interstellar Space, which has some clouds, and Ballads, which has a camera angle.

[JSngry]

So you are referring strictly to posthumous  impulse! covers then?

I didn't notice any real trend that way until Stellar Regions. And then, yeah, they got a bit....uninspired.

 

[Rabshakeh]

Nope. They’re pretty similar throughout. Not just Impulse! either.

[JSngry]

Some of the CD packagings are uninspired. Like, the Japan thing had an infinitely more interesting cover as an LP. No idea why they did that...maybe in response to the Marsailian-ish fear of music like that, maybe they wanted it to look like something else.

vs

2 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

Nope. They’re pretty similar throughout. Not just Impulse! either.

Hmmm....not sure I'd agree with that, at least not for original issues.

Coltrane was famous. He had a saleable visage. Was there ever a Beatles album without them on the cover? Or Sinatra?

And they weren't even saints!!!!!

[JSngry]

Oh, photos, yeah, probably. But why not? Again, he was famous (relative to the market).

But the actual designs themselves, I think the OGs are pretty varied, even within the impulse! "brand look". And even then, after the next regime came in...

etc

 

[mjazzg]

On 9/25/2024 at 11:58 PM, JSngry said:

Coltrane was famous. He had a saleable visage. Was there ever a Beatles album without them on the cover? Or Sinatra?

And they weren't even saints!!!!!

I'm going with this theory. Recognisable, high profile, why bother being imaginative 

[clifford_thornton]

On 9/25/2024 at 6:58 PM, JSngry said:

Some of the CD packagings are uninspired. Like, the Japan thing had an infinitely more interesting cover as an LP. No idea why they did that...maybe in response to the Marsailian-ish fear of music like that, maybe they wanted it to look like something else.

vs

Hmmm....not sure I'd agree with that, at least not for original issues.

Coltrane was famous. He had a saleable visage. Was there ever a Beatles album without them on the cover? Or Sinatra?

And they weren't even saints!!!!!

Japanese original: 

On 9/25/2024 at 7:15 PM, JSngry said:

Oh, photos, yeah, probably. But why not? Again, he was famous (relative to the market).

But the actual designs themselves, I think the OGs are pretty varied, even within the impulse! "brand look". And even then, after the next regime came in...

 

etc

 

Impulse pressing is a reissue. First came out on Coltrane Records:

a few of the Atlantics and some of the early Prestige LPs did not have images of the artist, either, though he was arguably less of a household name at the time.

[jazzbo]

The original Savoy material also did not feature photos of Coltrane. . . some interesting covers IMO.

[gvopedz]

On 9/25/2024 at 5:58 PM, JSngry said:

Was there ever a Beatles album without them on the cover?

The "White album" comes with photos of the Beatles inside, but I would say the cover is entirely white without "them on the cover".

[JSngry]

23 minutes ago, gvopedz said:

The "White album" comes with photos of the Beatles inside, but I would say the cover is entirely white without "them on the cover".

More than compensated for by the inserts!

56 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

Japanese original

Is that an LP? Wow...

29 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

The original Savoy material also did not feature photos of Coltrane. . . some interesting covers IMO.

Because they were Wilbur Harden records? Or am I missing one?

[sidewinder]

1 hour ago, clifford_thornton said:

Japanese original: 

Impulse pressing is a reissue. First came out on Coltrane Records:

a few of the Atlantics and some of the early Prestige LPs did not have images of the artist, either, though he was arguably less of a household name at the time.

I have a copy of that AU 4950 Cosmic Music on Coltrane Recording Corporation. Remarkably, it is still in near-mint nick.

There are photos, I recall, of Alice Coltrane's Dix Hills recording studio showing posters of that grey-pattern cover art on the walls.

Edited September 27, 2024 by sidewinder

[jazzbo]

17 minutes ago, JSngry said:

 

Because they were Wilbur Harden records? Or am I missing one?

Two were not billed that way on the cover with Harden and Trane the first two names listed.

Edited September 27, 2024 by jazzbo

[JSngry]

According to the label, they were Harden dates. He had the deal with Savoy.

[Niko]

The third record is formally leaderless... So, in particular, there's no attempt whatsoever to market it as a Coltrane record

[clifford_thornton]

38 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Is that an LP? Wow...

yep, JP Impulse LP.

There's also Second Night in Tokyo, which was released a few years later, and is IMO even stronger:

It is too bad that the jam sessions with Japanese musicians were not recorded. I asked Fujioka-san and he confirmed no tapes were made.

31 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

There are photos, I recall, of Alice Coltrane's Dix Hills recording studio showing posters of that grey-pattern cover art on the walls.

Ah! I always wondered where they cribbed that pattern from.

I too have AU 4950 in NM condition.

[sidewinder]

15 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

yep, JP Impulse LP.

There's also Second Night in Tokyo, which was released a few years later, and is IMO even stronger:

Ah! I always wondered where they cribbed that pattern from.

I too have AU 4950 in NM condition.

The posters on the wall looked to be reproductions of the LP cover with some publicity blurb so not cribbed from there. If my recollection is right, the origin of the art is of some pattern sketches by John Coltrane himself.

My copy has an unusual play history. Prior to me acquiring it the story was that it was played once by original owner to transfer the content across to reel-to-reel tape, then stuck in a cupboard for a few decades !

Edited September 27, 2024 by sidewinder

[clifford_thornton]

aha! now I get it, yes, that makes sense. I had thought you meant it was actually their wallpaper.

[sidewinder]

24 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

aha! now I get it, yes, that makes sense. I had thought you meant it was actually their wallpaper.

From memory it was a couple of the same framed posters on the studio walls near the mixing desk. Very cool layout I thought.

[jazzbo]

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

According to the label, they were Harden dates. He had the deal with Savoy.

I agree but from the cover that is not so clear, and just years afterwards these were best known as dates with Coltrane.

[JSngry]

Most people who would have had the cover would have also had the record that went inside it.

I got it in the 70s on a Savoy 2-fer and the notes specified their origin.

Then again, I like to read all that stuff, labels and liners. I've been a geek like that.

[jazzbo]

I bought them as Savoy LPs and considered them Coltrane records because that was the reason I bought them.

 

OKAY! YOU DA MAN! Have a nice weekend.

Edited September 27, 2024 by jazzbo