Jazz Covers
Joaquim Paulo and Julius Wiedemann
560 pages
ISBN: 978-3-8365-2406-3
Taschen
2012

Writers Joaquim Paulo and Julius Wiedemann have assembled a stellar exhibit by way of these oversized Taschen books. The two volumes, packaged in a slipcase, are a beautiful collection of album cover art that document the global jazz scene from 1940-90. They are comprised of pristine transferred images and represent both commercial and fine art trends.

The covers evoke specific genres of jazz art, such as illustrator Stanislaw Zagorski's blue cowboy on the Modern Jazz Quartet Modern Jazz Quartet

band/orchestra 's The Sheriff (Atlantic, 1964) and David Martin's black and blue graphic of saxophonist Lester Young Lester Young
1909 - 1959
saxophone 's Collates No.2 (Verve, 1951). Many of the sleeves are rescued examples of all but disappeared expressionism.

Some of the most arresting art are from out of print sleeves, like the Swing label's Jazz at Massey Hall (1953) with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie Dizzy Gillespie
1917 - 1993
trumpet , bassist Charles Mingus Charles Mingus
1922 - 1979
bass, acoustic , drummer Max Roach Max Roach
1925 - 2007
drums , pianist Bud Powell Bud Powell
1924 - 1966
piano and saxophonist Charlie Parker Charlie Parker
1920 - 1955
sax, alto The jazz giants are drawn as faces on a deck of playing cards, with only an unconfirmed credit to "Ch.D," presumably the illustrator's initials.

Other designs reflect the expansive world of composers like keyboardist Sun Ra Sun Ra
1914 - 1993
keyboard depicted by Paul Frick's 16th century astronomy chart on the cover of The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra (ESP, 1966). At the other end of spectrum is the psychedelic abstract of Don Bied on Ra's The Magic City (Evidence, 1973).

Among the most famous photography covers included are full page plates of Francis Wolff's cover for saxophonist John Coltrane John Coltrane
1926 - 1967
saxophone Blue Trane (Blue Note, 1957) and Paul Bacon's cover for pianist Thelonious Monk Thelonious Monk
1917 - 1982
piano 's Underground (Columbia, 1968), a tableau with Monk playing in a French resistance hideout. Arnold Newman's now indelible profile portrait of singer Billie Holiday Billie Holiday
1915 - 1959
vocal in the last year of her life for the cover of what would be her final studio release, Lady in Satin (Columbia, 1959), is still heartbreaking, not to mention still spellbinding.

Many covers mirror socio-political themes in general and social injustices in particular. One such is designer Ed Lee's scabrous cover for saxophonist Ornette Coleman Ornette Coleman
b.1930
sax, alto 's Skies of America (Columbia, 1972) with Winslow Homeresque engraving of seagulls diving into the red strips of American flag, rending the stripes and flying away bloodied, craven images.

Some of the artwork makes bold editorial statements that were probably under the radar of some observers, for example Wolff's dramatically blurred black and white photo of what could be an interracial couple on drummer Art Blakey Art Blakey
1919 - 1990
drums 's Like Someone in Love (Blue Note, 1960).

There are also examples of the record industry's practice in the 1950s of putting comely white models on covers of black artists' albums to pander to racist American markets. These were eventually erased by artist protests and powerful images of black culture, here represented by such iconic covers as trumpeter Miles Davis Miles Davis
1926 - 1991
trumpet Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969).

At the other end of the spectrum, photo glamour is fully represented. William Claxton's photos of trumpeter Chet Baker Chet Baker
1929 - 1988
trumpet gave him French cinema mystique that has influenced any number of contemporary photographers from Annie Leibovitz to Herb Ritts. Joe Alper's cover of saxophonist John Coltrane John Coltrane
1926 - 1967
saxophone and singer Johnny Hartman Johnny Hartman
1923 - 1983
vocal captures an intimate symmetry between the two artists.

Fred Cohen, owner of the Jazz Record Center in New York, writes that the original sleeves are hot items today, as many connoisseurs are choosing vinyl over other formats. Mosaic label founder Michael Cuscuna, who re-issued albums long after their apparent shelf-life, comments that he, like a lot of jazz fans, doesn't miss the vinyl sound, but rather the LP jacket and readable liner notes.

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