For album lovers everywhere, one of the biggest draws to the vinyl record is the palette format that creates for distinctive cover art. And album art has become more than just an industry term, but a full-term medium, no matter what genre you choose. Even though software like Photoshop has enabled today’s designer to produce vinyl album covers that defy convention, they owe a debt of gratitude to those that initiated the form.
For jazz fanatics, the parade of distinctive Blue Note Records covers remain symbolic not only in the musical world, but in pop culture as well. Possibly the important aspect in creating the signature look that describes jazz vinyl art is the photographic style of Francis Wolff. Wolff quickly found his childhood friend Alfred Lion, one of the co-founders of the label after he moved away to the United States in 1939. Also, Wolff was instrumental in sustaining the inexperienced label’s catalog in print during World War II.
In 1956, Blue Note found the last piece of the design puzzle. The label hired Reid Miles, an artist who was employed by Esquire Magazine, and the greatest line of jazz vinyl covers was born. Often featuring Wolff’s photographs of musicians in the studio, the cover art produced by Miles proved to be as influential in the world of graphic design as the music would be in the world of jazz. Under the guiding hand and vigilant eye of Miles, Blue Note immediately became known for their remarkable jazz vinyl cover designs. Vital factors like tinted black-and-white photographs, the use of sans-serif typefaces and a careful restricting of the color palette – often black and white with a single color – and the regular use of solid rectangular bands of color or white, were directly motivated by the Bauhaus school of design. A few of Reid’s best-known work includes Sonny Clark’s “Cool Struttin,” Art Blakey’s “A Night in Tunisia,” John Coltraine’s “Blue Train,” Kenny Dorham’s “Trompeta Tocatta” and Herbie Hancock’s “My Point of View.”
Though Miles’ work is closely associated with Blue Note, in his personal tastes, Miles was only a casual jazz fan. Blue Note gave him several copies of the many dozens of jazz vinyl albums he designed, but Miles gave most to friends and sold them to second-hand record shops. Further emblematic of the influence of the Blue Note design work, a few mid-1950s jazz vinyl covers feature drawings by an as-yet-known Andy Warhol.