Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of record covers from the golden age of LPs


Subscribe to feed Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Tumblr

Jazz

You are currently browsing the archive for the Jazz category.

Boppin’ in Paris

img_3927

The Dizzy Gillespie Sextet   “Jazz Time Paris”   French Vogue Records   (1952) NAT PECK – WADE LEGGE – ARNOLD ROSS – LOU HACKNEY – JOE BENJAMIN – AL JONES – BILL CLARK – JOE CARROLL – BILL GRAHAM

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (44 votes, average: 4.77 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Before hip hop there was be bop

james_moody_bebop-noblock

James Moody BE BOP “Tomorrow’s Music Today”   Metronome Records (From Lp cover lover, Mika)

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (30 votes, average: 4.17 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Cocktail jazz

chubby_jackson_lemon_drop-noblock

Graphic designer, musician and lp cover lover Mika of Finland writes us:   Hi There!   The LP Cover Lover site is fabulous! I decided to send you some record covers, mostly for their nice graphics. CHUBBY JACKSON – LEMON DROP   Rainbow Records.   Cover Design: Leonard Besser

Try a Lemon Drop tonight!

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (24 votes, average: 3.96 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Letter perfect

monkfoster

Thelonious Monk with Sonny Rollins and Frank Foster (1954)   Prestige 7053     Designed by the esteemed Reid Miles with Andy Warhol.   (Warhol’s mother actually supplied the hand-written script)   A lesson in graphic design.

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (43 votes, average: 4.77 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Backfield in motion

3236188063_02d0efcf33_b

Harold Ousley “Sweet Double Hipness”   (1972)   Muse Records   (To hear this one, check out Kathleen Loves Music)

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (55 votes, average: 4.04 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Roam the cosmos

sun-ra-charles-bass-noblock

Discipline 27-II   Sun Ra     (Recorded during the same 1972 sessions as Impulse’s “Space Is the Place”)   A tough one to find and well-worth seeking out, especially for those who like “Space Is the Place.”   (This post courtesy of lp cover lover Charles Bass who wrote “Why is this my favorite cover?   The life it portrays is fascinating and inexorable.   It’s also one of my favorite albums”)

The title cut is a side-long space chant number, presumably recorded as one lengthy piece, although the tune itself is divided into three sections.   Lyrics to Discipline 27-II:

What planet is this?   (repeat)

What planet is this?   (repeat)

Is this a planet of life?   (repeat)

Is this a planet of life . . . or death?   (repeat)

If this is a planet of life, why are people dying here?   (repeat)

This is not life, this is not life . . . this is death disguised as life.   (repeat)

If this is a planet of life, why do people die here?

I . . . I roam the cosmos . . . I know what life is . . . Life is splendid.   (repeat)

Why don’t you . . . why don’t you seek to know the mysteries of the greater universe?   Why do you want to stay on just one isolated little planet?

(Why . . . why don’t you want to seek the greater mysteries of the universe?

Why . . . why do you want to stay on this one little isolated planet?)

Are you afraid? . . . What is it you want to know? Do you want to know where the universe came from?   I’ll tell you.   At first there was nothing . . .

At first there was nothing . . . then nothing turned itself inside out and became something.   (repeat)

Why don’t you turn yourself inside out?   (repeat)

Come with me . . . come with me . . . to the outer planets.   Why do you want to stay here?   What do you have to lose here?   You have nothing to lose . . . except your death.

(Come . . . with me to the outer planets.   Why do you want to stay here?   You have nothing to lose . . . but your death.)

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (56 votes, average: 4.48 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

The Rumproller

img_2720

“The Rumproller”   Lee Morgan Joe Henderson Ronnie Matthews Victor Sproles and Billy Higgins   Blue Note 4199 (1965)   Reid Miles cover design.   Rudy Van Gelder produced.   Photo by Blue Note founder Francis Wolff. Liner Notes by Leonard Feather. Listen up: “

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

”  

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Lee Morgan had two albums in the can when “The Sidewinder” became the surprise hit of 1964, making the Top 100 pop album charts. Blue Note brought Lee back into the studio for a follow-up album with Joe Henderson and Billy Higgins reprising their roles. The kick-off funk tune “The Rumproller” was written by Andrew Hill and proved a worthy successor to “The Sidewinder”. But Lee’s beautiful “Desert Moonlight”, in time, became regarded as this album’s classic performance. The ballad “The Lady” offers a rare appearance by Lee with muted trumpet. (True Blue)

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (66 votes, average: 4.17 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Roy “Little Jazz” Eldridge

royeldridge

Roy Eldridge “Collates”   Mercury Records (Supervised by Norman Granz) Illustration by David Stone Martin.

Instead of other Collates series, this album is NOT a collection of Roy Eldridge’s previously-released 78rpm/45rpm single tracks, but two different sessions aimed for this LP album.

Roy Eldridge (tp) Buddy Tate (ts) Teddy Brannon (p) Clyde Lombardi (b) Charlie Smith (d)   NYC, August, 1951

579-6 Baby, What’s The Matter With You?
580-6 Yard Dog
581-3 Sweet Lorraine
582-5 Jumbo The Elephant

Roy Eldridge (tp) George Williams (dir) unidentified orchestra   NYC, December, 1951

644-6 Basin Street Blues
645-2 I Remember Harlem
646-4 Easter Parade
647-3 I See Everybody’s Baby

** also issued on Clef MGC 113

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (58 votes, average: 4.40 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Reverend Louis

img_3554

“Louis and the Good Book”   Louis Armstrong with the Sy Oliver Choir and the All-Stars   (1958) Decca Records

This is a collection of gospel songs, spirituals, homilies, and comic vignettes.   This is Armstrong at his most essential. It’s the real honest him. Armstrong takes a few trumpet solos, but his voice is what is showcased, and God is honored here.

Personnel includes: Louis Armstrong (vocals, trumpet); Sy Oliver Choir (vocals); Trummy Young (trombone); Hank D’Amico, Edmond Hall, Dave McRae (clarinet); Billy Kyle (piano); Nickie Tragg, Harry Mills (organ); George Barnes (guitar); Joe Benjamin, Mort Herbert (bass); Johnny Blowers, Barrett Deems (drums).   Backed by a gospel vocal group led by   jazz arranger Sy Oliver.

Recorded in August 1950 in New York, New York.   Produced by Mort Gabler. Liner notes by Martin Williams.,

Includes:   “Ezekiel Saw De Wheel,” “Going to Shout All Over God’s Heaven,” and “Didn’t it Rain,” as well as “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” from GUYS AND DOLLS.     Also “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen,” “Shadrack,”   “Go Down, Moses,”   “Rock My Soul,”   “Ezekiel Saw de Wheel,” “On My Way,” “Down by the Riverside,” “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” “Jonah and the Whale,” and “This Train”

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (36 votes, average: 3.83 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

Mallets A Fore Thought

img_3434

Vic Feldman on Interlude Records

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (64 votes, average: 4.41 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...