What a nice portrait of the beautiful, soulful, jazzy, political and proud Nina Simone deep in thought. The photo is uncredited, but there’s a good chance it was done by Burt Goldblatt who did many for Bethlehem at this time.

Nina Simone and Her Friends (1959) is actually a compilation album of Bethlehem recording stars including Simone and her label mates Chris Connor and Carmen McCrae. The Nina Simone tracks were recorded in New York City in 1957 with Simone singing and on piano, Jimmy Bond on bass and Al Heath on drums. Her four songs here are “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands,” “I Loves You Porgy,” “For All We Know” and the instrumental “African Mailman”.

(13 votes, average: 4.54 out of 5)

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Cover design by Reid Miles. Photo by Francis Wolff. Recording by Rudy Van Gelder. Notes by Robert Levin. Blue Note 1577. (1957)   Coltrane’s only date as a leader for Blue Note and after A Love Supreme his best selling record.   A highlight in Blue Note’s amazing catalog and for sure a “desert island disc”!

Lee Morgan (T), Curtis Fuller (Tb), John Coltrane (TS), Kenny Drew (P), Paul Chambers (B), “Philly” Joe Jones (D)

Side One: Blue Train, Moment’s Notice Side Two: Locomotion, I’m Old Fashioned, Lazy Bird

(43 votes, average: 4.81 out of 5)

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Man, what a great cover! representing the best of American 20th Century arts.   Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong 1956.   A desert island disc for sure. So good they had to do it again in 1957 (“Ella and Louis Again”)

Cover photo: Phil Stern Producer: Norman Granz

With the Oscar Peterson Trio of Ray Brown on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar plus Buddy Rich on drums.

“In such a palmy setting, Armstrong is in simple, unraffish condition and Ella is in impeccable voice”

A classic recording of standards including “Moonlight in Vermont,” They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” “Tenderly,” “A Foggy Day,” “Stars Fell on Alabama,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “The Nearness of You,” and others.

(19 votes, average: 4.32 out of 5)

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The Modern Jazz Quartet. John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Percy Heath and Connie Kay. Atlantic Records 1265 (1957) Featuring Medley: They Say It’s Wonderful/How Deep is the Ocean/I Don’t Stand A Ghost of a Chance with You/My Old Flame/Body and Soul; Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea; La Ronde: Drums; A Night In Tunisia; Yesterdays; Bags’ Groove; Baden-Baden.   Cover photo: Fabian Bachrach / Recording engineer: Tom Dowd / Supervision: Nesuhi Ertegun / Liner notes: Nat Hentoff

(16 votes, average: 3.94 out of 5)

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On Smash records. 1962. I love this cover. Both for the photograph and the typography.

Billy Mitchell was a Detroit tenor man who in the fifties played (and recorded) with the bands of Dizzy Gillespie (1956) and then Count Basie (1957). Sidemen on this session include Bobby Hutcherson on vibraharp; Herman Wright on bass, Otis Finch on drums and on one track Dave Burns on trumpet. Mitchell continued to lead bands throughout the sixties and seventies and played live into the nineties before passing away in 2001. Among his other recordings were a series of sessions with co-leader and trombonist Al Grey.

(14 votes, average: 4.21 out of 5)

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United Artists Jazz (UAJ 14003) Bill Evans, Piano; Jim Hall, Guitar. Produced by Alan Douglas. Front Cover Photo by fashion photographer Toni Frissel of a woman floating in the water at Weeki Wachee Spring, Florida was published in Harper’s Bazaar in December 1947.

This beautiful gatefold album includes an “essay” inside by Barry J. Titus after Jim Hall and Bill Evans titled “Wait Quickly” that looks almost like “greek type” or non-sensical strings of words. Not sure if it’s beat poetry or just impressionistic rambling. One section reads “Eyes dance truth’s instrument. Sieve, sickle and sloat, red grimes grey molds parted skins furrowed tissue lives skeletal screams. Longbrown stone blunt nose raised. “Naked day?” puffed sound slices blush.” Huh?! But you can’t look at Jazz album cover art without considering the simple power of this dream-like photograph.

This album, from 1962, was the first collaboration between the two (Intermodulation four years later being the second). This was Evans first recording after some time off following the death of bassist Scott LaFaro. Hall at the time was in Sonny Rollins quartet. Musically, it is a sophisticated, subtle dialog between two jazz giants in their prime. Murray Horowitz, on NPR, called it “Lovely impressionistic music that draws a perfect winter afternoon picture.”

(30 votes, average: 4.73 out of 5)

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“Velvet Strings” Armand Bernard et son orchestre.   Pacific records.   Photo: Jacques Decaux From France.

(28 votes, average: 4.54 out of 5)

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Sometimes covers can seem like stills from a movie. Dramatic moments pulled from a bigger story. “Let me in you bastard! Let me in!” Maybe she’s not a great actress. Maybe if I knew what the songs were about I’d have a greater understanding, but I kind of like it mysterious.

(11 votes, average: 4.73 out of 5)

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