“Juicy”   Willie Bobo.   Verve.   Another great one from 1967.   Includes the title tune and funky Latin soul/jazz covers of sixties hits including “Music to Watch Girls By,” “Knock On Wood,” “Ain’t to Proud to Beg,” “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”.   Bobo played bongo, timbales, conga, and trap-drum and after stints with Machito, Mongo Santamaria, Perez Prado, Tito Puente, George Shearing, Cal Tjader and Herbie Mann helped pioneer the Boogaloo sound.

(34 votes, average: 3.79 out of 5)

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What a cool, hip, stylish, beautiful, clean, elegant design on Contemporary Records.   Jazz cover art during this period (1955 – 1965) on Blue Note, Prestige, Riverside, Contemporary, Verve and Impulse, for example, set the standard for commercial packaging and art direction and perfectly capture the sophistication and artistry of the music contained within.

(17 votes, average: 4.71 out of 5)

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“Delirium in Hi-Fi”  Elsa Popping and Her Pixieland Band  Fontana Records (UK) 1959.  Jalousie-Tango; Beer Barrel Polka; Adios Muchachos-Tango; La Polka Du Roi.  Illustrated by the great William Steig (Father of jazz flautist Jeremy Steig, FYI)

(24 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)

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The Miles Davis Quintet  “Davis’ Cup”  “Bye Bye Birdie” b/w  “Dear Old Stockholm” Philips Jazz Gallery series – Philips Records (UK) Paul Chambers, “Philly” Joe Jones, Red Garland, John Coltrane, Miles Davis.   From the 1957 Columbia album “Round Midnight”.

(23 votes, average: 4.48 out of 5)

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“Chicago Days” Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five … Vol. 1 Jazz Panorama Records (1951) Cover illustration by J. Lee Anderson.  Clarinet – Johnny Dodds Cornet, Lead Vocals – Louis Armstrong, Drums – Baby Dodds, Piano – Lil Hardin, Trombone – Kid Ory.   Nice drawing in the style of Virgil (VIP) Partch.  And not looking much like Louis and his Hot Five!

(15 votes, average: 4.27 out of 5)

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“MUSIC FOR PLAYBOYS”  A nice copulation of jazz tunes like “Sport Car Races”, “Take the A Train”, “Dancing on the Ceiling”, “Latin Heat”, “Day Break” and other suggestive titles for … playboys!  This is from Brazil on the Chaindis Records label.  A little something here for foot fetishists too.  So make a martini, fire up the hi-fi and invite a friend over.

(20 votes, average: 3.65 out of 5)

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“A Visit to Jazzland”  A sweet 10″ compilation of swing jazz from Philips Records (Holland).   Jimmy Lunceford, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Bunk Johnson, Bix Beiderbecke, etc.

(16 votes, average: 4.19 out of 5)

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The Modern Jazz Quartet  Soundtrack to “Sait-On Jamais”  Atlantic Records (France)

(18 votes, average: 4.11 out of 5)

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Always fun to find different records with the same or similar covers.  Here are two picture sleeves from different countries by different artists using different shots from the same photo shoot.  The one on the top, Hit Parade on Romance Records is from Holland and the one below is an EP from Italy by Nini Rosso “I Ragazzi Del Jazz “on Sprint Records.  One is pop music, the other Jazz.  One from Italy, the other from the Netherlands.  Guessing they both were released in the late fifties/early sixties.  People are more the same than they are different – no matter where they live.

(14 votes, average: 4.36 out of 5)

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Jazz at Saint-Germain Des Pres  Don Byas / Bernard Peiffer   Verve Records  Cover art by the master David Stone Martin

(12 votes, average: 4.17 out of 5)

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