What do you think?
Rate this book
Blue Note: Album Cover Art
Smaller in trim size, greatly expanded in content, this compendium of Chronicle’s classic Blue Note books (50,000 copies sold) is now an appealingly chunky paperback. Blue Note remains one of the most influential jazz labels of all time, and its cover art is a virtual time-capsule of cool. Now comprehensive, Blue Album Cover Art gathers nearly 400 of the legendary covers, spanning the ’40s to the ’70s, and features the greatest work of legendary Blue Note art director Reid Miles. Simple and sophisticated, moody and alluring, these covers continue to influence designers and excite jazz aficionados today. "One glance," as Esquire said of the original edition, "and you’ll know where the essence of cool remains."
288 pages, Paperback
First published June 20, 1991
6 people are currently reading
245 people want to read
About the author
Graham Marsh
45 books2 followersGraham Marsh is an art director, illustrator and writer. He has written and art directed many ground-breaking visual books, including The Cover Art of Blue Note Records, Volumes I and II, East Coasting and California Cool. He has co-authored and art directed Denim – From Cowboys to Catwalks and a series of books with Tony Nourmand on movie posters. His most recent projects include The Ivy Look and an illustrated children’s book, Max and the Lost Note. He is also the creator of the Kamakura Vintage Ivy style shirts.
Graham’s illustrations have appeared in magazines, newspapers and on many CD and album covers. He has contributed to numerous publications including Country Life and Financial Times. He lives in Greenwich, south-east London.
Graham is the Art Director of The Rat Pack (R|A|P Two) and Weddings and Movie Stars.
He is the Art Director and Writer of Hollywood and The Ivy Look.
Graham’s illustrations have appeared in magazines, newspapers and on many CD and album covers. He has contributed to numerous publications including Country Life and Financial Times. He lives in Greenwich, south-east London.
Graham is the Art Director of The Rat Pack (R|A|P Two) and Weddings and Movie Stars.
He is the Art Director and Writer of Hollywood and The Ivy Look.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 20, 2019
Blue Note is in a class by itself. With Rudy Van Gelder as the recording engineer the sound quality is pristine, and now with qobuz and tidal streaming at high res the sound is an audiofile’s dream come true.
Reid Miles was the designer for the album covers which have a unity that is not boring, each cover is a work of art. Francis Wolff one of the founders of the label was behind the camera, and the shots he took were full of life. You can’t look at a shot of Art Blakey at the drums without hearing his signature ‘rim shots’.
Reid Miles said, “Frank always hated it when I cropped one of his photographs of his artists through the forehead”. Now I’m noticing them all over the place.
Graham Marsh and Glyn Callingham have created two wonderful books, well done!
Reid Miles was the designer for the album covers which have a unity that is not boring, each cover is a work of art. Francis Wolff one of the founders of the label was behind the camera, and the shots he took were full of life. You can’t look at a shot of Art Blakey at the drums without hearing his signature ‘rim shots’.
Reid Miles said, “Frank always hated it when I cropped one of his photographs of his artists through the forehead”. Now I’m noticing them all over the place.
Graham Marsh and Glyn Callingham have created two wonderful books, well done!
January 23, 2011
A truly beautiful book - full of many of the most [full size] uplifting and stylish album covers ever created. They've been ripped off left, right, and centre by advertisers and publicists in all branches of the arts. Blue Note wasn't the only jazz label turning out cool sleeve artwork to match the sounds, but they were the best. I lost my copy somewhere along the way...how I'd dearly love another copy...!
September 10, 2009
What you can do with just two or three colours will never stop fascinate me. Cool. I´ve had it for like 15 years now.
September 3, 2021
This is mostly a picture book, and focuses on Blue Notes most famous graphic designer Reid Miles. There's some covers from other artists but it's mostly Miles' work here, and the few bits of text are dedicated to his work too.
I actually like a lot of the pre-Miles covers so it's a pity they tend not to get much respect, even in passing.
The size of this book means there's some fantastic detail to be seen, as the book is around 12" just like the LPs.
If you've watched any Blue Note docos you'll know the photos used for album artwork were often cropped from studio photos, and it would have been great to see some examples of that here. Maybe some side by side comparisons.
As a collection of images this is a beautiful book, but greater information and context would have been appreciated too.
I actually like a lot of the pre-Miles covers so it's a pity they tend not to get much respect, even in passing.
The size of this book means there's some fantastic detail to be seen, as the book is around 12" just like the LPs.
If you've watched any Blue Note docos you'll know the photos used for album artwork were often cropped from studio photos, and it would have been great to see some examples of that here. Maybe some side by side comparisons.
As a collection of images this is a beautiful book, but greater information and context would have been appreciated too.
May 11, 2019
Maybe it was the limitations of print during the Jazz era, or the turnaround time required as the artists pushed out record after record, but somehow the Jazz era produced a universal stylish simplicity that is instantly recognisable. This celebration of that style is a welcome coffee table book for any fan of album art or jazz history.
April 10, 2020
Wonderful reproductions and nicely formatted. Kind of wish there were more anecdotal notes about the creation of individual covers.
January 10, 2022
Beautiful photo album but they missed the chance to include Reid's comments on his designs.
May 10, 2024
So much design inspo in one book. No one does it like Blue Note!
June 21, 2016
I'm so glad I own this book, since it seems to be quite rare. I bought it at an Oxfam for £4 after seeing it unpriced in a box of their recent donations. On taking it to the counter, the cashier merely conjured that figure off the top of his head and I paid accordingly, as I'd been on the hunt for this book. I expect that when he googled the book and saw that it's priced at £40 on Amazon, he was rather frustrated. But hey-ho!
I feel album artwork is very important - it enhances your listening experience if you have something visually stimulating to compliment it. Blue Note records have the most gorgeous and captivating artwork that matches the vivacity and energy of the music they hold inside. This is thanks to innovative designer Reid Miles, who took Francis Wolff's already chic photographs of the jazz artists and integrated them within a brilliantly original and effortlessly cool album design. In this book, there are some beautiful, blown-up pictures of the artworks accompanied by some insightful commentary on their creation and their success. A real treat for the eyes, just like the music's a treat for the ears.
I feel album artwork is very important - it enhances your listening experience if you have something visually stimulating to compliment it. Blue Note records have the most gorgeous and captivating artwork that matches the vivacity and energy of the music they hold inside. This is thanks to innovative designer Reid Miles, who took Francis Wolff's already chic photographs of the jazz artists and integrated them within a brilliantly original and effortlessly cool album design. In this book, there are some beautiful, blown-up pictures of the artworks accompanied by some insightful commentary on their creation and their success. A real treat for the eyes, just like the music's a treat for the ears.
December 14, 2007
Anyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for albums from the classic era of Blue Note Records. In fact, I'm listening to Green Street by Grant Green as I type this. Part of what makes that fertile period (think late '50s to the early '70s, primarily) so compelling was the wonderful design of so many of the album covers. Some of these are fairly iconic (the cover to John Coltrane's album Blue Train springs immediately to mind as does Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch). Here, collected for your viewing pleasure, are hundred of those images. A strong "house style" at work, to be sure, but a lot of variety as well. Just a great book to thumb through or sit with for hours.
July 4, 2015
A fantastic book which is one I return to again and again. But then I love jazz album art and especially love Blue Note. The music was pretty damn great too!
You may be interested in my blog on my favourite jazz album sleeves of the last 15 years.
http://philbrett.me/2015/07/03/my-fav...
This follows a series of blogs on the decades following 1940.
You may be interested in my blog on my favourite jazz album sleeves of the last 15 years.
http://philbrett.me/2015/07/03/my-fav...
This follows a series of blogs on the decades following 1940.
Read
February 21, 2010Blue Note: The Album Cover Art by Graham Marsh (1991)
Read
November 23, 2014hard to beat Reid Miles cover designs
November 9, 2008
from Monk to Eric Dolphy...just keep me in the Blue Note groove
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews