The Cover Art of Blue Note Records: The Collection. A Visual Feast of Jazz Art History from Blue Note's Archives

I bought this as a birthday gift for a friend of mind who in his youth had met many of the American jazz players when they visited England in the 50's and 60's. He was absolutely delighted with this present.

The Cover Art of Blue Note Records is Graham Marsh and Glyn Callingham's classic collection of the finest record sleeves produced by the celebrated Blue Note record label. This hard cover edition is the complete compilation of the original volumes published nearly two decades ago. Including every cover, essay and photo that appeared in the original volumes, this collection is bound to appeal. Iconic covers of artists such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Eric Dolphy, Dexter Gordon, Lee Morgan, Grant Green, Stanley Turrentine, Lou Donaldson, Cannonball Adderley, Donald Byrd, Ornette Coleman, Jimmy Smith, Jackie McLean, Kenny Burrell and Art Blakey, make this anthology an evocative piece of Jazz history. With over 400 of the best covers in the record label's history and a selection of short essays, this is a comprehensive guide for all Jazz fans and anyone interested in classic design.A splendid timeless collector's piece for all music fans.

Great quality, wonderful content, a must have for cover art fan

This is an outstanding book, but if you want in-depth analysis of the individual recordings, you might be a trifle disappointed. I wasn’t disappointed at all.For me, Blue Note was and is about the “whole” - the music and the photography used on the album covers. There was a style that was unmatched or rivalled. Columbia tried hard (‘Kind of Blue’ by Miles Davis came very close) but Blue Note were pretty much the leaders.I love this book. Even better who listening to the music with an ale or coffee in hand!

Purchasing the original two volume edition these days means taking out a second mortgage, so praise be for this 2021 hardback collection! If you're reading this review then you already know that designer Reid Miles and photographer Francis Wolff produced probably the best album cover art for any record label across any musical genre ever. This is ART irrespective of it's commercial origins to advertise LP records in the 1950s and 60s and it's only the notorious snobbery of the art world which has prevented wider public recognition.For me, Miles/Wolff completely defined the inspirational look of Blue Note records, (I bet you too can immediately identify a Blue Note album in an LP record rack just by the combination of cropped photo and typography, right?), so it's something of a shock looking at some of the album covers from the late 1960s after Reid Miles left the label because the sleeves are so.... ordinary, unexceptional, even boring to look at.Nevermind, fortunately Marsh and Callingham have only included a few of these.I would have given this a five star review mainly because it should have been printed as a larger sized volume to do full justice to the exceptional art within but also for the repetition quotes from the same individuals used within and for the glaring error in the author's introduction which states that Blue Note was founded in 1959!

If you don't have (or can't afford) the original two full size issues of the Blue Note Cover Art books, then this single edition is just as good (although on a slightly smaller scale, dimensionally). Pure nostalgia looking at the cover photos - its amazing how just looking at a picture of, say Grant Green's "Green Street", can bring back the feeling of the 60's era that was my youth. Useful inclusion of some Japanese issue Blue Notes that I did not even know the existence of (and some fine original black & white photos) - a must for any Blue Note collector!

Fabulous book!Chocabloc full of photos of album covers, great art references both visually and musically.Wonderful, packed full of high quality images and lots of information.A great keepsake and a great present for lovers of album covers, music history and jazz.

The book features some terrific photos of Blue Note artists and album covers. It's a superb keepsake for the jazz afficiando and as a design reference book.