The history of the album cover and show poster begins with jazz. Alex Steinweiss started creating the first album artwork at Columbia Records in the late 30s, replacing the brown paper sleeves that jazz 78s came in. David Stone Martin did early work for Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic, creating unique lettering and illustrations with a crow quill pen (his work is in the Smithsonian). But the most influential designer was probably Reid Miles, who created over 500 album covers for Blue Note Records. He pioneered the use of creatively-arranged type over monochromatic photography, which is a style that is still widely used in graphic design today.
Rather than post 100s of covers and posters, I wanted to isolate the lettering for easy browsing and analysis. There’s a lot of lettering out there, and a lot I left out. I tried to cover most of the genre’s significant musicians (and only pick one piece per artist), but if missed anything glaring, let me know.
As a bonus, there’s a bit of a cross-over with one of my recent posts. See if you can spot the Milton Glaser lettering!
Ahmad JamalPiano
Albert AylerSaxophone
Anthony BraxtonMulti-instrumental
Art BlakeyDrums
Art PepperSaxophone
Artie ShawClarinet
Art TatumPiano
Ben WebsterSaxophone
Bennie MotonPiano
Benny CarterMulti-instrumental
Benny GoodmanClarinet
Bessie SmithVocals
Bill EvansPiano
Billie HolidayVocals
Bud PowellPiano
Buddy RichDrums
Cab CallowayVocals
Cannonball AdderleySaxophone
Cecil TaylorPiano
Charles EarlandOrgan
Charles MingusBass
Charlie ParkerSaxophone
Chet BakerTrumpet
Chick CorreaPiano
Chick WebbDrums
Chuck MangioneFlugelhorn
Clifford BrownTrumpet
Coleman HawkinsSaxophone
Count BasiePiano
Dave BrubeckPiano
David MurraySaxophone
Dean MartinVocals
Della ReeseVocals
Dexter GordonSaxophone
Dinah WashingtonVocals
Dizzy GillespieTrumpet
Django ReinhardtGuitar
Donald ByrdTrumpet
Duke EllingtonPiano
Earl HinesPiano
Eddie JeffersonVocals
Ella FitzgeraldVocals
Eric DolphySaxophone
Errol GarnerPiano
Esther PhillipsVocals
Etta JamesVocals
Fats NavarroTrumpet
Fats WallerPiano
Fletcher HendersonPiano
Frank SinatraVocals
Freddie HubbardTrumpet
Gato BarbieriSaxophone
George BensonGuitar
George RussellPiano
George ShearingPiano
Gerry MulliganSaxophone
Gil EvansPiano
Gil Scott-HeronVocals
Hank CrawfordSaxophone
Hank MobleySaxophone
Herb AlpertTrumpet
Herbie HancockPiano/Keyboards
Herbie MannFlute
Horace SilverPiano
Hugh MasekelaTrumpet
Illinois JacquetSaxophone
Jack McDuffOrgan
James MoodySaxophone
J.J. JohnsonTrombone
Jelly Roll MortonPiano
Jimmie LuncefordSaxophone
Jimmy DorseyClarinet
Jimmy SmithOrgan
Joe HendersonSaxophone
John ColtraneSaxophone
John McLaughlinGuitar
Johnny “Hammond” SmithOrgan
June ChristyVocals
Keith JarrettPiano
Kid OryTrombone
King CurtisSaxophone
King OliverCornet
Lalo SchifrinPiano
Lee MorganTrumpet
Lena HorneVocals
Lennie TristanoPiano
Lester YoungSaxophone
Lionel HamptonVibraphone
Louis ArmstrongTrumpet/Vocals
Louis JordanSaxophone/Vocals
Mal HallettViolin
Max RoachDrums
McCoy TynerPiano
Miles DavisTrumpet
Milt JacksonVibraphone
Miriam MakebaVocals
Nat King ColePiano/Vocals
Nina SimoneVocals
Ornette ColemanSaxophone
Oscar PetersonPiano
Oscar PettifordBass
Paul HornFlute
Quincy JonesMulti-instrumental
Ramsey LewisPiano
Rashaan Roland KirkMulti-instrumental
Red NorvoVibraphone
Roscoe MitchellSaxophone
Roy AyersVibraphone
Roy EldridgeTrumpet
Sammy Davis Jr.Vocals
Sammy KayeSaxophone
Sarah VaughanVocals
Sergio MendesPiano
Sidney BechetClarinet
Sonny RollinsSaxophone
Sonny StittSaxophone
Stan GetzSaxophone
Stan KentonPiano
Sun RaPiano/Keyboards
Teddy WilsonPiano
Thelonious MonkPiano
Velma MiddletonVocals
Wayne ShorterSaxophone
Wes MontgomeryGuitar
Woody HermanClarinet
Wynton MarsalisTrumpet
Yusef LateefMulti-instrumental
…
This article first appeared in reaganray.com
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