Cover Stories with Paul Morris, Vol. 2

November 11th, 2013


Paul Morris is a graphic designer and writer who collects album art of the 1940’s and 1950’s. He finds his examples of influential mid-century design in the used record stores of Portland, Oregon.

In this edition, Paul focuses on the art of Columbia

 

 

 

 

__________

 

 

 

Alex Steinweiss, the subject of my last column, started his career as head of the art department at Columbia Records, one of the three largest companies at the time (RCA and Decca were the others). Columbia continued its success throughout the period I’m looking at. Their covers vary in style, but they usually shared a feel of quality, an uptown New York esthetic. In varying degrees they show the influence of the boss. The later Columbia look had a similarly classy look. As photographers replaced the artists in the 50’s, Columbia could afford to use the top fashion photographers from Madison Avenue.

  The first example is a 1946 work by George Maas, a native of Kansas who worked later in designing book jackets and album covers for Mercury. The drawings of the instruments in Benny Goodman’s sextet are delightfully off-kilter. If you haven’t heard these recordings, you’re in for a treat. They include the early, groundbreaking work on electric guitar by Charlie Christian.

550-goodman

_____

  The brightly colored, whimsical paintings of Jim Flora first appeared on Columbia releases in 1942. A jazz fan who admired Diego Rivera and the surrealist painters, Flora took over the jazz covers while Steinweiss concentrated on classical. Later in the 50’s Flora created jazz covers for RCA. I’d like to include more Flora work, but his albums are hard to find. I’m guessing that in the 40’s classical music outsold jazz.

550-dorsey

_____

  
     One Night Stand by Harry James is from about 1952, and is credited to “Becker-Horowitz/Monogram.” Apparently Monogram was a design studio that frequently did work for Columbia. The hands and trumpet are painted to look like a paper sculpture. By this time photographs of the artists were becoming dominant in album cover design, and they saw fit to drop in James’s picture. Steinweiss would have said no to that photo.

The other Harry James cover makes more effective use of photographs. It’s credited to a designer named Lubell, about whom I know nothing. The script lettering is not the Steinweiss Scrawl, but you can tell designers liked the informal note struck by the combination of hand lettering and type.

  Soft Lights, Sweet Trumpet is a 10-inch LP. For about five years, from 1948 to 1953, there were dueling record formats. Some recordings were released in 78, 45 and 33 rpm versions. There were both 10-inch and 12-inch LPs, and there were albums made up of several 45’s. This reminds me of today when musicians advertise recordings as available as download, CD, and vinyl.

550-james1

550-james2

_____

 

   

     This Victor Borge cover gets points for strangeness. I wonder if the color of the pianist’s face is what the designer intended. I’m not familiar with Borge’s playing, but I know he combined comedy and classical music, like Peter Schickle, so fans wouldn’t be surprised by a goofy design. I remember as a child that my mother especially liked it when Borge was a guest on the Jack Parr show. She liked his jokes but impressed upon me that he was a legitimately good pianist.

550-borge

_____

    The Shostakovich and Sibelius cover makes me wonder about the meeting when the graphic artist presented his idea to the art director. Neither symphony is about dancing. An ocean of empty space surrounds the image. The title uses Christmas colors. However the uncredited artist got it through, I love it. I think I know how it was done: a photo of a dancer was cut out and the portions we see were connected with pins. This was photographed and a shadow was airbrushed in. Questions: In what ballet does the dancer wear gloves like that? And is it just me, or does her leotard look a lot like an undergarment?

550-shosh

 

 

_____

 

      An album that combined two classical works was a challenge for the designer. Often the musical works had no similarity, and an awkwardly joined pair of images resulted. The rather elaborate composition on this Royal Philharmonic recording uses photographs of wicker sculptures set against a woody background that is a bit distracting. The artist, credited as Stanley/Monogram, chose a bird theme to unify the pictures. “The Golden Cockerel” does feature a magical rooster, and here “The Accursed Hunter” of César Franck’s symphonic poem has speared a songbird. The hunter is supposed to look troubled.

550-beecham

 

_____

   

   These two Columbia covers make use of photographs cleverly manipulated in the darkroom. The designer of the Mozart sonatas cover has sketched over negative images of leaves. His signature is hard to read, but a little Googling led me to Pavel Tchelitchew, a fascinating artist born in Russia in 1898 who painted portraits of Gertrude Stein and Edith Sitwell. In the Andre Kostelanetz cover for Clair de Lune, which means “moonlight,” three leaves are placed on a night sky. I think the drops of water and the moon were painted in. Designed by “Becker-Horowitz/Monogram.”

550-mozart

550-kost

_____

      The “Quiet Music” cover is interesting in several ways. The credit reads “Camerage by Strimban-Willig,” the handle of Jack and Bob Strimban, and Sam Willig, who also did magazine covers in the 50’s. I have one other cover with a photo collage credited to them. The picture of the model lying on a shag rug in front of the hi-fi set has a 20’s look. I hope that’s an album cover at her right — records on the floor are one of my obsessions. Images of lace and a patterned curtain are overlain, and a string of pearls, synonymous with elegance at the time, is dropped on top. The cover uses three key marketing terms for easy listening music: quiet, easy, and relaxation. The liner notes add the terms pleasant, familiar, and soothing.

550-quiet

_____

  The last example, by Henry Wolf, is from the early 50’s. Pairing geometric, “modern” designs with modern jazz artists who were said to play abstractly was popular. Wolf was art director of Esquire magazine in the 50’s, and later worked at the ad agency McCann Erickson, the firm that bought out Sterling Cooper in Mad Men. Accordionist Van Damme looks out from what could be the center hole of a 45. The song titles are set in ten-point condensed type — extremely hard to read. Records by Art Van Damme appear frequently in the used bins, so I assume he had some success, but the jazz accordion never caught on.

550-van

_____

      This has been a very brief trip through the huge Columbia catalog. A final accolade to Columbia: they were very good about crediting their designers, something RCA and Decca rarely did. This makes the sleuthing work much easier, for one thing, and it gives much-deserved credit to the creators of these unique artworks.

*

__________

 

 

In Volume 1 of “Cover Stories,” Paul shared his collection of covers by Alex Steinweiss, known as the father of the record album cover, and for many years in charge of Columbia Records’ art department.

Share this:

3 comments on “Cover Stories with Paul Morris, Vol. 2”

  1. I’m Jack Strimban’s daughter, very interesting! Do you have the 1952 cover of “The story of the Music Box.”?

  2. Don’t have that album. The other Camerage cover I have is “Hi-Fireworks” from 1953, one of the first albums by Ferrente and Teicher. Your father’s work was fascinating!

  3. Damn’t I’m also a graphic designer named Paul Morris. I’m way too generic and don’t even collect album covers.

Comment on this article:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

A Letter From the Publisher

An appeal for contributions to support the ongoing publishing efforts of Jerry Jazz Musician

In This Issue

The Modern Jazz Quintet by Everett Spruill
A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Summer, 2023 Edition

A wide range of topics are found in this collection. Tributes are paid to Tony Bennett and Ahmad Jamal and to the abstract worlds of musicians like Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders; the complex lives of Chet Baker and Nina Simone are considered; devotions to Ellington and Basie are revealed; and personal solace is found in the music of Tommy Flanagan and Quartet West. These are poems of peace, reflection, time, venue and humor – all with jazz at their core. (Featuring the art of Everett Spruill)

The Sunday Poem

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
“Fledging” by John L. Stanizzi

Interview

photo courtesy of Henry Threadgill
Interview with Brent Hayes Edwards, co-author (with Henry Threadgill) of Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music...The author discusses his work co-written with Threadgill, the composer and multi-instrumentalist widely recognized as one of the most original and innovative voices in contemporary music, and the winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

Poetry

painting by Henry Denander
A collection of jazz haiku...This collection, featuring 22 poets, is an example of how much love, humor, sentimentality, reverence, joy and sorrow poets can fit into their haiku devoted to jazz.

In Memoriam

Fotograaf Onbekend / Anefo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
A thought or two about Tony Bennett

Podcast

"BG Boogie’s musical tour of indictment season"...The podcaster “BG Boogie” has weaponized the most recent drama facing The Former Guy, creating a 30 minute playlist “with all the latest up-to-date-est musical indictments of political ineptitude.”

Interview

Chick Webb/photographer unknown
Interview with Stephanie Stein Crease, author of Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat That Changed America...The author talks about her book and Chick Webb, once at the center of America’s popular music, and among the most influential musicians in jazz history.

Community

FOTO:FORTEPAN / Kölcsey Ferenc Dunakeszi Városi Könyvtár / Petanovics fényképek, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
.“Community Bookshelf, #1"...a twice-yearly space where writers who have been published on Jerry Jazz Musician can share news about their recently authored books. This edition includes information about books published within the last six months or so…

Short Fiction

photo vi Wallpaper Flare
Short Fiction Contest-winning story #63 — “Company” by Anastasia Jill...Twenty-year-old Priscilla Habel lives with her wannabe flapper mother who remains stuck in the jazz age 40 years later. Life is monotonous and sad until Cil meets Willie Flasterstain, a beatnik lesbian who offers an escape from her mother's ever-imposing shadow.

Poetry

Trading Fours, with Douglas Cole, No. 16: “Little Waltz” and “Summertime”...Trading Fours with Douglas Cole is an occasional series of the writer’s poetic interpretations of jazz recordings and film. In this edition, he connects the recordings of Jessica Williams' "Little Waltz" and Gene Harris' "Summertime."

Playlist

photo by Bob Hecht
This 28-song Spotify playlist, curated by Jerry Jazz Musician contributing writer Bob Hecht, features great tunes performed by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Lester Young, Stan Getz, and…well, you get the idea.

Poetry

photo of Wolfman Jack via Wikimedia Commons
“Wolfman and The Righteous Brothers” – a poem by John Briscoe

Jazz History Quiz #167

GuardianH, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Before becoming one of television’s biggest stars, he was a competent ragtime and jazz piano player greatly influenced by Scott Joplin (pictured), and employed a band of New Orleans musicians similar to the Original Dixieland Jazz Band to play during his vaudeville revue. Who was he?

Short Fiction

photo via PIXNIO/CC0
“The Sound Barrier” – a short story by Bex Hansen

Short Fiction

back cover of Diana Krall's album "The Girl in the Other Room" [Verve]
“Improvised: A life in 7ths, 9ths and Suspended 4ths” – a short story by Vikki C.

Interview

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
Long regarded as jazz music’s most eminent baritone saxophonist, Gerry Mulligan was a central figure in “cool” jazz whose contributions to it also included his important work as a composer and arranger. Noted jazz scholar Alyn Shipton, author of The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets, and Jerry Jazz Musician contributing writer Bob Hecht discuss Mulligan’s unique contributions to modern jazz.

Photography

photo by Giovanni Piesco
Giovanni Piesco’s photographs of Tristan Honsinger

Poetry

Maurice Mickle considers jazz venues, in two poems

In Memoriam

David Becker, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“Tony Bennett, In Memoriam” – a poem by Erren Kelly

Poetry

IISG, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ella Fitzgerald, in poems by Claire Andreani and Michael L. Newell

Book Excerpt

“Chick” Webb was one of the first virtuoso drummers in jazz and an innovative bandleader dubbed the “Savoy King,” who reigned at Harlem’s world-famous Savoy Ballroom. Stephanie Stein Crease is the first to fully tell Webb’s story in her biography, Rhythm Man: Chick Webb and the Beat that Changed America…The book’s entire introduction is excerpted here.

Feature

Hans Christian Hagedorn, professor for German and Comparative Literature at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Ciudad Real (Spain) reveals the remarkable presence of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic Don Quixote in the history of jazz.

Short Fiction

Dmitry Rozhkov, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“A Skull on the Moscow Leningrad Sleeper” – a short story by Robert Kibble...A story revolving around a jazz record which means so much to a couple that they risk being discovered while attempting to escape the Soviet Union

Book Excerpt

Book excerpt from Easily Slip Into Another World: A Life in Music, by Henry Threadgill and Brent Hayes Edwards

Short Fiction

photo via Appletreeauction.com
“Streamline Moderne” – a short story by Amadea Tanner

Publisher’s Notes

“C’est Si Bon” – at trip's end, a D-Day experience, and an abundance of gratitude

Poetry

photo by William Gottlieb/Library of Congress
A Charlie Parker Poetry Collection...Nine poets, nine poems on the leading figure in the development of bebop…

Contributing Writers

Click the image to view the writers, poets and artists whose work has been published on Jerry Jazz Musician, and find links to their work

Interview

Photo of Stanley Crouch by Michael Jackson
Interview with Glenn Mott, editor of Victory is Assured: The Uncollected Writings of Stanley Crouch (photo of Stanley Crouch by Michael Jackson)

Interview

photo of Sonny Rollins by Brian McMillen
Interview with Aidan Levy, author of Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins...The author discusses his book about the iconic tenor saxophonist who is one of the greatest jazz improvisers of all time – a lasting link to the golden age of jazz

Art

Designed for Dancing: How Midcentury Records Taught America to Dance: “Outtakes” — Vol. 2...In this edition, the authors Janet Borgerson and Jonathan Schroeder share examples of Cha Cha Cha record album covers that didn't make the final cut in their book

Pressed for All Time

“Pressed For All Time,” Vol. 17 — producer Joel Dorn on Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s 1967 album, The Inflated Tear

Photography

© Veryl Oakland
John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana are featured in this edition of photographs and stories from Veryl Oakland’s book, Jazz in Available Light

Coming Soon

An interview with Judith Tick, author of Becoming Ella Fitzgerald: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song; A new collection of jazz poetry; a new Jazz History Quiz; short fiction; poetry; photography; interviews; playlists; and lots more in the works...

Interview Archive

Eubie Blake
Click to view the complete 22 year archive of Jerry Jazz Musician interviews, including those recently published with Richard Carlin and Ken Bloom on Eubie Blake (pictured); Richard Brent Turner on jazz and Islam; Alyn Shipton on the art of jazz; Shawn Levy on the original queens of standup comedy; Travis Atria on the expatriate trumpeter Arthur Briggs; Kitt Shapiro on her life with her mother, Eartha Kitt; Will Friedwald on Nat King Cole; Wayne Enstice on the drummer Dottie Dodgion; the drummer Joe La Barbera on Bill Evans; Philip Clark on Dave Brubeck; Nicholas Buccola on James Baldwin and William F. Buckley; Ricky Riccardi on Louis Armstrong; Dan Morgenstern and Christian Sands on Erroll Garner; Maria Golia on Ornette Coleman.

Site Archive