Collins & Brown The Cover Art of Blue Note Records: The Collection

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!

Somewhat disconcerting that three paragraphs in to the book’s “Foreword” section and the authors Blue Note knowledge is questionable. For example, Marsh & Callingham inform us that the record label was founded in 1959 when in actual fact it was founded in 1939. In the same paragraph they state that the label reached its ‘legendary status in the mid-50’s’.In addition, a lot of the images and artwork are very poorly reproduced.I think the authors are cashing in on the coffee table trend but fall well short of the mark.Overall a disappointing purchase and will look elsewhere for a better book about the Blue Note label.

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.

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.

Grandes imagens das capas da Blue Note, com texto informativo e introduzindo ao universo da criação artística desse universo fundamental da indústria fonográfica. Muito bom!