During my visit to the archives of the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, two years ago, I noticed a familiar name on the purchase order for the cover art of the 1956 jazz album Cool Gabriels on RCA’s Groove label: A.R Lehman. This means that […]
All posts filed under: Jazz
Reid Miles & (just a dash of) Julia Warhola: MONK, Prestige Records 7053 (1958)
The last cover to be discussed in this series of posts about Reid Miles and Andy Warhol, is that of the Thelonious Monk album on the Prestige label, with serial number PRLP 7053. The Reid Miles cover was issued in 1958. There is a lot […]
Reid Miles & Andy Warhol’s Mother: The Story Of Moondog, Prestige Records 7099 (1957)
In 1957 Reid Miles did the design for The Story Of Moondog, an album by the blind avant garde musician and street poet and performer Louis Hardin a.k.a. Moondog, who in New York was also known as the “Viking Of 6th Avenue” because of his […]
Reid Miles & Andy Warhol: Trombone by Three, Pres 16-4 (1957)
Reid Miles’ work for Blue Note was not exclusive. Because of his good understanding with label owners Lion and Wolff, he was also allowed to do design jobs for other labels. Miles designed some great covers for Prestige Records, among which three with Andy Warhol. […]
Reid Miles & Andy Warhol: Kenny Burrell, Blue Lights, Blue Note 1596 & 1597, Volume 1 and 2 (1958)
The third and last Miles-Warhol project for Blue Note Records is my favorite: Blue Lights, again by Kenny Burrell, and released in two separate volumes with a different color background. In the Fifties, records with a what now is familiarily called “cheese cake” photo on […]
Reid Miles & Andy Warhol: Johnny Griffin, The Congregation, Blue Note 1580 (1958)
The next Warhol-Miles cooperation for Blue Note records follows the same path as the Kenny Burrell album: in 1956 there was an album called Introducing Johnny Griffin, with a cover designed by Reid Miles and a photo of Griffin by Francis Wolff. So for the […]
Reid Miles & Andy Warhol: Kenny Burrell – Blue Note 1543 (1956-1957)
This is the first of six short posts I will write about the great album covers that art director Reid Miles and Andy Warhol created together between 1956 and 1958: three covers for Blue Note Records and three for Prestige Records. The first one for […]
Green Paul Desmond covers in France and Italy
Two years after the release of Paul Desmond’s album Take Ten, its cover design was used on two other albums in Europe. Recordings for Bossa Antigua, the album that followed Take Ten, were made in the Summer of 1964, and the album was released in […]
George Avakian’s stunning production note on ‘Take Ten’
It has been more than a year since I last wrote on this blog, the last post being about my discovery of Andy Warhol’s involvement in the cover artwork design of Paul Desmond’s RCA jazz album Take Ten. So it’s about time to pick up […]
The bossa nova cover no one knew was a Warhol: Paul Desmond’s Take Ten
In September I travelled to Pittsburgh for events that were both deeply sad and joyful: the beautiful and touching memorial services for Matt Wrbican, the Warhol archivist who died in June at the age of 60, and the official launch of Matt’s new book A […]
More Jan August records
Some more records by piano player Jan August have turned up, that have the same picture on the cover that was the source of Warhol’s drawing for the Progressive Piano cover. They are all on the Mercury label, but were issued in three different continents. […]
Cool Gabriels drawing re-used
Seven winged angels with sprite faces playing horns. Warhol’s simple design, almost a child’s drawing, delivered a funny and yet powerful cover for the jazz album Cool Gabriels (1956) on Groove, an RCA sub-label. Seven, because there are that many soloists playing trumpets on the album. Florent […]
