Blue Note Launches Limited Edition Wall Art Series Of Classic Album Designs

As part of its 80th anniversary celebrations, Blue Note Records has announced the launch of a new series of limited edition wall art.

The series will celebrate the bespoke imagery of the label’s classic era with framed canvas prints in archival quality, presented in dynamic scale (22”x22”, 32”x32”, 42”x42”). The pieces will present the classic cover designs of Reid Miles and the photography of Francis Wolff.

12 vintage album covers are currently available and can be bought at both the Blue Note Store and the uDiscover Store for US customers. Further prints will be launched later this year. A list of the initial titles can be seen below.

Apart from the 10-inch cover for Thelonious Monk’s  Genius of Modern Music: Vol. 2, which was designed by Paul Bacon, the wall art series features the highly influential cover designs created by Reid Miles. In 1955, when Blue Note moved to the 12-inch LP format, Miles was brought in to adapt the label’s cover art to the new, larger format by Francis Wolff. The latter photographer had been capturing images from sessions since arriving in New York to join Blue Note founder Alfred Lion in the early 1940s.

Over the next dozen years, Miles had a revolutionary effect on album cover design, with his use of bold typography and creative deployment of Wolff’s images. He created some 500 stunning covers that brilliantly captured the sound of Blue Note Records in visual form. Miles’ genius is explored in a Vox video feature, The Greatest Album Covers Of Jazz:

The limited edition Blue Note wall art series is available now at both the Blue Note Store and the uDiscover store (for US customers).

The titles on offer are:

Art Blakey: Free for All
Dexter Gordon: Gettin’ Around
Dexter Gordon: GO
Eric Dolphy: Out to Lunch
Freddie Hubbard: Hub-Tones
Grant Green: Green Street
Hank Mobley: No Room for Squares
Kenny Burrell: Midnight Blue
Kenny Dorham:  Afro-Cuban
Lee Morgan: The Sidewinder
Sonny Clark: Cool Struttin’
Thelonious Monk: Genius of Modern Music: Vol. 2

Discover more about the art of Blue Note.

Format: UK English