#Francis Wolff

[undergroundrockpress]

John Coltrane at his “Blue Train” session of Sept. 15, 1957. Photo by Francis Wolff.

[joeinct]

Paul Chambers, Photo by Francis Wolff, 1957

[bainer]

Paul Chambers (with bass), Sonny Clark, Francis Wolff (background), Art Farmer (trumpet), and Jackie McLean (alto saxophone) during rehearsal for Clark's Cool Struttin' LP released 1958 (photos by Francis Wolff)

[vinyl-artwork]

Sonny Clark Trio (with Paul Chambers and 'Philly' Joe Jones), 1958.

Design by Reid Miles. Photo by Francis Wolff.

[davidhudson]

Wayne Shorter, August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023.

1965 photo by Francis Wolff.

[adreciclarte4]

Thelonious Monk e Sahib Shihab 1948 by Francis Wolff

[jazzdailyblog]

Illuminating Hard Bop: A Deep Dive into Dizzy Reece's "Star Bright"

Introduction: In the rich tapestry of jazz history, numerous gems sparkle with the brilliance of the genre’s most dynamic periods. One such gem is “Star Bright,” a stellar album by Jamaican trumpeter Dizzy Reece, recorded in 1959 and released by Blue Note Records in March 1960. This record stands as a testament to Reece’s talent and the extraordinary synergy of his accompanying musicians.…

[alesario]

Elvin Jones & George Coleman

photo Francis Wolff

[carloskaplan]

Francis Wolff: Miles Davis, Hackensack, NJ, 1954

[fredfilmsblog]

FredFilms ♥️ Horace Silver!

FredFilms Postcards Series 4.6

It’s almost impossible to sum up the 60+ years of Horace Silver’s professional life as a pianist, band leader and composer in a blog post. Suffice it to say that he walked the line of being a sophisticated, acclaimed musician, while at the same time releasing a whole bunch of accessible and popular records, primarily on the BlueNote record label.

(For you yacht rockers, you should compare Steely Dan’s “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” from 1974 with Horace’s 1964 classic “Song for My Father.”)

“Great Artist” indeed!

PS: And let’s not forget the ‘great artist’ who shot this photography (and another in our series), Blue Note Records co-founder and photographer, Francis Wolff.

.....

From the postcard back:

Congratulations! You are one of 125 people to receive this limited edition FredFilms postcard!

www.fredfilms.com

FredFilms Great Artist Series

Horace Silver "The Jody Grind" Recording Session November 2, 1966 @Van Gelder Studio Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Photograph by Francis Wolff

Series 4.6 [mailed out November 22, 2023]

[dwellsinparadise]

Miles by Francis Wolff

[maniktranquility]

Eric Dolphy

[nicoooooooon]

Wayne Shorter  – “Night Dreamer” vinyl cover (1964)

Photography by Francis Wolff Cover Design by Reid Miles

“What I'm trying to express here is a sense of judgment approaching – judgment for everything alive from the smallest ant to man. I know that the accepted meaning of ‘Armageddon’ is the last battle between good and evil – whatever it is. But my definition of the judgment to come is a period of total enlightenment in which we will discover what we are and why we're here.”

Wayne Shorter † March 2, 2023.

[bainer]

Joe Henderson and Kenny Dorham at Dorham’s Trompeta Toccata session, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, September 14, 1964 (photo by Francis Wolff)

[vinyl-artwork]

Lee Morgan, The Rumproller, 1965.

Cover by Reid Miles.

Photo by Francis Wolff.

[archivist-dragonfly]

Book 460

Blue Note 2: The Album Cover Art

Graham Marsh and Glyn Callingham, eds.

Chronicle Books 1997

During its heyday, from around 1955 throughout the 60s, Blue Note Records had an absolutely staggering roster of jazz artists recording for them and established a design identity for their records that would come to epitomize style. Reid Miles (1927-1993) was hired to design Blue Note’s record sleeves in 1955, and for the next twelve years he would design over 500 album covers, most of which incorporated the incredible session photography of Blue Note’s co-chief, Francis Wolff. With bold modern type, shapes, and colors, Miles helped define Blue Note as the home of cool, and his designs look as fresh and modern today as they did over fifty years ago. Now, you might be wondering why I haven’t posted the first volume of Blue Note covers. Well, I left it in the office at my previous job, and I really don’t want to go back for it. But the reason I took it there in the first place was because we were going to publish a book about jazz, and so I brought the book in so our designer had a visual reference for the kind of cover we were looking for. My point being that the Blue Note look is still being referenced—and outright copied—to this day.