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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Covers the Pacific,
This review is from: Jazz West Coast: Artwork of Pacific Jazz Records (English and Japanese Edition) (Paperback)
Published in 1992 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Pacific Jazz. This was the label (plus Lester Koenig's Contemporary Records) that established the West Coast Sound around the world. The book is full of LP covers using the photography of Bill Claxton; he designed about half the covers, too. There are 182 Pacific Jazz covers and 43 from other jazz labels that used Claxton's photos.
During the early fifties the covers mostly used black and white photos of the musicians as was the style for jazz labels like Blue Note, Riverside and Prestige. As Pacific became more successful during the fifties the covers became full color and possibly more adventurous: pages fifty and fifty-one shows nine covers using abstract paintings; pages sixty-six and seven has eleven that feature typography rather than a large musicians photo. Though the book's contents now have a delightful period flavor (and I had many of these LPs) I don't think the covers overall were particularly well designed. The easy option was mostly taken by using a Claxton photo or graphic and just putting some type with the title and artist on top. None of these designs had the graphic punch of Blue Note's distinctive style or the brilliant drawings of David Stone Martin that brightened up labels run by Norman Grantz. Even Koenig's Contemporary Records had better designs by Robert Guidi and his Tri-Arts studio. Still, for me, the book has a nice nostalgic feel. Apart from the covers there is a twenty-six page portfolio of Claxton photos (printed in gravure, so they have really solid blacks) four pages just showing the backs of Pacific covers (and these look really dreadful and unimaginative) and nicely a spread with a numerical listing of all the Pacific releases. Another book of West Coast covers is California Cool, the same large size with a selection of covers from various jazz labels. Incidentally, as the book was published in Japan (it's in English and Japanese) I see that prices vary a lot, I think it's worth searching the net for the best price. +++LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK by clicking 'customer images' under the cover.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful Jazz,
By Rachel Grean (Mecca) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jazz West Coast: Artwork of Pacific Jazz Records (English and Japanese Edition) (Paperback)
I purchased this book when it originally was published. The quality of the photos, colours, paper used in the book are first rate and the selecton of covers is interesting and evocative of the time for style. I remember the price was more than I intended but what can you do?I have this book, the Blue Note book and California Cool. I like them all in their own way. I feel like putting many of the pages up on the wall.
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