The Birka Jazz Archive

April 17, 2011 3:10 AM

The Birka Jazz Archive is a treasure trove of record jackets from all eras of jazz. American releases are grouped by label (for example, Columbia, Blue Note, Atlantic, etc.) with, in some case, further sub-categorization by designers or visual artists (such as the amazing David Stone Martin). European releases are sorted by country (France, Sweden, Germany, etc.) and it all adds up to a fabulous online resource for jazz fans and graphic design fans alike.
posted by flapjax at midnite (9 comments total)

Admittedly, "all eras of jazz" is not exactly correct. Really early stuff is not represented, but anyway, much of that was released in generic sleeves before the advent of modern jacket design...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:12 AM on April 17, 2011

Jazz is all about doing interesting covers.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:38 AM on April 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

I tell you, though, I can't get enough of David Stone Martin's stuff. So great.

So, here's more:

LP Cover Lover: David Stone Martin

Flickr set: The Art of Jazz - David Stone Martin Record Cover Art

Rate Your Music: The Album Art of David Stone Martin

Wikipedia
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:44 AM on April 17, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh, man, this is great! Thanks so much for this wonderful link!
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 6:41 AM on April 17, 2011

This is awesome! Thanks, flapjax. I'll be going through this with delight for some time.

And yeah, early jazz had boring album covers. Heck, most records did. My father has a fairly vast collection of early 78s, including a lot of pre-1940 jazz, and almost all of it came in plain brown sleeves. The only exceptions with printed sleeves that I know of are the Paul Whiteman records, which makes sense - he was a pretty tremendous star in his time.
posted by koeselitz at 7:56 AM on April 17, 2011

I tell you, though, I can't get enough of David Stone Martin's stuff. So great.

Yeah, wonderful. Really in synch with the way the recordings were made — we'll block some shit out here, chuck a wiry line in there, get it down quick so it feels natural and try and nail some dynamics down by limiting the palette but throwing in a strong accent colour.

The guy totally got it.
posted by Wolof at 8:37 AM on April 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

I assume this website is blocked in France?
posted by uosuaq at 1:40 PM on April 17, 2011

I assume this website is blocked in France?

hmm, I wouldn't know. I assume you're in France, and can't load it, so... must be.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:16 PM on April 17, 2011

There is more than one book dedicated to the awesome art of Ken Flora, as seen on the Columbia page. Love his stuff.
posted by Clustercuss at 8:49 AM on April 18, 2011