The Miles Davis Quintet – Miles

Published November 25, 2024
Contributed by Stephen Coles





Source: thejazztome.info License: All Rights Reserved.

This curious sleeve doesn’t fit in with the rest of the mid-1950s cool jazz aesthetic. Duotone photography was commonly used in the genre, but that’s where the familiarity ends. The lime green color (later issues were blue); the large, brushy title, set dead center; and the bleak scene of arthritic trees along a nondescript canal – it’s all a bit mysterious. It gives off similar vibes to Marcus Keef’s spooky cover for Black Sabbath. The only sense I can make of the image choice is that Miles Davis’ quintet recorded this session in the fall (November 16, 1955).



Source: oa.letterformarchive.org Image: Letterform Archive. License: All Rights Reserved.

Haymaker Cartoon from Photo-Lettering’s One Line Manual of Styles, 1971.


The typeface is Haymaker Cartoon, an extrabold sign painter’s or showcard writer’s “casual” that appears in Photo-Lettering’s 1965 catalog, but must have been available a decade earlier to be used here.



Source: thejazztome.info The Jazz Tome. License: All Rights Reserved.

While the back cover (set almost entirely in Vogue) doesn’t include attribution, Discogs credits the design to Gil Mellé, a musician and painter who created a handful of 1950s covers for Blue Note and Prestige featuring dynamic abstract art. While I love Mellé’s work, this minimalist oddball stands out, and that charms me.

Thanks to Gary Hornseth for bringing this gem to my attention via the lovely Jazz Tome website!


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