Blue Note released some of the greatest jazz records ever and part of their enduring appeal is their iconic album art.

Established 60 years ago in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it would go on to become a home for artists such as Horace Silver, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Freddie Hubbard, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, Cannonball Adderley, Donald Byrd and Grant Green.

Almost all the important musicians in postwar jazz recorded for Blue Note at some point in their careers and their legacy is an incredibly rich one.

But although their music remains paramount their groundbreaking album art was a key part of their appeal.

Although we now live in an age where album has much less impact due to the decline in LPs and CDs, back in the golden age of Blue Note it was a key part of how fans would engage with their music.

The man mostly responsible for what would now be regarded as the distinctive look of Blue Note covers was Reid Miles, who joined the label in 1956 after working for Esquire magazine.

His cover art often featured photographs of musicians in the studio by Francis Wolff, one of the executives at the label who was also a talented photographer.

Under Miles, Blue Note became known for their striking and unusual album cover designs which would influence not only other album covers but also the wider world of graphic design.

The hallmarks of a classic Blue Note cover were often black and white photographs, highly creative use of sans-serif typefaces, a restricted colour palette (usually black and white with a single color) and solid rectangular bands of colour or white.

Ironically, Miles preferred classical music to jazz, often giving away his Blue Note sample copies (which in later years would become collector’s items) and not even listening to the music.

But despite his disconnection to jazz, he had an uncanny ability to provide a striking visual counterpoint to the music inside the albums, making covers that intrigued and dazzled the listener before they had even heard a note.

It could even be his distance from jazz which made the covers so effective.

Whatever the case, his own restless innovations with abstract designs, typefaces and tones in some way complemented the artistry of the great jazz musicians playing on the albums he visualised.

His constant search for something visually new also perhaps captured the ever changing and improvisational spirit of jazz music itself.

A number of other designers such as Paul Bacon and John Hermansader made important contributions and future pop art pioneer Andy Warhol was commissioned by Miles to create the cover of Kenny Burrell’s 1969 Blue Lights LP.

As jazz sales declined in the 1960s Blue Note as a label retreated to safer types of ‘straight’ jazz, dispensing with Reid Miles in the process.

The label then was transferred to EMI in 1979 before relaunch in 1985, signalling a number of reissues and new releases.

It has since regained some of its commercial success, with new artists such as Norah Jones shifting thousands of records.

But the legacy of Reid Miles and his time at Blue Note still lives on today with many modern artists paying homage to his work with similar covers.

Below are a selection of classic Blue Note covers and if you want to buy any of the albums from Amazon just click on the cover.

1. Genius of Modern Music Vol 1 by Thelonious Monk

The first notable sleeve Reid Miles designed at Blue Note was for this compilation album by Thelonious Monk.

His first sessions as a bandleader were recorded between 1947 and 1952, and released on Blue Note as a series of 78 RPM singles.

These singles were then compiled in later years – with additional performances from the sessions – into long-playing album formats.

As Monk’s reputation and fame grew, the sessions were recompiled again and again into more complete configurations.

Although there are different versions of this album, each comprises some of Monk’s first recordings as band leader for the label from the late 1940s and this one is the 1951 reissue.

Note the bold hyphenation of ‘Thelo-nious’ which makes the syllables visually distinctive, the photo of Monk in the studio and the contrasting of one colour against black and white.

2. Go! by Dexter Gordon

This 1962 album by Dexter Gordon saw him perform with a stellar quartet including the pianist Sonny Clark, drummer Billy Higgins and bassist Butch Warren.

Gordon was a tenor saxophonist who started recording for Blue Note in the early 1960s and went on to produce such noted albums as Doin’ Alright, Dexter Calling…, Go, and A Swingin’ Affair.

The first two, his Blue Note debuts, were recorded over three days in May 1961 with Freddie Hubbard, Horace Parlan and others.

Go was recorded in August 1962 just before Gordon left for an extended stay in Europe and on these albums the rhythm section was Blue Note staples Sonny Clark, Butch Warren and Billy Higgins.

The artwork is one of the most memorable in the Blue Note catalogue – one of Reid’s boldest designs with the two word title taking up almost half the cover of the album.

Note how the live performance image is contrasted in size and colour with the typeface of the album.

The repetition of the title as within the name of the artist through an inventive use of colour was also a key touch.

3. Soul Station by Hank Mobley

One of the best known albums by saxophonist Hank Mobley, this came at in 1960 and was rooted in the hard bop idiom.

Mobley’s quartet features some of the most talented players of the era, such as Art Blakey, Wynton Kelly, and Paul Chambers.

The set is started and rounded off by two standards, “Remember” by Irving Berlin, and “If I Should Lose You” by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin. Between these standards are four new Mobley compositions, featuring the bluesy title track and the uptempo “This I Dig of You”.

The cover is one of many by Miles that use tinted black and white photos of the musicians from a live performance.

Here the image of the performer is to the fore, whilst the title and artist names are made smaller – in some ways the opposite of Dexter Gordon’s Go cover.

4. Night Train by John Coltrane

John Coltrane’s 1957 album is one of the most iconic in the history of jazz.

Generally considered to be his  first solo album, as it is the first he recorded featuring musicians and songs entirely of his choosing, all of the compositions were written by him, bar one.

The famous title track is perhaps the standout but two of the tracks, “Moment’s Notice” and “Lazy Bird“, show the style that Coltrane would later expand upon in Giant Steps, his 1959 landmark album.

The cover photo was taken by Francis Wolff and captures the saxophonist in a contemplative mood.

Aspects of the design that stick out are the lower case artist name contrasting with the upper case title and the tasteful mixing of blue, green and white.

5. Somethin’ Else by Cannonball Adderley

Regarded by many as one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, this was recorded in 1958 by Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, and is a landmark album in the hard bop and cool styles.

Featuring a lineup of Art Blakey on drums, Hank Jones on piano and Sam Jones on double bass it is also notable for the presence of Miles Davis, in one of his few recording dates for Blue Note Records.

The collaboration between Adderley and Davis would continue in 1959 with Davis’s Kind of Blue, perhaps the most acclaimed jazz album of all time.

Note the marvellous stacked type, bold font and distinctive use of colour to differentiate between title, artist and support band.

A classic design for a timeless album.

6. Hub-Tones by Freddie Hubbard

This 1962 album from trumpeter Freddie Hubbard saw him team up with James Spaulding (who doubled on alto and flute), pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Clifford Jarvis.

Hubbard was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 60s and on.

His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives for modern jazz and his quintet here performs four of the trumpeter’s originals (including “Lament for Booker” and the title cut) plus an advanced version of the standard “You’re My Everything.”

The striking central concept of black piano keys set against a white background is rounded off with a vibrant dash of red and the standard ‘live photo’ in one of the keys.

The US poster for Steven Soderbergh’s 1999 film The Limey directly references this cover.

7. Us Three by Horace Parlan

On this 1960 album pianist Horace Parlan teamed up with bassist George Tucker and drummer Al Harewood.

The trio had performed every Sunday at Minton’s in Harlem.

There they had established a reputation for being able to lay down both hard bop and soul-jazz stylings with equal panache.

Harlan had become known for his contributions to the classic Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots, often bridging the divide between the chordal sophistication of the bop idiom and the African-American “roots”.

The design of this cover is one of the most radical with a fractured pattern of large black numbers on a white background.

Again the sparse but striking use of colour stands out.

8. A Night in Tunisia by The Jazz Messengers

Recorded in 1960 by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, this album features a memorable title track – one of the most exciting versions ever recorded of Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night in Tunisia.”

Blakey was a drummer and bandleader who, along with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach, was one of the inventors of the modern bebop style of drumming.

For more than 30 years his band the Jazz Messengers included many young musicians who went on to become prominent names in jazz.

The lineup here of trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Bobby Timmons and bassist Jymie Merritt formed one of the strongest of the many versions of Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers.

The album cover is equally memorable with its strong yet elegant use of typography.

Again, three different colours are used for the artists and title whilst the letters are unusually large, dominating the space.

9. Cool Struttin’ by Sonny Clark

This 1958 album by pianist Sonny Clark was described at the time as an “enduring hard-bop classic” by the New York Times.

It features alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, trumpeter Art Farmer and two members of the Miles Davis Quintet, drummer Philly Joe Jones and bassist Paul Chambers.

The cover art is a good example of how Miles would make photography work for his designs.

Often classic Blue Note covers feature photos cropped in an interesting way in order to say something visually about the album at hand.

Here the legs of a woman walking down a street have been captured in mid-step (notice her blurry left foot) which indicates a movement and energy that will be reflected in the music you’re about to listen to.

10. Out to Lunch! by Eric Dolphy

This 1964 album was Eric Dolphy’s only recording for Blue Note Records as a leader.

Today it is generally considered one of the finest albums in the label’s history, as well as one of the high points in 1960s avant garde jazz.

The musicians playing on it include Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Eric Dolphy (bass clarinet, flute and alto sax), Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone), Richard Davis (bass) and Tony Williams (drums).

The title of the album’s first track, “Hat and Beard”, refers to Thelonious Monk and other highlights include “Something Sweet, Something Tender”, “Gazzelloni” and “Straight Up and Down”.

The album art is almost instantly recognisable as being from Blue Note with it’s blocky sans-serif fonts and sparse but highly effective use of colour.

If you want to check out many more Blue Note album covers Pixagogo have an extensive online gallery and FontFeed have a lengthy list of album covers inspired by Blue Note originals (with side-by-side comparisons).

The latter also points out two modern day music videos that have been inspired by the classic Reid Miles style of design.

In 2004 Helicopter Girl’s Angel City interprets the art from various Blue Note LP sleeves.

Whilst Gabin’s Into My Soul featuring Dee Dee Bridgewater from 2005 pays similar tribute.

RateYourMusic also have a useful list of covers that pay homage to Blue Note and Japanese site Vintage Vanguard have an enormous collection of originals as well.

You can visit Blue Note’s official site at www.bluenote.com