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Cover art strikes a chord

The exhibition features work by the likes of Paul Bacon, Gil Melle and Reid Miles, who helped to created a visual identity for Blue Note that was as innovative as its sound.

The label's look established it as a key player in the artistic as well as musical development of jazz.

Founding member Francis Wolff once said: "We established a style, including recording, pressing, and covers. The details made the difference".

This style is encompassed in the work of Miles Reid, who designed covers for the label for 11 years from 1956, the height of the LP record.

Reid experimented with image, space and typography and used atmospheric black and white photographs to revolutionise the industry and help elevate LP cover design to an art form.

Classic LP covers featured in the exhibition include Out to Lunch by Lou Donaldson, Goodness Gracious by Dexter Gordon, Go! By Art Blakey and the Messengers and Cool Struttin' by The Incredible Jimmy Smith.

Blue Note Background

The Blue Note label was founded in 1939 in New York City by German immigrant Alfred Lion and was launched with a recording the same year of piano masters Albert Ammons and Meade Lux Lewis.

The label ceased production in World War II, when Lion was drafted into the Army but upon his discharge Lion resumed recording, joined by his childhood friend Francis Wolff, a fellow German Jewish immigrant who had left Nazi Germany at the end of 1941.

Blue Note achieved popular success in its early years by bringing together some of the greatest jazz musicians in New York and became famous for recording the hippest and most innovative musicians around.

John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Chet Baker and Herbie Hancock all recorded for the label as did many other significant musicians of the 50s and 60s.

Along with its competitor Verve records, Blue Note continued to play a leading role in the jazz world into the 1990s.

The label's birthday celebrations this year include tours by contemporary players Charlie Hunter, Stefon Harris and Cassandra Wilson.

The Cover Art of Blue Note Records is at HMV Oxford Circus until June, when the exhibition will move on to Birmingham and Edinburgh.

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