Episode 45: The Beat Era: Illustration and Artwork Styles with David Stone Martin
Records have always featured mood-setting illustrations in addition to more standard photographs. In this episode we share the story of the fun and idiosyncratic illustrator David Stone Martin finding jazz music. We then shift into discussing how pop culture arrived at a “look” for artifacts from the era of the Beats being influenced by the atomic age, the space race and jazz, and what that meant for the later work from Martin.
E X T R A S :
(Top to bottom): Album art for Charlie Parker’s and Dizzy Gillespie’s “Bird and Diz,” designed by David Stone Martin; photo of David Stone Martin; eponymous album art for the Mary Lou Williams Trio, Martin’s first album cover; “Roy and Diz” album art; “The Modern Jazz Sextet” album art
(Top to bottom): Magazine ad layout for CBS Radio with Martin’s illustration work, portrait of Edward R. Murrow for CBS with publicity photo, comparison of illustration and layout styles from Martin (left, 1952) and Ed Fotheringham (right, 1992)
David Stone Martin
Album cover lists (“Birka Jazz” article, “LP Cover Lover” article)
Other illustration work outside of jazz (“Today’s Inspiration” blog article)
Biography and album artwork: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 (“Art & Artists” blog)
Biography (Wikipedia article)
Obituary (New York Times article)
Mary Lou Williams
Biography (Wikipedia article)
“Mary Lou Williams, Missionary of Jazz” (NPR article)
Listen to “Bird and Diz” by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
Full album (YouTube video)
Full album (Spotify)
Listen to “Night and Day” by the Mary Lou Williams Trio
(YouTube video, Spotify)
Listen to “What’s Your Story, Morning Glory?” by Andy Kirk and Mary Lou Williams
(YouTube video)