David Stone Martin
Jazz in pen and ink....
In the spring or early summer of 1984, I saw Dizzy Gillespie’s band at Fat Tuesday’s in the Village. After the first set, I was sitting in a booth across from the band and the piano player came over and introduced himself, “Hi. I’m Hank Jones.” I did not know who he was. I introduced myself and we talked for a while. I asked him about his favorite record dates. He told me Somethin’ Else on the Blue Note label with Cannonball and Miles was a good one, and he also liked playing all the Jazz at the Philharmonic sessions with Ella Fitzgerald. At that point, I realized I was speaking with a real jazz heavyweight. He asked me if I wanted to meet Dizzy and took me back to the cleaning closet, where Dizzy and the band were seated on wooden crates smoking stogies and playing poker. Classic.
Anyway, the next day, I went over to Tower Records and dug out Somethin’ Else in the Cannonball Adderley section, and, sure enough, right under Miles Davis’ name is Hank Jones. However, finding out any information about the Jazz at the Philharmonic (JATP) sessions proved much more difficult. I’m not even sure when I saw my first JATP record, but I think it was this vol. #15 boxed set:
I bought it in the early 1990s at Logos Books in Santa Cruz, California, where I started collecting a lot of albums with cool cover designs - the owner would trickle a few out each week to keep me coming back. On this one, you can see the name David Stone Martin scribbled on the cover at the bottom-middle. Here’s a better look:
I did not know anything about David Stone Martin (DSM), but I would find that iconic signature on many more album covers. This is another of the very first DSM record covers I bought at Logos:
I remember holding the album, admiring the cover art, and then noticing that signature again down in the bottom right: David Stone Martin. I was hooked. As time went on, I realized that David Stone Martin designed all the early JATP albums.
The first JATP was recorded on February 12, 1945, at the Philharmonic Auditorium, Los Angeles for the Asch label. It was supervised by concert promoter Norman Granz. Asch Records was founded by Moses Asch in the early 1940s and focused on blues and folk music. The album cover was designed by DSM, although for some reason he did not include his iconic signature. Here it is:
Moses Asch, like Café Society’s owner Barney Josephson from last week, was a political leftist who sought out music that he believed reflected the authentic voice of the people. His eclectic roster included Leadbelly, Josh White, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. However, in 1944, Asch met DSM at just the time he was interested in adding jazz to his label and wanted some artistic flare on the album covers.
Café Society Connection
A native of Chicago, DSM attended Chicago’s Art Institute and started his professional career working as an illustrator for government agencies that sprung up out of Roosevelt’s New Deal. His big break came after the US entered World War II when he served as art director for the US Office of War Information. In that position, he collaborated with Ben Shahn, an artist who in the 1930s helped create the social realism movement and who was known to have strong socialist ties. Shahn went on to paint murals and take photographs for the government during the New Deal and became a successful painter and commercial artist.
Shahn had a huge impact on Martin’s work, which is obvious when comparing Shahn’s work like this one for the CIO
with DSM’s early album covers, like this one from 1951:
As a jazz enthusiast, DSM was drawn to jazz clubs. His studio was not far from the Café Society in Greenwich Village and was a frequent visitor. Here he is at the Café Society in 1944:
During this time, Mary Lou Williams was the Café Society house pianist.
She had made her first recordings under her name in the 1940s for Asch Records and the Disc Company of America, both small, maverick labels run by Moses Asch. When Williams introduced Asch to Martin, he recognized a major talent and hired him as his label's art director. The relationship lasted until 1949 when Disc went bankrupt. Martin then teamed up with West Coast concert promoter Norman Granz.
A Potpourri of Covers and Music
After his break from Asch in 1947, Norman Granz went on to develop his independent labels Clef, Norgran, and Verve which rivaled the majors, and DSM created most of Granz’s album covers. What I like most about his covers is that they have the feel and energy of a jazz solo.
For example, here’s an early DSM album cover I like from 1951:
and the Lester Young Trio playing Peg O’ My Heart from the record:
And another DSM cover from 1954:
and the Basie Orchestra playing Down For The Count from that album:
And one more DSM cover from 1955:
and Lionel Hampton and Stan Getz playing Gladys from that album:
DSM’s style transformed album cover design in the 1950s. His designs continuously and profoundly influenced a new generation of cover designers. I think in the article, Jazz In Pen and Ink: The Style of David Stone Martin, Dr. Martina Schmitz says it best:
“David Stone Martin’s designs in jazz originate from his record covers. They were the first and perfect medium for him to develop his expressive style in musical design. Since the early 1940s, his name has been linked with designs from jazz, blues, folk, and ethnic record covers. In fact, his name is connected with the origins of cover design in general. He was not merely a pioneer in this field. He was not even a ‘record cover designer’ in the true sense of the word. Right from the beginning, this creative field was turned into ‘l’art pour l’art’ (art for art’s sake) by David Stone Martin - he never thought of simply packaging a product.”
David Stone Martin’s indebtedness to the artist Ben Shahn has been well documented. But less discussed is the impact DSM’s work must have had on a young designer in Greenwich Village, Andy Warhol. Here is a Blue Note album cover designed by Warhol in 1958.
But that’s a story for another journey a little further down the river….
Here’s one more for the road. One of my favorite records is Oscar Peterson Plays Porgy & Bess with DSM cover from 1959 on Norman Granz’s Verve label.
Next week, on that Big River Called Jazz, we’ll stay in New York City for the short-lived career of hard bopper Tina Brooks, whose name I first saw on the Andy Warhol album cover designed for Kenny Burrell’s Blue Lights featured above.
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Also, find my playlist on Spotify: From Fred Astaire to Sun Ra.
Feel free to contact me at any time to talk shop. I welcome and encourage that….
Until then, keep on walking….