The Greatest Albums Covers By The Man Who Defined The Jazz Look

David Stone Martin is the album cover artist who defined how jazz looked for the greats for Astaire, Coltrane, Fitzgerald, and dozens of other jazz greats

He’s the only artist who worked with Fred Astaire, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and many more jazz greats without ever recording as much as a ditty. You might now know David Stone Martin’s name, but he made it onto the cover of Time Magazine eight times.

Nowadays, record collectors scour stores searching for his work, not to listen to it, but to see it. Martin is perhaps the most iconic designer of jazz record sleeves of all time. His signature hand-sketched graphics, with just one or two bright colors, epitomized the sharp energy and spontaneity of the world of jazz.

His style and capacity to create "an intimate insight into the music and life of jazz people" secured his place as "the first to develop an independent, serious image of jazz,” according to art historian and musician, Martina Schmitz.

He died of pneumonia at 78 years old after exhibiting his work in galleries like MoMA and the Smithsonian but the works that made it into homes and record collections are what he’s remembered for.

These are just a few of our favorite works from this jazz legend's collection of over 400 record designs.

Billie Holiday collaborated with the likes of Duke Ellington, Dorothy Parker and George Gershwin on this album but it was the artwork that really shone. On its release, The New York Times said Holiday's voice "had become a very limited instrument which she used with the craft and guile of an aging pitcher who can no longer pour his fast one across the plate."

Roy Eldridge AKA Little Jazz's sophisticated musical tools, like tritone substitutions, and innovations lifted his music above most and saw him set his own path away from the established tones of Louis Armstrong. Eldridge really influenced Dizzy Gillespie and he's still considered one of the most influential musicians in swing era and a precursor of bebop.

Stan Getz's big hit was The Girl From Ipanema and there are few who could come close to his saxophone skills. Nicknamed The Sound, Getz popularised bossa nova in the States and was dubbed
"one of the all-time great tenor saxophonists" by Scott Yanow.

And finally, Martin’s trumpeter logo for Jazz at the Philharmonic Concerts remains one of the most recognizable designs in jazz.

You may be interested in:

- Art Direction for CD covers, a course by Goster
- Illustration for Music Lovers, a course by Oscar Giménez
- The Art of Record Covers: Illustration Meets Lettering, a course by Steve Simpson