ART & ARTISTS

Wednesday, 2 January 2013

David Stone Martin part 2

In the world of jazz there is one artist collected the world over who has never played an instrument not even a note of music but has left his mark on the jazz culture. Illustrator David Stone Martin (1913 – 1992) was one of the most prolific and influential graphic designers of the postwar era, with his signature hand-sketched graphics with two or three primary colours, perfectly capturing the energy and spontaneity of the jazz idiom.

For biographical notes on Martin, and for earlier works see part 1

This is part 2 of a 4-part post on the works of David Stone Martin:

1953 Flip Phillips Collates
Mercury Records 10" LP

1953 Illinois Jacquet Collates No. 2
Clef Records 10" mono LP

1953 Johnny Hodges Collates Vol. 2
Clef Records

1953 Lester Young Collates No. 2
Mercury Records 10" LP

1953 Norman Granz' Jam Session No. 1
Verve Records catalogue no. V-8049 mono

1953 Norman Granz' Jam Session No. 2
Mercury Records

1953 Norman Granz' Jam Session No. 4
Verve Records

1953 The Gene Krupa Trio
Verve Records catalogue no. MGV-8031

1954 An Evening with Mary Ann McCall and Charlie Ventura
Norgran Records mono LP

1954 Billie Holiday at Jazz at the Philharmonic
Clef Records 10" LP

1954 Lester Young "The President"
Norgran Records

1954 Moods for Lovers played by Lew White
FDR records catalogue no. MH 33 103

1954 Oscar Peterson plays Irving Berlin
Mercury Records 12" LP

1954 Oscar Peterson plays Richard Rogers
Clef Records catalogue no. EP-215

1954 Stan Getz at the Shrine
Norgran Records

1954 The Gene Krupa Sextet
Clef Records

1954 The Genius of Art Tatum No. 2
Clef Records

1954 The Genius of Art Tatum No. 3
Clef Records

c1954 The Genius of Art Tatum No. 9
Clef Records catalogue no. EP-271

1954 The Music of Buddy Franco
Norgran Records catalogue no. EP N-6

1954 The Roy Eldridge Quintet
Karusell Records catalogue no. KEP 242

1954 The Tal Farlow Album
Norgran Records catalogue no. MG N-1047

1954 Toshiko ( Toshiko Akiyoshi )
Norgran Records

1955 Alto Sax - Benny Carter, Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges, Willie Smith
Norgran Records catalogue no. MG N-1035 12" LP

1955 Artie Shaw and his Gramercy Five No. 4
Clef Records 12" LP

1955 Benny Carter Plays Pretty
Norgran Records

1955 Buddy DeFranco and Oscar Peterson play George Gershwin No. 1
Norgran Records catalogue no. EP N-89

1955 Buddy Rich "Sing and Swing with Buddy Rich" studio album
Norgran Records catalogue no. MG N-1031

1955 Buddy Rich and Sweets Edison
Norgran Records catalogue no. MG N-1038

1955 Charlie Parker
Clef Records 12" LP

1955 Charlie Parker
Columbia Records Clef Series EP

1955 Dizzy Gillespie "Dizzy and Strings"
Norgran Records EP

1955 Interpretations by the Stan Getz Quintet No. 3
Norgran Records 12" LP

1955 Jam Session No. 5
Clef Records 12" LP

1955 Johhny Hodges Dance Bash No. 1
Norgran Records catalogue no. EP N-117 7"

1955 Lester Young
Norgran Records 12" LP

1955 Lionel Hampton Big Band No. 1
Clef Records catalogue no. EPC-367

1955 Lionel Hampton Quintet
Clef Records 12" LP

1955 Norman Granz' Jam Session No. 6
Clef Records 12" LP

Monday, 31 December 2012

David Stone Martin part 1

Illustrator David Stone Martin (1913 – 1992) was one of the most prolific and influential graphic designers of the postwar era, creating over 400 album covers. Much of his work spotlighted jazz, with his signature hand-drawn, calligraphic line perfectly capturing the energy and spontaneity of the idiom.

Born David Livingstone Martin in Chicago in 1913, he later studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and began his career as an assistant to the social realist painter Ben Shahn, designing murals during the 1933 World's Fair. Martin spent the remainder of the decade as art director of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and served during World War II as an artist/correspondent for Life magazine

After returning to the U.S. he mounted a career as a freelance artist doing commissions for clients including Disc Records Company. In 1948 he began teaching at the Brooklyn Museum School of Art, followed in 1950 by a year at New York City's Workshop School of Advertising and Editorial Art.

Martin entered music illustration through his longtime friendship wth producer Norman Granz, designing label art for Granz's Verve, Norgran, Clef, and Down Home imprints as well as hundreds of now-classic cover illustrations for acts including Count Basie, Art Tatum, Gene Krupa, and Lionel Hampton. Martin also created a series of designs for the pianist Mary Lou Williams with whom he had a torrid affair. His work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and others. He died of pneumonia in New London, CT, in 1992.

This is part 1 of a 4-part post on the wotks of David Stone Martin: