Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Art of Jazz explores how the expressionism and spontaneity of jazz spilled onto its album art, posters, and promotional photography, and even inspired standalone works of fine art.

Everyone knows jazz is on the cutting edge of music, but how much do you know about its influence in the visual arts? With album covers that took inspiration from the avant-garde, jazz's primarily African American musicians and their producers sought to challenge and inspire listeners both musically and visually.

Arranged chronologically, each chapter covers a key period in jazz history, from the earliest days of the twentieth century to today's postmodern jazz. Chapters begin with substantive introductions and present the evolution of jazz imagery in all its forms, mirroring the shifting nature of the music itself. With two authoritative features per chapter and over 300 images, The Art of Jazz is a significant contribution to the literature of this intrepid art form.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

Foreword: The Look of Jazz How does jazz look? The answer is difficult to pinpoint, as few writers have addressed this question comprehensively. Jazz appeals most directly to the ear, but also engages the eye. Yet the visual dimension of jazz is often overlooked. There are books about jazz photography, specific record labels, album cover design, and museum exhibitions, but almost nothing has been published taking on the overall picture of the music. This is the first book to offer a 360-degree look--in the literal meaning of that word--at the history of jazz, from its nineteenth-century roots to its twenty-first-century eclecticism. Paintings and drawings. Portrait, studio, and documentary photography. Sheet music covers, record albums, posters, and advertisements. Imagery of musicians' clothing, hair, eyeglasses, and facial expressions. Visualizations of the musicians, their milieu, and their music as metaphor. This pioneering book links the art together in a narrative, contextualizes each element in the broader history of jazz, and names and explores some of the lesser-known illustrators, designers, and artists who shaped our perception of the music in an almost subconscious way. The artists were products of their times, and the author points to several instances of stereotyping, underscoring the fact that not all the artwork depicting African American musicians was flattering or racially sensitive. Just as jazz has influenced poetry, fiction, dance, fashion, and vernacular language, so has the music affected the visual arts. And jazz can be strikingly visual, creating unforgettable and vivid sonic paintings such as Ellington's eerie "The Mooche," Miles Davis and Gil Evans's piercing "Saeta," or Charles Mingus's raucous "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting." From the realm of jazz came some of the era's leading creative artists, pursuing instantaneous, high-level communication and expression.   The brilliance of these artists affirms some of the most admirable values of our time: originality, individuality, risk-taking, cultural diversity, creative collaboration, and innovation. All were basking in the freedom that jazz affords and encourages. "If jazz means anything," wrote Duke Ellington, "it is freedom of expression." That leeway to experiment, to find and put forward one's personal voice and style, bursts from the pages of this book, whether implied by the music and musicians or evident in the illustrations that adorn this volume. I first met Alyn Shipton in 1987, when he was producing an annual symposium at the Festa New Orleans Music in Ascona, Switzerland. He invited me to present a talk on ragtime, the subject of my book Ragtime: Its History, Composers, and Music, which he had published in the UK. I immediately admired his eloquence, breadth of knowledge, versatility, and musical chops. I realized that Alyn Shipton is a polymath of music: writer, historian, editor, publisher, radio host, and bassist. It was with keen pleasure I renewed his acquaintance in person in London, and again in 1989, in Ascona, where, at his invitation, I delivered a lecture on Duke Ellington, later the topic of my Beyond Category: The Life and Genius of Duke Ellington . I came to regard Alyn's New History of Jazz , his books with Danny Barker, and his biographies of such figures as Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, and Dizzy Gillespie as essential jazz reading. As do I, Alyn has a deep curiosity about jazz and a profound passion to share his learning with the public. All of us are fortunate to benefit  from his erudition and insights, in his work to date and in this new book, The Art of Jazz. John Edward Hasse Curator Emeritus of American Music Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC Excerpted from The Art of Jazz: A Visual History by Alyn Shipton All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Musician Shipton gathers over 300 colorful images of jazz paintings, studio photos, record covers, and posters in this vibrant illustrated history. John Edward Hasse, a curator at the Smithsonian Institution Museum of American History, writes in the introduction: "Jazz appears most directly to the ear but also engages the eye. Yet the visual dimension of jazz is often overlooked." A detailed summary of early jazz follows--from the brass bands of New Orleans and Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington, Bessie Smith, and Jelly Roll Morton--supported by a collection of eye-popping photos (a soft-focus head shot of Peggy Lee in 1947; Count Basie's orchestra squeezed together onstage at New York City's Famous Door jazz club in 1938) and artwork (such as Street Musicians, by Harlem-born abstract expressionist painter Norman Lewis). Meanwhile, noted illustrators, designers, and graphic artists such as Andy Warhol (who designed the cover of RCA's 1955 album Count Basie), Verve Records' David Stone Martin, and Blue Note's Reid Miles provided album cover designs for bebop and modern jazz records. Other album cover images include those of the ever-evolving Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, and 21st-century jazz musicians, Kamasi Washington among them. This indispensable work of the genre's art is perfect for jazz aficionados. (Oct.)

Booklist Review

Shipton, music historian and jazz radio host with the BBC, offers a fascinating survey of how jazz influenced the art world. As he states in his introduction, "the wider ramifications of jazz . . . as syncopated music . . . rapidly transferred itself into the visual and graphic arts." The text follows this process by combining a survey of jazz history with a parallel look at artists who illustrated jazz sheet music, posters, and, especially, album covers, and who also incorporated jazz influences into their own paintings and drawings. Modern jazz forms, from bebop through free jazz and fusion, offered the most synchronicity for visual artists, with Picasso, Warhol, Romare Bearden, and Jean-Michel Basquiat among those whose art was used in jazz illustration or who created specific work for album covers. Shipton is also strong on jazz photography, calling out the use of iconic devices like strategically placed microphones and curling cigarette smoke. Far more than a showcase for striking album covers, this is a remarkably insightful analysis of both art and jazz, showing vividly how one form has fed the other.