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David Stone Martin


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Much love for Mr. Martin here.

d18247li6yl.jpg

The Clef 12" of this hangs on one wall of my office. This is a nasty bad image, if I have any time this week I'll scan in my cover. On the original the golds and greys are quite cloud-like with the heavy black ink lines holding it all together.

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The JATP vol. 6 (on two 45's) hangs about 3 feet from my nose every day. It is similar the above image, although it has a solid beige/taupe background and says Norman Granz' JAZZ at the Philharmonic on the music stand

Edited by (BB)
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I'm a fan. I used to buy a lot of records with his covers, even if I wasn't that attracted to the music (and sometimes when the vinyl was in bad shape). I've got a bunch of original covers, and have a half dozen hanging above my desk, including

SwingGuitars.jpg

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B00007DXH2.09.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

B00007DXH1.09.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

dsmartin_tatum.jpg

jam_1.JPG (this is a Verve reissue, mine is an original Mercury)

Here are a couple of links to more images:

http://blog.yam.com/wisconsin/article/5695566

http://www.vinylrevival.com/likewow/vol2/martin.html

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Couldn't find an image, but I have the "Plays Jimmy McHugh" LP from this series, which all had the same cover art, only in different colors (mine being yellow):

120023937742.jpg

... just found this image of another one I have (never found this image online before):

120026489325.jpg

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Wow, I'd never seen that Peterson Plays Ellington before. A nice one! I know what you mean about buying albums with Martin covers. I don't think I've ever sold back even a CD with a David Stone Martin cover. Strange but true.

Was Coleman Hawkins ever graced with a David Stone Martin cover?

And what cover art work did Martin do outside of the Clef/Norgran/Verve etc. umbrella?

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Was Coleman Hawkins ever graced with a David Stone Martin cover?

Hawk's earliest (?) LP "Originals With Hawkins", a 10" record on Stinson from 1950 featured a DSM cover. Not sure I've seen it. Anyway, curious that you asked that, because it appears that there are very few. There was a Hawkins/Georgie Auld LP on the Grand Award label with a DSM cover. There may be one or two others on odd labels that I'm unaware of. There was also a Hawkins Pablo LP called "Sirius" with a DSM cover.

And what cover art work did Martin do outside of the Clef/Norgran/Verve etc. umbrella?

A lot, actually. Early on, he was doing a lot of covers for 78 rpm albums on Asch, Stinson and Disc. He also did covers for Waldorf, Grand Award (several besides the Hawkins one I mentioned), and a few for Decca (Josh White), Capitol (James Dean Story soundtrack), RCA (Harry Belafonte), Atlantic (Coltrane/"Alternate Takes"). In the 60's, he did a few for Mary Lou Williams' label, "Mary". Besides the Pablo album I mentioned above, he also did covers for Interplay and Seabreeze in the 70's, and in the 80's he did a lot of covers for Gus Statiras' labels, Progressive and Statiras.

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Thanks for the informative post, Jim. Heck, I'd just like to see that Hawkins record.

Martin had such a way with a line — I would love to have just seen the guy in action, drawing. Whereas some "line" artists draw fairly quickly, I wonder if Martin was more deliberate (meaning, slower). Just speculating ...

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Hawk's earliest (?) LP "Originals With Hawkins", a 10" record on Stinson from 1950 featured a DSM cover. Not sure I've seen it. Anyway, curious that you asked that, because it appears that there are very few. There was a Hawkins/Georgie Auld LP on the Grand Award label with a DSM cover. There may be one or two others on odd labels that I'm unaware of. There was also a Hawkins Pablo LP called "Sirius" with a DSM cover.

The Stinson cover must have looked like this one

155d_1.JPG

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It wasn't until I read Manek Daver's wonderful book on David Stone Martin, that I discovered that this famous cover was NOT done by DSM, but by artist Elizabeth Dauber, under the direction of DSM. He told her "to use the pictorial drum skin to express romance; hence the shore and wading figure." This was one of the very first 12" LPs that I bought.

Edited by garthsj
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What is it with David Stone Martin and lightbulbs? Is that a Philip Guston thing he's got going?

Just to make sure ... illustration on the Krupa LP is NOT by DSM ... however ...

Yes .... a bare lightbulb does appear in many of his drawings .. I assume that they are symbolic of loneliness, alienation, poverty, anomie ... all of those dysfunctional attributes that surround jazz musicians. Just read extensively into the jazz fiction literature and you will see how common these themes are ..

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