This is the first time that I've noticed that they are not the same picture, are they? Must have been taken a split second apart, as Bob's hand is in the same place, but his eyes are looking slightly elsewhere and his expression is slightly changed ... I think.
It's so true, back then it was a thing of pride. You look at some unimaginative covers today and wonder if the artists ever took a graphic design course.
I thought so, too, at first. But then I don't think they would have used motorised cameras back then for this kind of assignment. Notice how the uncropped picture is pixelated? I think that is what is causing the eyes to appear to be looking somewhere else. It's just a pixel error.
Found these in an article about the new 400-page book about Blue Note Records, "Uncompromising Expression". These are from that book. I ordered it. I believe it's chock full of this kind of stuff, I'm very excited!
Good lord, those people are in the presence of one of the greatest musician-composers of the 20th century, and look how bored/distracted they appear! If that was 2014, they'd be playing with their phones.
I guess we forget how none of these jazz musicians whom we revere today were real "stars" back in the day. Think of the background noise on Bill Evans' 1961 Village Vanguard recordings. Or the noise on Miles Davis' Plugged Nickel sessions. Those were just musicians trying to make a living...
The difference is today powerful tools for creating graphic design are accessible to everyone, whether or not the users have artistic and conceptual ability. In the pre-digital days, you needed to be trained in how to use the tools (shooting film, stripping film, knocking out plates, etc.) and access to specialized equipment, so there were fewer amateurs doing layouts.
I work in the graphics industry, and started in the early '90s. I witnessed first-hand the transition from analog to digital technology.
Bleak days. The days of "Oh look! There's 14 fonts in CorelDraw. Let's use them all at the same time!"
Interesting that Artie touching his head seems to have been part of the design concept, since he's doing it in 7 of the 11 photos.
For some years I thought the guy on the cover was a young Tom Waits ____________________________ tried to capture the exact frame but I failed: Alain Delon in L'Insoumis (1964)
