Filed Under: "CD covers"

Another Flora album cover—although in this case the product is digital-only. The illustration originally appeared in the December 1945 issue of Columbia’s Coda new-release monthly, which Flora wrote, edited, and illustrated for three years. The detail was adapted for this digital album cover by Flora co-archivist Irwin Chusid, who also represents the Sun Ra estate. The album is available at iTunes. Flora’s album cover legacy has extended into the 21st century, with designers adapting his images…

More current activity in the Florasphere (see Part 1 here): We’re preparing several new fine art prints for release, including a Mambo For Cats giclée (the oversized screen print sold out last year, but the Mambo mini remains available). Above is a mockup of a proposed print that might make it into 2013’s release queue. Our Tokyo-based Floraphile friend Takashi Okada has compiled and designed The Raymond Scott Songbook, a magnificent two-CD set of vintage and rare Scott recordings…

One of our representatives will be with you shortly. Your visit is very important to us, and we look forward to answering your questions. Such as: What’s up with the Flora blog, the website, and Jim Flora art in general? The paucity of new posts in recent months does not connote inactivity in the Florasphere. Here’s breaking news—and news which has previously broken: Flora co-archivist Barbara Economon and I have completed a new book—our fourth— for Fantagraphics:…

That’s the title of the new CD by Seattle’s quirky genre-blending jazz ensemble Reptet. It’s the group’s fourth release to feature a licensed Jim Flora illustration (all usages initiated by the band’s drummer, John Ewing). Information about Reptet, their music, and the gatefold letterpress CD package (designed by Tom Parson) can be found at the Artists Recording Collective. The above image is an inverted detail from Flora’s masterful 1951 woodcut Railroad Town.

Duos, a collection of works by Charles Wuorinen composed for two musicians, is now available from Albany Records. The untitled Flora cover art, licensed for this release (by Howard Stokar), is from an early- to mid-1960s sketchbook.

Another vintage Flora illustration adorns a record cover: Charles Wuorinen‘s Duos CD (Albany Records, January 2009 scheduled release). The untitled tempera of pink, green, and brown criss-crossing pedestrians dates from the early 1960s. The CD joins a growing gallery of new releases carrying the Flora album cover tradition into the 21st century. Thanks to Howard Stokar, executive producer of the CD, for requesting the cover image. Update (Jan. 12): CD now available.

Our friend Takashi Okada of Tokyo has become the pre-eminent Floraphile in Japan. Besides being an avid customer of Jim Flora fine art prints, Takashi recently designed the Daisy Holiday CD package, which adapts Flora’s 1947 Green Mansions resort brochure illustration (licensed from the Flora estate). Additional Flora elements appear on the jewel case inlay and in the booklet. Here’s a Tokyo record store display flush with Flora. If you don’t live in that part…

The new CD by Seattle’s Reptet, Chicken or Beef? (Monktail Records), adapts elements of Flora woodcuts from Murderpie, a 1939 Little Man Press chapbook. The package—which includes additional Flora imagery on the back and inner disc sleeve—was designed by Jeffrey Huston and Reptet drummer John Ewing. The original typography replicates Flora lettering. This is the second release by Reptet to feature Flora imagery. Their 2005 Do This! was emblazoned with a critter we call a…

Extending the Flora album cover tradition, contemporary designers have been licensing Jim Flora images for CDs. At JimFlora.com, we’ve launched a gallery of recent digital releases that have been Floradized. Interested in using Flora art for your CD? Just ask.