Filed Under: "instruments"

Absolute good taste edifies absolutely. Cartoonist/animator Gene Deitch, in a 2003 interview with AllAboutJazz.com, about his then-new book, The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove: AAJ: What is your favorite piece of album cover artwork? Deitch: Any by James Flora. Left: detail, Shorty Rogers Courts the Count (1955, RCA Victor)

Longtime friend, music collector, and fellow Floraphile David Burd reports a first sighting: The new Flora book is in stores today! I just picked up my copy. We expected the book to hit streets in mid-August. That’s what happens when you work with a niche publisher—they surprise on the upside. (Note: Amazon.com lists a release date of July 29, 2009.) Illustration of celebratory Benny Goodman (above): not in this book. It appeared in our second…

Seriously—you’d have to be crazy to play trumpet in this position. You can’t possibly concentrate on your playing. Hopping on one foot, using your left hand to work the horn and the right to tip your hat. You might be an entertaining showman, but from a musical standpoint, this is a caricature of a trumpet player. Seriously. Detail from Flora illustration for The Great Juke, a short story by Marguerite Young, Mademoiselle magazine, October 1947….

This untitled 1943 Flora tempera, casually referred to as “Jazz Quintet,” was our second limited edition fine art print, issued in early 2008. At the time, we were uncertain about the market potential of Flora works in archival-quality inkjet format, so we opted for a short-run edition of ten. We recently sold the sixth print, and the price for remaining prints has consequently increased (reflecting depleted supply). This is an iconic early Flora work, and…

Now available: a limited edition (25) fine art print of Flora’s 1947 Columbia album cover for Louis Armstrong’s Hot 5. This print was commissioned from Jim Flora Art by Hypergallery, a UK dealer who specializes in reproductions of classic album cover art, and is available exclusively through their website. The print was produced by Flora archivist Barbara Economon from a vintage printer’s proof sheet in the Flora collection. Each print in the edition was hand-signed…

Spot illustration, table of contents page Columbia Disc Digest, April 1946

Born this day in 1916. In 1939 the trumpeter, already a top-tier bandleader, hired a smooth, upcoming but relatively unknown vocalist from New Jersey, but failed to convince the kid to change his name to “Frankie Satin.” Within a year, James and singer had parted ways, the latter to join Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra. Within a few years, both James and the kid crooner were on their respective ways to becoming music legends. Columbia Records ad…

Leon Bix Beiderbecke was born today in 1903. Beiderbecke, a cornetist (caricatured above left by Flora in 1947) and pianist, was a stylistic catalyst in the formative years of jazz. Bix and trumpeter Louis Armstrong were the two most pivotal horn players of the 1920s, though their approaches differed markedly. Beiderbecke has been described as the first real modernist in jazz, though that doesn’t explain his enduring appeal. (Each year when the calendar flips to…

Just released by Euclid Records, a new 45 rpm single by Terry Adams & the Whole Wheat Horns whose sleeve features a Jim Flora musician montage. The chaotic combo, which incorporates cartoonish players from numerous Flora 1940s and 1950s sources, was created by Barbara Economon and yrs trly for our second book, The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora. The calamitous crew evolved from a trio to include as many as eleven figures, until our…

Detail, Railroad Town, 1951 woodcut. The work in its entirety will be featured with commentary and photos of the original block in our forthcoming book, The Sweetly Diabolic Art of Jim Flora, scheduled for September 2009 publication. Limited edition oil prints struck from the artist’s block are available. The above twosome (with maracas accompaniment—so it’s a trio?) will adorn the cover of my 2009 WFMU fundraiser CD, NJX@NY$!#2 (New Jersey Excitement at New York Prices,…

A celebrity in its own right, brags to the media about Benny’s awesome embouchure. Reporter doggedly chronicles sensationalistic account, anticipates major scoop. Detail, Columbia Records ad, Look magazine, 1943.

Guitar in a seductive pose — spot illustration from A-D Gallery invitation to Flora’s first New York City exhibition, June 1943.