Filed Under: "jazz"

Sketches for RCA Victor LP cover, 1955; final design below:

Detail, March 1943 Columbia-Okeh Popular Recordsmonthly flyer; panel: Harry James

Now on eBay:Spanky new from Jim Flora Art LLC and Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress, Knoxville: three different sets of four unique cards each. The cards are hand-printed letterpress on recycled paper and come bundled with kraft envelopes in a clear sleeve. Fun to mail, funner to receive, but also klassy-kool for framing.Above: quartet of 1955 hepcats from the “Plant You Now, Dig You Later” set. Below, the “Deluxe-O-Tone” line of retro-record players (1940s- and 1950s-era):Here’s the…

Almost. The Flora pretzel-ized trumpet that graces the cover of this rare RCA Victor Living Stereo “cartridge magazine” originally appeared in 1958 on the back cover of the LP Portrait of Shorty Rogers. The illustration was recycled by RCA Victor’s art department on this 1960 Esquivel package, whose format was the (failed) forerunner of the cassette. The LP version of this classic album by the Mexican maestro had a completely different photographic cover. RCA also…

Jim Flora Art LLC is offering three hand-printed 2008 calendars: swingin’ sax, boogie-beat drummer, and starlite moon. We have a limited number (30 each) to sell. That’s it. It’s not a numbered edition — 500 backing cards each were printed by Yee-Haw Industries (Knoxville), but due to scheduling demands, the production team could only finish a few hundred calendars for retail boutiques. JFA LLC received 30 sets for our customers. Sales are first-come, first-served. Each…

Esquire magazine, September 1954

To sustain the classic Flora LP tradition of the 1940s and ’50s, I’ve long advocated restoring his art to record album covers. Aside from one or two knockoffs of existing Flora designs, the first new release to adapt Flora non-LP art was Do This! by Seattle’s Reptet, in 2006. The cover for the forthcoming Raymond Scott Quintet CD Ectoplasm (scheduled for February 2008 US release) was completed last May. Now comes the Quartet San Francisco’s…

Printed, matted and framed by Yee-Haw Industrial Letterpress,Knoxville TN, exhibited at NYC Stationery Show May 2007,to introduce a limited line of Flora cards and calendars.Production underway, projected completion late July.

Detail, 1943 magazine ad for Columbia Records saxophonist Horace Heidt. First line of ad: “Did you ever see a magician pull a gnu out of an old coffee pot?” Merlin knows that the dung of the wildebeest reduces the bean’s natural acidity, resulting in a more savory brew. Just like Kopi Luwak.

Eloquent, music-skewed review of The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora over at J.B. Spins, a blog devoted to “jazz and improvised politics.”

Year Zero in the Flora Revival was 1992 when Michael Bartalos cold-called the 78-year-old artist to ask about his 1940s and ’50s album cover illustrations, which evoked a mothballed era to the robust, productive retiree. Recalling Mike’s curiosity, Flora later said, “I felt like a fossil that had just been dug up.” Thus began the archaeology, which continues to unearth ancient marvels. The above flashbulb-bleached vignette was snapped at A-D Gallery in June 1943 during…

‘Tis the season to Pete Jolly! A new silk-screen print has been introduced to our growing line of iconic Jim Flora merch—the artist’s swirly 1955 RCA Victor EP cover for the Pete Jolly Duo. This sleeve rarely turns up on eBay, and Floraphiles have been known to liquidate 401(k)’s to own battered copies. We don’t know much about pianist Jolly or his bassist, but apparently they couldn’t quit bopping long enough to sit still for…