The digital age offers many conveniences to the modern music listener, but jazz fanatics lament one serious drawback. The ability to get musician information, session dates, and the goldmine of liner notes has long lacking from jazz digital downloads. It’s an essential piece of a jazz listener’s expectations and it completes an important bit of history associated with the music. The iTunes Store has done an admirable job at integrating this type of information into a new type of digital album, the iTunes LP, addressing the issue. Unfortunately, they’ve been slow about including jazz recordings into this process; instead they’ve chose to offer liner notes and extras for artists like Taylor Swift, and other pop artists. It seems that it will be a while before the music industry finds some respect for the complete jazz experience. Until then, the digital jazz world will contain a major gap.

On the other hand, album artwork survived the digital process and it actually rose in importance. In the past, the artist communicated a good deal about their product through lines notes and additional written information about the product. Artwork still made a powerful impact upon the total product, but it worked in conjunction with the liner notes. Artists told their story through the liner note information (or someone else told the story for them), and the artwork served as icing on the cake. Especially potent pieces of artwork became iconic images, but they didn’t tell the music’s story. With the lack of words in today’s digital music world, the artwork tells the story. A listener can travel to the artist’s website if they choose, but that’s a disconnected experience from listening. When a person sits on a chair with their iPod, the only information that they see on the screen is the song title, artist name, and the artwork. At that point, the artwork really needs to speak to the listener.

With the increased importance of album artwork, Latin Jazz artists really need to think about the images that they connect with their music. Many musicians maintain an artistic viewpoint upon the world, but for the most part, they’re really aural people. Visual arts might not be a strength, but it’s time to consider the impact of artwork on Latin Jazz. I’ve highlighted some important ideas about artwork below, focusing upon the impact of the artwork in the digital world. For each point, I’ve included at least one example of quality artwork that elaborates upon each point. It’s a bit of a new world for me as well, but together we can wrap our heads around this!

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Album Artwork Catches Our Attention With A Great Visual
The ability to stand out in a crowd has always been important in the musical world, but the digital age has amplified that necessity tenfold. When we visit a digital download store like iTunes or Amazon, we are offered a massive amount of choice. At its most basic level, this is a good thing, because we can almost always find something we like. It also makes choice an issue since we are overwhelmed with the amount of music before us. We don’t “see” the music in the store though - our first point of entry is pages upon pages of album covers. Some people may start clicking and checking out samples, but many of us let our eyes travel over the page, searching for something interesting. A sea of bland album covers leaves us cold, and most likely we’ll continue our search. There are moments when we’ll stop to look a little closer though - when we run across an especially vibrant or exciting album cover, something that looks different or intriguing, or something that references culture in a unique way. These visuals draw us into the recording and help us overcome the album “blindness” inherent in digital download stores. They create an advantage that is absolutely necessary in today’s musical world.


The artwork for Paul De Castro Y Su Orquesta Dengue’s album Bueno Pá Gozar leaps off the screen with a distinct personality. The cover features the work “Carnaval en la Trocah” from visual artist Lili Bernard - a colorful and joyous piece of art that radiates with Caribbean spirit. The bright colors capture your eye and the festive atmosphere demands your attention, promising a good time. From there, the artwork contains lots of detail; its the kind of piece that reveals more every time that you look at it. Most of the imagery revolves around music with a variety of people, young and old, playing or dancing. It’s a double delight since the artwork reflects the album in a very real way. The recording plays upon tradition but casts Latin Jazz in a new light, as a result of the group’s use of timba practices. Older musicians, representing tradition, and younger people, representing the new interpretations, all rejoice together in the artwork - just as the old and new musical ideas interact on the album. It’s a great package that stands apart when set in the static environment of a digital download store.

Album Artwork Expands Upon The Musician’s Concept
In the album age - and even during the CD era - liner notes gave a distinct advantage to the artist; they could clearly and precisely communicate their concept to their audience. The music can always speak for itself, but just in case the audience misses the point, the liner notes provided a backup. As liner notes become scare in these digital days, the music generally stands on its own - unless the artwork takes the opportunity to elaborate upon the artistic concept. This is a tricky task though; visual arts avoid the written word. An album cover will provide a title and artist name, but beyond that, the image is open to interpretation. The artwork needs to align itself with the album through the emphasis of a single unifying theme. If the artwork expresses that theme in a clear way and the album’s music associates with the idea, the artwork serves as a powerful support tool in the overall expression.

The artwork for Anna Estrada’s Obsesión serves as a great example of a visual piece supporting an album’s music. The tracks on the album all revolve around the idea of love in a relationship. The album covers much more than the standard heart wrenching bolero though; there’s a good deal of variation in the way that the music approaches love. Still, the music revolves around the main idea of love in its many faceted looks. The album artwork, created by Justine Tatarsky, depicts a man and a woman caught in a passionate embrace. The work plays upon a post-modern conception of perspective, but even as their bodies reflect sharply angular edges, the heat soars off the picture. Birds surround the pair, giving the piece a natural feel, while adding into the general color scheme. Inside the woman’s stomach, the image of an unborn child peeks into the open, showing another aspect of deep love. Thematically the artwork strikes a chord with the overall mood of the music and the steamy feel of the art reflects the music’s exciting pace. It’s a great example of how art and music can work together to express a strong idea.

Album Artwork Introduces Us Visually To The Artist
Recorded music strangely detaches itself from the physical presence of a musician, and in many cases, a listener can spend years listening to music without any idea of the musician’s looks. For most artists, this can create a serious promotional disadvantage for their careers as performing musicians. The natural solution to this problem exists in the album artwork - simply place a picture of the artist on the front of their album and they will be forever associated with that piece of music. This solves one problem, but it also creates one more issue - there is nothing more boring than a simple picture of an individual standing in front of a camera. Even group shots fall short when they are simply placed in a dull context - the artist’s personality and emotions are not communicated to the audience. In a listener’s mind, this unfortunately translates into a less than satisfying musical experience, generally steering them away from listening. The artist needs to be presented in a creative way that clearly connects their presence with the music and invites the listener into the music.

The cover of Sube Azul from Sofia Rei Koutsovitis introduces us to the vocalist in a fun and engaging way while giving us a clear view. The cover consists of a photo, taken by artist Emra Islek, that shows Koutsovitis surrounded by a multitude of colorful butterflies. Koutsovitis’ expression radiates with a sense of joy and a fun spirit, as she laughs broadly. The bright pink background solidifies the festive mood and provides a striking contrast to the blacks and oranges of the butterfly wings. Koutsovitis’ name and the album title dances around the cover with a handwritten flow, infusing the photo with a playful energy. The picture accomplishes a number of important tasks for Koutsovitis, making some powerful statements. It shows her to the audience, making a clear visual connection between the vocalist and her music. The bright color scheme and unusual setting grabs your attention, standing out among a crowd of competing albums. Koutsovitis’ cheerful mood creates an inviting sensation to the listener; she looks like a person that would be fun to meet - who wouldn’t want to hear that music? With these messages imbedded in the album cover, Koutsovitis makes important connections to her music.

Album Artwork Creates A Digital Calling Card For The Album
In the digital age, websites across the internet find a space to promote music that they love. Some of these sites sell the music as digital downloads while others offer a physical mailing of the actual CD and still more simply discuss the music through reviews and articles. While all these types of sites take different approaches, they all have one thing in common - they will almost always include the album cover as a representation of the music. The artwork needs to be easily recognizable and linked to the music in a meaningful way, otherwise it will be simply overlooked. It also needs to be easy on the eyes; people will view the artwork countless times as travel through the internet. If they enjoy the look of the album, they will return to it and eventually check out the music. If the album artwork is brash or easily forgettable, it will most likely send people clicking onto another site. Just like a business card, an album cover needs to be straight-ahead, to the point, and easily digestible.

Tales From The Earth, a collaboration from flautist Mark Weinstein and pianist Omar Sosa, offers a perfect example of an album cover that works as an ideal digital calling card. The cover shows a beaded work, drenched in white with names and the title worked into the fabric of the design. Each name utilizes a different color, making them pop off the cover with an easily readable and recognizable design. A single basic design sits in the lower right hand corner of the album - a red dot encompassed by two circles with varying shades of blue. The overall design relates strongly to traditional African artwork, building a definable connection to the album’s music which combines free improvisation with African instruments and rhythms. The simplicity of the design allows potential listeners to easily identify artist names and find the album within a crowd. Images will also be shrunken or expanded to fit into online spaces; an overly complicated image will not handle this transition well. This album cover will resize beautifully though, retaining it’s integrity in both small and large sizes. The simplicity of the artwork and the potency of its message make the cover of Tales From The Earth an ideal digital calling card.

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Album artwork is a field for serious thought in today’s digital marketplace, some serious thought would benefit today’s Latin Jazz artists. Do you have other ideas about good qualities for Latin Jazz album covers? Any more examples of great album covers? Leave a comment below and share your ideas with us - every thought helps!

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Latin Jazz: A Legitimate American Music
Does The Blurry Line Between Salsa And Latin Jazz Matter?
10 Latin Jazz Perspectives On Miles Davis
5 Albums That Remember Bay Area Latin Jazz Saxophonist Ron Stallings (1947 - 2009)

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