https://www.jazztypes.com/about daily 0.75 2020-07-29 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5eb539f8a3bcb82d1a9109ad/1558965382740/MHeiderich_ReflexionenZwei-05-copy.jpg About https://www.jazztypes.com/press daily 0.75 2020-07-05 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f01bb68e9bf481a5e998a27/1593949091915/JazzTypes_1_FreeWordCentre_bobmytton.jpg Press Exhibition at FreeWord Centre, London, 2014 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5eb53a169012ef0fbdfefb42/1558965382740/MHeiderich_ReflexionenZwei-05-copy.jpg Press https://www.jazztypes.com/home daily 1.0 2020-07-29 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbed899bff4e3c66bc743a/1591471533498/bob-mytton2.jpg Home My name is Bob Mytton and I am Creative Director of Mytton Williams, an independent brand and design studio based in Bath, UK, helping national and international organisations with their brand communications. I am interested in design education and how we can learn to be more creative. I have taught Graphic Design at Bath Spa University, am co-founder of West of England Design Forum and of werkhouse (an industry-led design training programme). In 2018 Mytton Williams co-published Made in Bath – a book about the dynamic spirit of makers in Bath, exploring the themes of creativity, craftsmanship and collaboration. https://www.jazztypes.com/terms-of-use daily 0.75 2020-07-29 https://www.jazztypes.com/posters daily 0.75 2020-07-25 https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/oliver-nelson monthly 0.5 2020-08-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5eba5dc7b4728154f2ec4275/1589272442282/31_oliver-nelson_jazztypes_2013_bobmytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 1. Oliver Nelson - Oliver Nelson Day 1 #31 – Oliver Edward Nelson (1932–1975). American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer. Albums include: The Blues & the Abstract Truth (1961) with the classic ‘Stolen Moments’, Full Nelson (1962) and Fantabulous (1964). “First time that I had heard really modern music... I realised everything didn’t have to sound like Beethoven or Brahms... It was then that I decided to become a composer”. I came across this quote about what inspired Oliver Nelson after he travelled to Japan and went to a concert by Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. This became my inspiration. Starting to work with the red circle/white background flag of Japan and an ‘O’ for Oliver, I realised the connection with a record. A red record seemed to combine all these different messages. 2 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f037c7077793745b8fac4f3/1594064011311/31_oliver-nelson_2_test_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 1. Oliver Nelson An early test… https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/cecil-taylor monthly 0.5 2020-08-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5eba5ff988fde7250ada60b8/1589272580281/51_cecil-taylor_jazztypes_2013_bobmytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 2. Cecil Taylor - Cecil Taylor Day 2 #51 – Cecil Percival Taylor (b.1929). American pianist and poet. Classically trained and often acknowledged as one of the pioneers of free jazz. Albums include: Unit Structures (1966), Conquistador! (1966) and Silent Tongues (1974). Free jazz is not to everyone’s taste. Something that not everyone can understand, something that doesn’t always make sense. I wanted to try and capture this in some way. Cecil Taylor was also a poet. Could this be expressed? This quote of his summed up his music and split nicely into four sections. Laying it out like a poem, but making the letters leap a little and keeping the rest simple worked best. 1 hour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f037f44f3633a029cd0dcea/1594064734373/51_CecilTaylor_1_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 2. Cecil Taylor - One of the first designs, looking at a different typeface to express the music. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/artie-shaw monthly 0.5 2020-08-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5eba9b61823c6d68ccd81498/1589288952287/92_artie-shaw_jazztypes_2013_bobmytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 3. Artie Shaw - Artie Shaw Day 3 #92 – Arthur Jacob Arshawsky (1910–2004), known as Artie Shaw. American clarinetist, composer, bandleader and author. Recordings include: Begin the Beguine (1938), Frenesi (1940) and Concerto for Clarinet (1940). By all accounts Artie Shaw was something of a perfectionist, so the simple, finely drawn clarinet seemed apt. But how could I get across ‘Artie’? Looking through different typefaces, the elegant strokes and serifs of the Baskerville ‘A’ were similar in shape to the clarinet. At first I used the clarinet drawing to form the crossbar but with the serifs looking so similar to the end of a clarinet this led to the final solution. 3.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f03800678b4a5563ace6b6b/1594064924290/92_ArtieShaw_3_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 3. Artie Shaw - One of the early design layouts https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/wayne-shorter monthly 0.5 2020-08-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebaa0140496fa121969d0bf/1589289813355/30_wayne-shorter_jazztypes_2013_bobmytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 4. Wayne Shorter - Wayne Shorter Day 4 #30 – Wayne Shorter (b.1933). American jazz saxophonist and composer. Co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report. Albums include: Speak No Evil 1964, High Life (1995) and with Herbie Hancock, 1+1 (1997). As a composer he created the blueprint – the starting point for the music – so I started with this colour scheme in mind. While experimenting with images of saxophones, putting the two together suggested an ‘S’ for Shorter – this became the main image. The background fade alludes to a sky and that he was one of the founders of the group ‘Weather Report’. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/teddy-wilson monthly 0.5 2020-08-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebaa38f864fc17f25cac00d/1589299854136/100_teddy-wilson_jazztypes_2013_bobmytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 5. Teddy Wilson - Teddy Wilson Day 5 #100 – Theodore Shaw ‘Teddy’ Wilson (1912–1986).American jazz pianist. Recordings include: Teddy Wilson Featuring Billie Holiday (1949), Pres and Teddy (1956) and Gypsy in Jazz (1959). Teddy Wilson was, in the words of one critic, ‘the definitive swing pianist’. With this in mind, I started by writing out the name in different ways. The word ‘Teddy’ fitted nicely into ‘Wilson’. By lifting the letters slightly and using black and white it started to look like a keyboard. Swing was big in the 1930s so the background colour was selected to reflect that era. A condensed typeface helped the keyboard idea and putting it on a slant gave it some ‘swing’. I tried a more 1930s style typeface but this looked less like a keyboard so stuck with the first choice. 2 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/freddie-hubbard monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebacabf182f400f38e0a3a5/1589300643280/47_feddie-hubbard_jazztypes_2013_bobmytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 6. Freddie Hubbard - Freddie Hubbard Day 6 #47 – Frederick Dewayne ‘Freddie’ Hubbard (1938–2008). American jazz trumpeter. Known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles. Albums include: Open Sesame (1960), Ready for Freddie (1961) and Straight Life (1971). Using the trumpet as the crossbar of the ‘F’ was my first thought and whilst this was quite elegant, I wanted to try and push it further. The combination of trumpets to form the ‘F’ was more powerful and unusual. But this didn’t match the music – bebop is exciting and has energy. I decided to try something else and started experimenting with a pixellated image and some condensed type. As there were six letters in both ‘Freddie’ and ‘Hubbard’ this could create a good balance on the page. By keeping the condensed typeface I moved the type to express the rhythms of the music. 5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f03808f78b4a5563ace88c6/1594065058618/47_FeddieHubbard_4_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 6. Freddie Hubbard - The initial designs using the instrument to make the ‘F’ for Freddie. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/kenny-burrell monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebacdc0b0a443408ca8e9af/1589300909030/70_kenny-burrell_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 7. Kenny Burrell - Kenny Burrell Day 7 #70 – Kenneth Earl ‘Kenny’ Burrell (b.1931). American jazz guitarist. Albums include: The Cats (1957), Midnight Blue (1967) and Tenderley (2011). I started by drawing the six guitar strings, which soon became a letter ‘K’. The crossover made an elegant pattern. The title of the album Midnight Blue was the starting point for the colour. A fade on the lines made it look a little more sophisticated. Whilst experiments with the album title were interesting, as were the addition of all the album titles, I settled on just the guitar strings as the most elegant solution. 3 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/cannonball-adderley monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebacec1182f400f38e18197/1589301341771/15_cannonball-adderely_JazzTypes_2013_BobMytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 8. Cannonball Adderley - Cannonball Addereley Day 8 #15 – Julian Edwin ‘Cannonball’ Adderley (1928–1975). American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Albums include: Somethin’ Else (1958), Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at ‘The Club’ (1966) and with Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (1959). ‘Mercy Mercy Mercy’ is one of his most famous recordings, a composition by Joe Zawinul for the Adderely Quintet. Listening to the music, it sounds like a big man with a big sound and this is what I wanted to try and capture. This idea drove the design, typography and colours. The addition of the silhouette helped emphasise a sense of scale. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/ahmad-jamal monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebad071bcff0c117bb3ffcc/1589301755835/59_ahmad-jamal_JazzTypes_2013_BobMytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 9. Ahmad Jamal - Ahmad Jamal Day 9 #59 Ahmad Jamal (b. 1930) born as Frederick Russell Jones. American jazz pianist, composer and educator. Albums include: At The Pershing – But Not For Me (1958) featuring the recording Poinciana, Ahmad’s Blues (1958) and All of You (1961). Miles Davis, in his 1989 autobiography, stated that Jamal had “knocked me out with his concept of space, his lightness of touch, his understatement”. So I wanted to try and create something simple and understated. The album ‘Ahmad Jamal at the Pershing: But Not For Me’ is one of Jamal’s most well known albums. This became the starting point. I used this title and created something typographic and whilst I liked the simplicity, it needed something more and the grand piano shape was introduced. After experimenting a little more I thought the title could act as the piano keys and this became the solution. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038165e6defd42d7fcf5b4/1594065272897/59_AhmadJamal_2_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 9. Ahmad Jamal - One of the early designs https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/billie-holiday monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebad2146d0cf6792a702036/1589487923184/18_billie-holiday_JazzTypes_2013_BobMytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 10. Billie Holiday - Billie Holiday Day 10 #18 – Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Harris, 1915–1959). American jazz singer and songwriter. Recordings include: Strange Fruit (1939), Good Morning Heartache (1946) and the album Lady in Satin (1958). Billie Holiday had a difficult start to life and despite her beautiful voice and success she struggled with drugs and drink and died aged 44, reputedly with $0.70 in the bank. Her song ‘Good Morning Heartache’ was a starting point and seemed to sum up her life. So I used a broken heart in early ideas and introduced a spotlight in one to suggest a performer. But using the word ‘Billie’ I was able to introduce a crack which suggested the way her life started to break and led to the final solution. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/john-scofield monthly 0.5 2020-07-25 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebda980df70423a6bbeb203/1589488317938/91.+John+Scofield_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 11. John Scofield - John Scofield Day 11 #91 – John Scofield (b.1951). Also known as ‘Sco’. American jazz-rock guitarist and composer. Albums include: Hand Jive (1993), A Go Go (1997) and Überjam (2002). ‘Sco’ being such nice letterforms became the starting point and my first thought was to use the strings over the letters to suggest a guitar. Whilst the semi-acoustic guitar does not have a sound-hole, it looked so powerful that this became the final solution. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f03824e5b6cfa0aa7a4d23b/1594065504381/91_JohnScofield_v6_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 11. John Scofield - An early test experimenting with the letterforms https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/nina-simone monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebdaada34543b0297b42010/1589488630712/93.+Nina+Simone_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 12. Nina Simone - Nina Simone Day 12 #93 – Eunice Kathleen Waymon (1933–2003), better known by her stage name Nina Simone. American singer, pianist, songwriter, arranger, and civil rights activist, widely associated with jazz music. Recordings include: I Loves You, Porgy (1958), My Baby Just Cares for Me (from the album Little Girl Blue, 1968) and the album Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967). As the fight for racial equality grew in America in the mid-1960s, so Simone started to address the issues through her music, writing songs such as “Mississippi Goddam” and “Young, Gifted and Black”. As this was important in her life I decided to try and work that into the idea, through the use of handwriting and the use of black and white. Splitting the page expressed the idea of equality. I started by just splitting down the middle, but when she started it wasn’t equal, so that led to the idea of an unequal split. When I tried it with her whole name, I realised the split could be the ‘e’ of Simone. An ‘e’ for ‘equality’. 2 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038351c6763420088d13e7/1594065765438/93_NinaSimone_3_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 12. Nina Simone - Many of the early ideas used handwriting to introduce energy and a more personal feeling in the design https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/grant-green monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebdac0afeadaa5c723a1a4b/1589488904049/56.+Grant+Green_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 13. Grant Green - Grant Green Day 13 #56 – Grant Green (1935–1979). American jazz guitarist and composer. Albums include: Idle Moments (1963), Solid (1964) and The Matador (1964). Critic Dave Hunter described his sound as “lithe, loose, slightly bluesy and righteously groovy”. This was such a great quote that I used this from the start. Adding the strings brought it back to the guitar. The bold graphic typeface made it stand out and look more distinctive. 2 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f0385286344c00bc21bed1c/1594066233403/56_GrantGreen_6_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 13. Grant Green - One of the first ideas… https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/duke-ellington monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebdad4ce9a43f5a39ed639b/1589489242379/3.+Duke+Ellington_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 14. Duke Ellington - Duke Ellington Day 14 #3 – Edward Kennedy ‘Duke’ Ellington (1899–1974). American composer, pianist, and big-band leader. Recordings include: It Don’t Mean a Thing (1932) and ‘Take the A Train’ (1941) and the album Anatomy of a Murder (1959). His career spanned over more than 50 years, with over 1,000 compositions to his name. He lived for the music. After playing around with some typefaces and famous song titles, the sheer number of compositions is so unique, it seemed sensible to make this the main starting point. I experimented with flooding the page with the songs and trying to pick out an image of the man but this didn’t have enough energy. I wanted to express this idea of thousands of songs springing from this one man. An explosion of songs. Once I had placed all the songs coming out from the middle I used a purple for the background (for ‘duke’) and a bright red for the songs to express the energy. 4 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f0385f35b6cfa0aa7a59f74/1594066439648/3_duke-dllington_5_test_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 14. Duke Ellington - An early idea using all his song titles to create his image but it lacked energy. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/mccoy-tyner monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebdae6d7a4b2737deea4b86/1589489504915/61.+McCoy+Tyner_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 15. McCoy Tyner - McCoy Tyner Day 15 #61 – McCoy Tyner (b.1938). American jazz pianist. Albums include: The Real McCoy (1967), Sahara (1972) and with Bobby Hutcherson, Manhattan Moods (1993). After looking at different ideas, I came across this quote by Tyner, based on his time in the Coltrane Quartet – “The Coltrane Quartet was like four pistons in an engine – John, Elvin, Jimmy and I were working to make the car go.” I tried to express this idea and the four blocks reminded me of piano keys and an abstract M. Using the thin rules also helped and the blue-grey was added to the engineering idea. Setting the type vertically reinforced the piston movement. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f03868ff638f1548b4c5488/1594066597636/61_mcCoy-tyner_1_test_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 15. McCoy Tyner - Initial ideas around his name before settling on using the quote https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/sonny-clark monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebdaf75072e945691710edb/1589489790904/78.+Sonny+Clark_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 16. Sonny Clark - Sonny Clark Day 16 #78 – Conrad Yeatis ‘Sonny’ Clark (1931–1963). American ‘hard bop’ jazz pianist. Albums include: Sonny Clark Trio (1957), Cool Struttin’ (1958) and Leapin’ and Lopin’ (1961). I started by writing his name out. With the same letters this provided opportunities to play with the positioning of the letters and I experimented with different typefaces and colours – the bright yellow and orange worked well. But after reading about him more I discovered he had died at 31. Someone with a bright future cut down in their prime by a heart attack. I looked at different ways of getting this across and started with burn marks, but it wasn’t dramatic enough. As I was experimenting with trying to split the words to express ‘cut down’, I accidently coloured the shape black and this reminded me of a guillotine. Far more powerful. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038758c6763420088de6a1/1594066793487/78_SonnyClark_6_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 16. Sonny Clark - One of the early tests https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/return-to-forever monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebdb09e0cb23335edbb9e07/1589490162537/89.+Return+to+Forever_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 17. Return to Forever - Return to Forever Day 17 #89 – Return to Forever is a jazz fusion group founded and led by pianist Chick Corea, started in 1972. Members have included Stanley Clarke, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Al Di Meola. Albums include: Where Have I Known You Before (1974), No Mystery (1975) and Romantic Warrior (1976). I started thinking about the name when walking home from work. Return to Forever. Could I do something with return? Maybe something in a circle? When I got back home I wrote it out and suddenly realised the repeat of the ‘R’ at the start and the end. Perfect. Reading about the history of the band the members kept changing and this aspect of change led to the multi-colours and helped emphasise the name and idea. 2.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/jimmy-smith monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebdb22ecb30e44fbe5b1ec5/1589490429752/66.+Jimmy+Smith_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 18. Jimmy Smith - Jimmy Smith Day 18 #66 – Jimmy Smith (1925–2005). American jazz musician. Helped to popularize the Hammond B-3 electric organ. Albums include: A New Sound, A New Star (1956), Back At The Chicken Shack (1960) and Root Down (1972). ‘Jimmy’ in harmony with a ‘Hammond’. The two ‘m’s’ matching summed it up. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/joe-pass monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebdb31492702c65d6def957/1589490693669/74.+Joe+Pass_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 19. Joe Pass - Joe Pass Day 19 #74 – Joe Pass (1929–1994). Italian-American jazz guitarist of Sicilian descent. Albums include: For Django (1964), Virtuoso (1973) and We’ll Be Together Again (Joe Pass & JJ Johnson, 1983). Very little time today. Italian-American Three colours for Italy, three letters in ‘Joe’. Bold caps to bring out the colours. Blue background and stripes reference the guitar and the stars and stripes. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/lee-morgan monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ebdb419b4230e3d0847c21e/1589648774297/25.+Lee+Morgan_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 20. Lee Morgan - Lee Morgan Day 20 #25 – Edward Lee Morgan (1938–1972). American hard bop trumpeter. Albums include: The Sidewinder (1963), Search for the New Land (1964) and with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Moanin’ (1958). In 1963, Morgan recorded The Sidewinder, which became his greatest commercial success. After years of prolific recording, Morgan was killed at Slug’s Saloon, a jazz club in New York City’s East Village by his common-law wife Helen More, who shot him. He was 33 years old. After writing down these facts I realised ‘33’ could look like ‘EE’ written backwards. Writing the whole word backwards looked odd, so I started to look at how I could use ‘Sidewinder’. This led to the idea of twisting the name. It also made an abstract ‘L’ and allowed the introduction of the ‘33’ idea. It looked a little boring on its own, so after trying it bleeding off the page, I added some other similar shapes which helped add energy and the suggestion of other instruments coming into the music. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038872a3e5fe628cc7b03e/1594067092562/25_lee-morgan_sketch_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 20. Lee Morgan - Early sketches https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/coleman-hawkins monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec01dc2377f3d1b438d4fdf/1589649696481/17.+Coleman+Hawkins_JazzTypes_2013_BobMytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 21. Coleman Hawkins - Coleman Hawkins Day 21 #17 – Coleman Randolph Hawkins, nicknamed Hawk and occasionally ‘Bean’ (1904–1969). American jazz tenor saxophonist. Albums include: Body & Soul (1956), Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster (1957) and Night Hawk (1961). Hawk is such a distinctive nickname that this became the main focus. After moving the letters around on the page I arrived at a pleasing arrangement where the shapes balanced well on the page. It needed something more and the addition of the tenor sax drawing helped bring it to life. 3 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/lione-hampton monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec02144cf4bbe0d08b66e99/1589658819322/81.+Lionel+Hampton_JazzTypes_2013_BobMytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 22. Lionel Hampton - Lionel Hampton Day 22 #81 – Lionel Leo Hampton (1908–2002). American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Recordings include: Flying Home (1942), Hot Mallets (1954), Hamp & Getz (with Stan Getz, 1955) and Silver Vibes (1960). When I read up on Hampton, he achieved so much it was difficult to know where to start. He was most well known for playing the vibraphone so it made sense to work around this. Using it as the crossbar of an ‘H’ worked well. I wanted the bars to stand out with reference to one of his recordings ‘Silver Vibes’ so used a strong background colour. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/wes-montgomery monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec044e929a8f9652e8361d0/1589659091685/19_wes-montgomery_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 22. Wes Montgomery - Wes Montgomery Day 23 #19 – John Leslie ‘Wes’ Montgomery (1923–1968). American jazz guitarist. Recordings include the albums: Incredible Jazz Guitar (1960), Bumpin’ (1965) and Smokin’ at the Half Note (1965). One of the greatest jazz guitarists, listening to his music, I liked the clear distinct sound and used this ultra-thin version of Helvetica to suggest the guitar strings. In his recording ‘Bumpin’ On Sunset’, the strings section overlaps beautifully with the guitar and I wanted to suggest this with the arrangement of the letters. Moving the letters around I noticed I could use the ‘W’ and ‘M’ for the start of both ‘Wes’ and Montgomery’. The bright red gave it a little highlight. 2.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/keith-jarrett monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec045f68ea60f2f691e9b11/1589659498508/46_keith-jarrett_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 23. Keith Jarrett - Keith Jarrett Day 24 #46 – Keith Jarrett (b.1945). American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music. Albums include: Solo Concerts: Bremen/Lausanne (1973), The Köln Concert (1975) and Sun Bear Concerts (1978). Jarrett has commented that his best performances have been when he has had only the slightest notion of what he was going to play at the next moment. He also said that most people don’t know “what he does”, which relates to what Miles Davis said to him expressing bewilderment – as to how Jarrett could “play from nothing”. This idea of something emerging from nothing and the power of his improvisation was distinctive and became the main starting point. After experimenting for some time I didn’t think it was working. I wanted to make more of his solo concerts. Having the word solo emerging from the darkness into light, together with the typeface and the ‘l’ looking like a ‘1’ looked far more powerful. 2.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038913735ded3b9c6c4fdd/1594067244247/46_KeithJarrett_1_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 23. Keith Jarrett - One of the early ideas to express something emerging from nothing. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/diana-krall monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec04797eaad296bcf844986/1589659740504/84_diana-krall_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 24. Diana Krall - Diana Krall Day 25 #84 – Diana Jean Krall, OC, OBC (b.1964). Canadian jazz pianist and singer, known for her contralto vocals. Albums include: All For You (1996), Love Scenes (1997) and Live in Paris (2002). Krall’s voice and music is sophisticated and elegant and that’s what I wanted to try and bring through. I started looking at different typefaces with her name. Looking at the more calligraphic typefaces the ‘D’ reminded me of a treble clef. Placing it on five lines to represent the staff helped to emphasise the music notation theme. It sat well at the bottom of the page and Krall is noted for her contralto vocals (the lowest female voice type). Colour was chosen to reflect her Canadian origins. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f0389bc8e53972d04621554/1594067408827/84_DianaKrall_6_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 24. Diana Krall - In one of the layouts I started to play with the lines of the staff. Looking back, I should have pushed this further – could have been far more interesting than the final choice. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/jaco-pastorius monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec04893c9d64037cc6cef92/1589660013047/75_jaco-pastorius_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 26. Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius Day 26 #75 – John Francis Anthony Pastorius III (1951–1987), better known as Jaco Pastorius. American jazz musician, composer and electric bass player. He joined the band Weather Report in 1976. Albums include: Jaco Pastorius (1976) and with Weather Report, Heavy Weather (1977) and 8:30 (1979). It has been said that he is one of the greatest bass guitarists ever. Someone who redefined the bass guitar. His nickname ‘Jaco’ is distinctive so I wanted to use that. He suffered from bipolar disorder, a mood disorder that is typified by episodes of mania alternating with periods of depression. The black pattern was created by listening to ‘Donna Lee’, the opening track from ‘Jaco Pastorius’, his debut album and drawing a line adjusting the angle with the beat. I thought this also suggested his condition. The four letters from Jaco, to also represent the four strings of a bass guitar, were placed around the outside of the page to be more distinctive. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038a95c6763420088e9854/1594067628046/75_JacoPastorius_2_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 26. Jaco Pastorius - One of the other designs, which again, on reflection, with more work, had more potential. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/max-roach monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec049858ea60f2f691f23cc/1589660316541/65_max-roach_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 27. Max Roach - Max Roach Day 27 #65 – Maxwell Lemuel ‘Max’ Roach (1924–2007). American jazz percussionist, drummer and composer. Albums include: Clifford Brown & Max Roach (1954), Freedom Now Suite (1960) and Percussion Bitter Sweet (1961). Starting with the drum sticks, I played around with making the letters of his name. I liked the ‘X’ as this is a natural playing position. I wondered what it might look like if I introduced a drum. This looked powerful, but a little oriental. What if I introduced the rest of the drum kit? Suddenly this looked more interesting – resting the ‘X’ on the edge of the drum made it stand out. 2.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038b1af3633a029cd34b39/1594067756570/65_MaxRoach_7_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 27. Max Roach - One of the early ideas… https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/fats-waller monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec04ac3438c273bae38ae40/1589660614206/67_fats-waller_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 28. Fats Waller - Fats Waller Day 28 #67 – Thomas Wright ‘Fats’ Waller (1904–1943). American jazz pianist, composer, organist and singer. Recordings include: Honeysuckle Rose (1929), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1929) and Jitterbug Waltz (1942). Razaf described his partner as “the soul of melody... a man who made the piano sing... both big in body and in mind... known for his generosity... a bubbling bundle of joy”. Many of the images of Waller show him with a big smile and his hat. The simple bold typography on the hat seemed to say it all. 1 hour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038b8ab9ce1873cd143926/1594067870251/67_FatsWaller_2_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 28. Fats Waller - The initial ideas showed his face but I tried to reduce it down to something simpler. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/george-russell monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec04be70bcf3d6a679a034b/1589660919916/90_george-russell_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 29. George Russell - George Russell Day 29 #90 – George Allen Russell (1923–2009). American jazz pianist, composer and theorist. Albums include: The Jazz Workshop (1957), Ezz-thetics (1961) and the book The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization (1953). Russell’s book has had far reaching impact, especially in the realm of modal jazz. Art Farmer said that it “opens the door to countless means of melodic expression”. Bill Evans and Miles Davis utilized the theory and used it to record modal jazz, such as the album Kind of Blue. The modern Lydian musical scale is a rising pattern of pitches comprising three whole tones, a semitone, two more whole tones, and a final semitone. So 7 pitches. As ‘Russell’ had 7 letters I placed these on a page to represent the book in a rising fashion. The word ‘George’ helped balance the page. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/cassandra-wilson monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec04d143ca6b4722cc834ff/1589661926017/96_cassandra-wilson_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 30. Cassandra Wilson - Cassandra Wilson Day 30 #96 – Cassandra Wilson (b.1955). American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and producer. Albums include: Blue Light ’Til Dawn (1993), Traveling Miles (1999) and Glamoured (2003). Little time today. I liked the mixture of styles that crept into the music so wanted to try and express this. Listening to the music and looking at various photographs, I found this background image which I thought was appropriate. I liked this quote and used that as the starting point. 1 hour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038c1bf98ae25fc6c9d11e/1594068011574/96_cassandra-wilson_1_test_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 30. Cassandra Wilson - One aspect of the project was to explore different typefaces. I looked at this crazy typeface at one stage, which had real character and energy but I could not get it to work – but would have made for a far more interesting poster. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/bill-frisell monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec0510c55776437f34282d3/1589662179594/79_bill_frisell_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 31. Bill Frisell - Bill Frisell Day 31 #79 – William Richard ‘Bill’ Frisell (b.1951). American guitarist, composer and arranger. Albums include: Have a Little Faith (1992), Blues Dream (2001) and History, Mystery (2008). Whilst researching I came across this quote: “Bill Frisell is the Clark Kent of the electric guitar. Soft-spoken and self-effacing in conversation, he apparently breathes in lungfuls of raw fire when he straps on his (guitar)...”. I liked this idea of someone who changes and comes alive when playing music and started to look at maybe splitting the screen. I noticed that the name ‘Bill’ could also be split which fitted well with the split page. The image of fire suggested the colour scheme at the top. I added the lines pattern to suggest the playfulness in the music and also to suggest the guitar strings. 2 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038d062de84c3af0c525d7/1594068246712/79_bil-frisell_sketch_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 31. Bill Frisell - An early sketch. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/sarah-vaughan monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec05202aeb4600f45a0b25e/1589662445854/52_sarah_vaughan_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 32. Sarah Vaughan - Sarah Vaughan Day 32 #52 – Sarah Lois Vaughan (1924–1990). American jazz singer. Nicknamed ‘Sailor’, ‘Sassy’ and ‘The Divine One’. Recordings include: How Important Can It Be (1954), Broken Hearted Melody (1958) and the albums Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown (1954) and Sassy Swings the Tivoli (1963). I decided to work with Vaughan’s nickname ‘Sassy’ as that was distinctive. After playing with the letterforms and looking at lots of different typefaces I noticed the heart shape in the ‘S’. By flipping the third ‘S’ this completed the heart. I felt the pink colour went with Sassy so kept it really simple with just a nice rich dark background to give it some sophistication. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/benny-carter monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec053145ff2e369e5b45126/1589662679562/55_benny-carter_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 33. Benny Carter - Benny Carter Day 33 #55 – Bennett ‘Benny’ Lester Carter (1907–2003). American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger and bandleader. Albums include: Spike Hughes & Benny Carter (1933), Further Definitions (1961) and Another Time, Another Place (1996). Other jazz musicians called him ‘King’. Such a strong word that I wanted to try and use it – but after lots of sketches I could not work out how. What else was distinctive? Then I remembered how long he had been recording. It has been said that he is the only musician to have recorded in eight different decades. Putting eight lines across the page to represent eight decades, I stretched the word King across to suggest how his career had done the same. Twisting the type round and interweaving it with the lines and the decades looked more interesting and intriguing. 2 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/sun-ra monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec053f33ca6b4722cc94d8a/1589663198614/64_sun_ra_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 34. Sun Ra - Sun Ra Day 34 #64 – Sun Ra, born Herman Sonny Blount (1914–1993). American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet and philosopher. Led his band ‘The Arkestra’ from 1950s till his death. Albums include: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1 (1965), Atlantis (1969) and Space Is the Place (1972). He was known for his ‘cosmic philosophy’ and beliefs and ideas around mythology dating back to ancient Egypt to science fiction. This became the starting point for the background, creating a sun like pattern using the five lines of the staff. I kept the type simple to allow the pattern to shine through. 2 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038d9fe9c21e38214d72f2/1594068398032/64_SunRa_7_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 34. Sun Ra - Early designs working with a quote. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/django-reinhardt monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec056075dc93e2a8c726d30/1589663500580/43_django-reinhardt_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 35. Django Reinhardt - Django Reinhardt Day 35 #43 – Jean Baptiste ‘Django’ Reinhardt (1910–1953). Belgian virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer. Albums include: Swing from Paris, with Stéphane Grappelli (1935-39), The Great Artistry of Django Reinhardt (1954) and The Best Of Django Reinhardt (1960). Often regarded as one of the greatest guitar players of all time, Django Reinhardt was a remarkable man. After a fire his third and fourth fingers were paralysed on his left hand and he relearned his craft and developed a new style of jazz guitar technique. He played all of his guitar solos with only two fingers. I looked at different ways of conveying this and decided to concentrate on cutting some of the letters in his name. The colours were chosen to match those of Belgium, where he was born. The poster was looking a little bare so I added various song titles. The angle of the cut on the letters and all the songs is set at 18 degrees – 18 being the age he had the accident. 4 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038e85e9c21e38214daf28/1594068628763/43_DjangoReinhardt_v2_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 35. Django Reinhardt - This early idea looked at a more obvious way of showing the loss of two fingers, but also suggesting a guitar. On reflection, this idea would have been worth developing further. More immediate, different and with a nice visual idea in the middle. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/hank-mobley monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec05734c9d64037cc6f23e9/1589663749493/73._hank_mobley_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 36. Hank Mobley - Hank Mobley Day 36 #73 – Henry ‘Hank’ Mobley (1930–1986). American hard bop and soul jazz tenor saxophonist and composer. Albums include: Hank Mobley Quintet (1957), Soul Station (1960) and No Room for Squares (1963). Mobley described his sound as ‘round’. It sounds controlled, smooth, melodic. This smooth round sound is what led to bending the type. And although I looked at adding things, in the end I thought the letters looked strong enough on their own. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f038f85c0211e64d11b23aa/1594068907940/73_hank-mobley_sketches_jazztyles2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 36. Hank Mobley - Some of the first sketches. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/jelly-roll-morton monthly 0.5 2020-07-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec0583c789a161a509a4ce2/1589663977384/68_jelly_roll_morton_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 37. Jelly Roll Morton - Jelly Roll Morton Day 37 #68 – Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (1890–1941). American jazz pianist, bandleader and composer known as Jelly Roll Morton. His composition ‘Jelly Roll Blues’ was the first published jazz composition, in 1915. Other recordings include: King Porter Stomp (1923), Black Bottom Stomp (with his band Red Hot Peppers, 1925) and Wolverine Blues. Morton was quite a character and after his grandmother had discovered he had been playing jazz in a local brothel, she threw him out. He apparently said: “When my grandmother found out that I was playing jazz in one of the sporting houses in the District, she told me that I had disgraced the family and forbade me to live at the house... She told me that devil music would surely bring about my downfall, but I just couldn’t put it behind me.” As his music came out around the time of the silent cinema and the first film with sound was called ‘The Jazz Singer’ I decided to try and recreate the mood of those films. The early experiments were a little boring until I decided to use the line on a roll. Simple, but far more intriguing. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f03902203bbfa0f1cb74d70/1594069044736/68_jelly-roll-morton_sketches_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 37. Jelly Roll Morton - Some of the early sketches – on an old letterhead https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/chick-corea monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec059075bddb16cf6b3996e/1589664227948/23_chick-corea_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 38. Chick Corea - Chick Corea Day 38 #23 – Armando Anthony ‘Chick’ Corea (b.1941). American jazz pianist, keyboardist and composer. Recordings include: Spain (1971) the albums Now He Sings, Now He Sobs (1968) and Return to Forever (1972). I started sketching trying to combine piano and Chick Corea. The two ‘Cs’ were unusual so they became a starting point. Being such a good pianist, making the keyboard into a ‘C’ seemed a good idea and worked well. It also referenced his band ‘Circle’ formed in 1970/71 and his band ‘Return to Forever’. The bright yellow background and red caption helped reference his Spanish and Italian descent. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/bessie-smith monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec05a037e00fb72ee525525/1589664436804/97_bessie_smith_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 39. Bessie Smith - Bessie Smith Day 39 #97 – Bessie Smith (1894–1937). American blues singer. Nicknamed The Empress of the Blues. Recordings include: Downhearted Blues (1923), St. Louis Blues (1925) and Empty Bed Blues (1928). Working with her nickname ‘The Empress of the Blues’, The ‘E’ reminded me of a crown and by placing the type up the middle also a sceptre. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters/benny-goodman monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec05ad2feaa194a81468689/1589664473910/27_benny-goodman_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 1–40 - 40. Benny Goodman - Benny Goodman Day 40 #27 – Benjamin David ‘Benny’ Goodman (1909–1986). American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader. Also known as the ‘King of Swing’. Albums include: Stompin’ at The Savoy (1935), Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert (1938) and B.G. in Hi-Fi (1954). Struggled with this one. Lots of Kings and another crown. Working with the clarinet and type seemed the most powerful solution. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180 daily 0.75 2020-07-25 https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/joe-lovano- monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec2ebe9f5bebe1f12a6c6f3/1589833031305/85_joe-lovano_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 41. Joe Lovano - Joe Lovano Day 41 #85 – Joseph Salvatore ‘Joe’ Lovano (b. 1952). American jazz saxophonist, alto clarinetist, flautist, and drummer. Albums include: From the Soul (1991), Rush Hour (1994) and Joe Lovano and Hank Jones: Live at Dizzy’s (2006). Again, very little time. Lovano was born in the States to Sicilian-American parents. This Italian connection provided the starting point for the colours. The letters split well into a block and the angle made it more dynamic. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/oscar-peterson monthly 0.5 2020-07-25 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec2ed651ec3b43be0db705d/1589833285796/63_oscar-peterson_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 42. Oscar Peterson - Oscar Peterson Day 42 #63 – Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (b.1925). Canadian jazz pianist and composer. Called ‘O.P.’ by his friends. Albums include: The Oscar Peterson Trio at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival (1956), Night Train (1962) and The Trio (1973). I decided to try and work with Peterson’s nickname, ‘OP’, as that was distinctive. After sketching I realised the ‘P’ could look like the top of a grand piano. Keeping the ‘O’ as well, it looked like an abstract form of ‘OP’. Red and white were chosen to reflect his nationality. I experimented with putting notes behind on the red background to express the speed of his playing. 2 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f0980edb35453569b1db4c7/1594458395345/63_OscarPeterson_9_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 42. Oscar Peterson - Early layout idea looking at ‘op’ https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/lester-young monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec2ee73d12c546f140e8e08/1589833534806/32_lester-young_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 43. Lester Young - Lester Young Day 43 #32 – Lester Willis Young (1909–1959). Nickname ‘Pres’, short for President. American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. Also played trumpet, violin and drums. Recordings include: Lester Leaps In (1949) and albums The Complete Savoy Recordings (1944–50) and Lester Young With the Oscar Peterson Trio (1952). After experimenting with the letterforms, the bold extended typeface worked well and looked strong. He worked with many musicians and these names were added to provide interest and some context to his life. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/andrew-hill monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec2ef61583b1b004b03d0f3/1589833769839/45_andrew-hill_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 44. Andrew Hill - Andrew Hill Day 44 #45 – Andrew Hill (1931–2007). American jazz pianist and composer. Albums include: Smokestack (1963), Point of Departure (1964) and Compulsion (1965). Hill is considered one of jazz piano’s innovators. Often categorised as ‘avant-garde’ he explored different methods, playing against the rhythm and different chord structures. I wanted to try and capture this idea. His initials (ah...) suggested someone listening and commenting on the music. Splitting them up help communicate the complexity of his playing. I used black on white shapes to suggest piano keys. 2 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/david-murray monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec2f03aff3fc7036959f8c5/1589834207346/99_david-murray_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 45. David Murray - David Murray Day 45 #99 – David Murray (b.1955). American jazz musician playing tenor saxophone and bass clarinet. Albums include: Ming (1980), Murray’s Steps (1982) and Special Quartet (1990). Murray has recorded over 130 albums. A list of album titles bleeding off top and bottom suggested a much longer list. The ‘M’ was to hint at the free flowing music. 1 hour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edd4f3f3e8b82209b1d688d/1591562065597/99_DavidMurray_1_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 45. David Murray - An early idea, experimenting with typefaces to introduce some energy. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/joe-oliver monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec2f2134328b26e6f21ff0f/1589834613424/88_king-oliver_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 46. Joe 'King' Oliver - Joe ‘King’ Oliver Day 46 #88 – Joe ‘King’ Oliver (1885–1938). American jazz cornet player and bandleader. Recordings include: Dipper Mouth Blues (1923), Canal Street Blues (1923), Doctor Jazz (1926) and WaWaWa (1926). I started with the initials – ‘KO’ – and seeing how I could work in the idea of ‘king’. By flipping the ‘K’ on its side it could represent a crown, but this spelt out ‘OK’. It is very graphic but didn’t represent Oliver. Changing the letters round didn’t work either, but when I looked at the colours and changed the typeface I realised the ‘O’ looked like the end of the trumpet with a ‘mute’ in the end. It is said that his recording ‘WaWaWa’ can be credited with giving the name wah-wah to such techniques. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edd4eb24b689d06b81313ed/1591561924842/88_KingOliver_3_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 46. Joe 'King' Oliver - One of the first ideas, working with ‘KO’… https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/eric-dolphy monthly 0.5 2020-07-11 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec2f38e17e5a05320264728/1589834840892/24_eric-dolphy_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 47. Eric Dolphy - Eric Dolphy Day 47 #24 – Eric Allan Dolphy, Jr. (1928–1964). American jazz alto saxophonist, flutist and bass clarinetist. Albums include: At the Five Spot (1961), Out to Lunch (1964) and in partnership, Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (1960). Listening to a few tracks from ‘Out to Lunch’ I wanted to try and capture what was going on in the music. Five musicians, working together, trying out new things, sometimes flowing together but often not. I started sketching and moved the pen to the sounds of the music. It looked jagged, out of place but came together as a whole. Whilst sketching it led me to think about using different typefaces and using five overlapping typefaces to represent the five musicians on the ‘Out to Lunch’ album. I changed the sizes of the words to reinforce this idea of changes in the music. 2.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/dizzy-gillespie monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec2f4757c2e3817617b9eaa/1589835076868/22_dizzy_gillespie_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 48. Dizzy Gillespie - Dizzie Gillespie Day 48 #22 – John Birks ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie (1917–1993). American jazz trumpeter, composer, bandleader and occasional singer. Recordings include: Night in Tunisia (1942), Salt Peanuts (1945) and the album Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods (with Machito, 1975). Gillespie is one of the greatest trumpeters of all time. And with his amazing puffed-out cheeks and his trademark trumpet which bent upwards at a 45 degree angle, his performances were memorable. As his angled trumpet was so unique I had this in the back of my mind as I started sketching. When writing out his name, the letters fell into a shape that looked vaguely like a man so I used that as my starting point. But what typeface? I played around with quite a few and the bolder ones worked better in looking like a figure. It was only when I took a break and started thinking about each one that I realised ‘Gill’ was staring me in the face. Perfect. The type, angled at the top to suggest the end of the trumpet, finished it off. 4 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/ella-fitzgerald monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec2f562d12c546f14105da1/1589835294348/21_ella_fitzgerald_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 49. Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Fitzgerald Day 49 #21 – Ella Jane Fitzgerald (1917–1996), also known as the ‘First Lady of Song’, ‘Queen of Jazz’ and ‘Lady Ella’. American jazz and song vocalist. Recordings include the albums: Ella Fitzgerald: Pure Ella (1950-54), Ella Fitzgerald – Sings The Cole Porter Songbook (1956) and Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong: Ella and Louis (1957). Fitzgerald was a brilliant scat singer – vocal improvisation, wordless with nonsense syllables. One recording which includes this is from 1960, at the peak of her powers, where Fitzgerald did a concert in Berlin. It included a version of ‘Mack the Knife’, in which she forgot the words and made up her own. A wonderful recording and great fun. It is so unusual I thought it would be good to use the words in some way. Listening to the recording I selected the lines she made up and used this as a background. The song has a great upbeat swinging sound and I looked at typefaces that could express this sound. Lively, flowing, personal. On top of this I put ‘ella’. Such a distinctive but recognised name that it worked on its own. I looked at playing with the letters, turning ‘e’ upside down to make an ‘a’ but it was much simpler to just write the name. 3 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/art-ensemble-of-chicago monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec2f6302a96966fa9daf88b/1590004475047/77_art-ensemble-of-chicago_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 50. Art Ensemble of Chicago - Art Ensemble of Chicago Day 50 #77 – Art Ensemble of Chicago, avant-garde jazz ensemble started in the late 1960s. Originally comprised of Lester Bowie, Joseph Jarman, Malachi Favors, Roscoe Mitchell and later, drummer Famoudou Don Moye. Notable for their multi-instrumentalism, especially the use of ‘little instruments’ such as bicycle horns, bells and wind chimes. Albums include: A Jackson in Your House (1969), Full Force (1980) and Nice Guys (1978). The Ensemble reportedly brought some 500 music making implements with them when they moved to France at the end of the 1960s. I wanted to get across this sense of a mass of instruments. I started gathering images of different instruments and thinking about how to incorporate the type. As I placed the images, I realised I could use the negative space. I started off with ‘Ancient to the Future’ – their motto. This became too complicated and in the end I just used ‘Art’. I started off filling the space but when I looked at the crop I liked it pulled back revealing the other instruments which was a better reflection of the original idea. 2 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/count-basie monthly 0.5 2020-07-13 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec58b3cd1bc132de22acc67/1590005194336/11_count-basie_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 51. Count Basie - Count Basie Day 51 #11 – William ‘Count’ Basie (1904–1984). American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader and composer. Albums include: The Complete Decca Recordings (1937–39), The Atomic Mr Basie (1957) and Basie and Zoot (with Zoot Sims, 1975). The swinging mood for which Basie was famous and the upbeat energy of his music is something I wanted to try and capture. A big band sound. At the same time I was writing out the word ‘Basie’ and liked the similarities in shape of the ‘B’ and ‘E’ and started looking at flipping the ‘B’ to create the ‘E’ and bleeding off the edge to suggest size. I used the names of some of his most famous recordings and to inject a sense of energy, adjusted them to suggest them moving around the page. 2 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/the-modern-jazz-quartet monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec58df58abd6445f7586b8a/1590005561070/39_modern-jazz-quartet_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 52. The Modern Jazz Quartet - The Modern Jazz Quartet Day 52 #39 – The Modern Jazz Quartet was established in 1952 and for most of their career composed of John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Percy Heath (double bass) and Connie Kay (drums). Active until the 1970s and again in the 1990s. Albums include: Django (1956), Fontessa (1956) and The Complete Last Concert (1974). The group comprised of a pianist, vibraphonist, bassist and a drummer. Four musicians whose styles and instruments worked well to deliver what I found to be a smooth, distinct sound. Splitting the type into four shapes seemed an obvious but pleasing idea to get across quartet. I wanted to experiment with some different colour schemes – very aware that I was using the same colours again and again. So, I started by looking through a series of colour books whilst listening to the music to see what combinations seemed appropriate and then trying these. After working through different combinations, the salmon pink type on grey and blue backgrounds worked best. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/dexter-gordon monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec58f6c3819f75e3fdac2e2/1590005816061/28_dexter-gordon_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 53. Dexter Gordon - Dexter Gordon Day 53 #28 – Dexter Gordon (1923–1990). American jazz tenor saxophonist. Also known as ‘Long Tall Dexter’ and ‘Sophisticated Giant’. Albums include: Dexter Calling... (1961), Go! (1962) and Our Man in Paris (1963). Little time tonight. Gordon was also known as ‘Long Tall Dexter’ due to his height – he was 6 feet 6 inches tall. Sketching out his name I noticed the connection between the two ‘o’s’ in his name and the two 6’s. Once I had found an appropriate typeface it started to come together. Listening to the music I picked out some colours I thought were appropriate. I positioned the background saxophone illustration high on the page to suggest his height. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/joe-henderson monthly 0.5 2020-07-11 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec5905c2fb3d635d767ed7c/1590006135882/36_joe-henderson_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 54. Joe Henderson - Joe Henderson Day 54 #36 – Joe Henderson (1937–2001). American jazz tenor saxophonist. Albums include: Page One (1963), Inner Urge (1965) and So Near, So Far – Musings for Miles (1993). I wrote out his name and then started looking through photographs. I noticed the two ‘o’s’ in his name and these reminded me of Henderson’s glasses. I started working with this. To balance out the type I needed to add something. I looked at other album names and then thought the simplest thing would be to say ‘Sax by’ which fitted neatly. I explored different typefaces until I came across Eurostile where the shape of the ‘O’s looked like his glasses. To make them stand out I used grey for the other type. And when going through his albums I noticed he recorded an album called ‘Black is the Colour’. I thought this would be a nice link with the glasses. The white background seemed a little boring so the bright yellow really made it sing. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f09830f13ef3365802ee427/1594458908478/36_joe-henderson_v2_test_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 54. Joe Henderson - Early layout idea https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/john-zorn monthly 0.5 2020-07-11 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec591962f7cfc3aa7e37ea3/1590234966226/98_john-zorn_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 55. John Zorn - John Zorn Day 55 #98 – John Zorn (b.1953). American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Albums include: The Big Gundown (1985), Spillane (1987), and Naked City (with the group Naked City, 1989). Zorn has stated: “All the various styles are organically connected to one another. I’m an additive person – the entire storehouse of my knowledge informs everything I do. People are so obsessed with the surface that they can’t see the connections, but they are there.” Zorn has been prolific in his recordings and this idea of all these connections formed the starting point. Constantly trying new things and working with many different people. I started drawing lines to suggest the different ideas, people and music and making a change in the line to suggest a ‘Z’. I was going to try and recreate this but liked the sketch – it suggested the idea of experimentation. Once scanned and reversed out it was just a matter of looking at different colours. 2 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edd4df53a11483ae770b5cf/1591561735158/98_JohnZorn_4_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 55. John Zorn - The original sketch – looking at this again, I think I prefer this un-cropped version. The line endings make for a more interesting image. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/ben-webster monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec90f985060ad27eed15ba7/1590235379480/95_ben-webster_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 56. Ben Webster - Ben Webster Day 56 #95 – Benjamin Francis ‘Ben’ Webster (1909–1973). Also known as The Brute or Frog. American jazz tenor saxophonist. Albums include: Art Tatum & Ben Webster Quartet (1956), Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster (1957) and Soulville (1958). In 1964 Webster moved permanently to Copenhagen. Looking at the Danish flag I realised I could make the white cross out of his name. I spent some time listening to the album ‘Coleman Hawkins encounters Ben Webster’. This made me think of trying to incorporate an earlier poster for Coleman Hawkins, putting ‘Hawk’ in the background to suggest the album. I then just needed a sophisticated typeface to suggest the smooth playing. 2 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edd4d5528c2346bbd6debcd/1591561573380/95_BenWebster_6_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 56. Ben Webster - One of the earlier ideas using his other nickname ‘Frog’ – and keeping ‘Hawk’ in the background. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/fletcher-henderson monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec91115063db750f23f729e/1590235657568/82_fletcher-henderson_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 57. Fletcher Henderson - Fletcher Henderson Day 57 #82 – James Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. (1897–1952). American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. Often known as ‘Smack’ Henderson. Recordings include: Gin House Blues (1925), Sugar Foot Stomp (1925) and Tidal Wave (1930). By the 1920s and 1930s there were many top black musicians who had passed through Henderson’s orchestra. I started by listing these and noticed ‘etc’ in the middle of his name which worked well at the end of the list, but this wasn’t particularly distinctive. Researching his biography, I came across the fact that Henderson had a degree in mathematics and chemistry. Putting the plus sign into the ‘H’ of Henderson helped. Twisting his name and then adding the names beside the plus sign looked strong. 2 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/lennie-tristano monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec91230250a6a0b1a504029/1590236060796/94_lennie-tristano_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 58. Lennie Tristano - Lennie Tristano Day 58 #94 – Leonard Joseph ‘Lennie’ Tristano (1919–1978). American jazz pianist, composer and teacher of jazz improvisation. Albums include: Crosscurrents (including the recordings Intuition and Digression, 1949), Lennie Tristano (1955) and The New Tristano (1962). It is said that Tristano, in a sextet session in 1949, was the first to record a type of music that came to be called ‘free jazz’ – two pieces (Intuition and Digression) that were completely improvised. After sketching out his name, I noticed the ‘IST’ in his surname and looked at turning this into ‘1st’ and adding ‘recording of free jazz?’ underneath. The music is sophisticated and smooth so I went for a more classical typeface (Perpetua). Laid out straight it looked a little dull, so I twisted and spliced the type to add interest. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/clifford-brown monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec913bc8e07a301b0e7074c/1590238973905/20_clifford_brown_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 59. Clifford Brown - Clifford Brown Day 59 #20 – Clifford Brown (1930–1956), aka ‘Brownie’. American jazz trumpeter. Recordings include the albums: Daahoud (1954), Clifford Brown & Max Roach (1954) and Clifford Brown and Max Roach at Basin Street (1956). Clifford Brown, who by all accounts was a brilliant trumpeter, was tragically killed in a car crash aged 25. Overlapping the first and surname using the ‘O’ made a cross, and by using Futura Heavy suggested a tyre, which seemed appropriate. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/vince-guaraldi monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ec91f34ad76516658cf9743/1590422923280/71_vince-guaraldi_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 60. Vince Guaraldi - Vince Guaraldi Day 60 #71 – Vincent Anthony ‘Vince’ Guaraldi (1928– 1976). American jazz musician and pianist noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements. Albums include: Vince Guaraldi Trio Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus (1962), A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965). As he was so well known for his association with the cartoon ‘Peanuts’, this became the starting point. I liked the idea of suggesting a cartoon and after I found this quote, a close crop added interest. Making the end of the speech bubble like a ‘V’ finished it off nicely. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/anthony-braxton monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecbedd240423e17efde9e4c/1590423230154/69_anthony-braxton_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 61. Anthony Braxton - Anthony Braxton Day 61 #69 – Anthony Braxton (b.1945). American composer, saxophonist, clarinetist, flautist, pianist and philosopher. Albums include: For Alto (1968), New York Fall (1974) and Five Compositions (quartet) (1986). Braxton names his pieces as diagrams, often labelled with cryptic numbers or letters. Taking just the counters of ‘A’ and ‘B’ and using outlines referenced this well. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/brad-mehldau monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecbeef7ab61810adc0d1dbb/1590423576172/62_brad-mehldau_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 62. Brad Mehldau - Brad Mehldau Day 62 #62 – Brad Mehldau (b. 1970). American jazz pianist. Leads his own group, the Brad Mehldau Trio. Albums include: The Art of the Trio (1997), Alone Together (1997) and The Art of the Trio Vol. 3 (1998). Listening to his piano solos led me to look at the keyboard and realise that if I cropped the keyboard at the top it would look like an abstract ‘M’. I wanted a typeface that was a little different, a little edgy. I picked Orator and bled that off the bottom to mimic the top. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/jackie-mclean monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecbf046ad76516658276df9/1590423976711/86_jackie+-mcLean_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 63. Jackie McLean - Jackie McLean Day 63 #86 – John Lenwood ‘Jackie’ McLean (1931–2006). American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator. Albums include: Swing, Swang, Swingin’ (1959), Let Freedom Ring (1962) and New York Calling (1974). I kept reading about McLean’s intensity of playing. So I selected really bright colours and started to look at how I could express it typographically. Listening to some high notes made me just think of placing the letters high on the page. As he played Alto Sax, positioning the sax high on the page (as with the Mehldau image) it looked like a ‘J’. But this was too similar to the Mehldau image. Changing it to a typeface, something rough and unusual, gave it more energy. It still looked a little boring, so repeating the typeface and overlapping them, in different colours and adjusting the end to look more like an alto sax worked better. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/frank-sinatra monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecbf1c35e861630fff426a6/1590523730363/76_frank-sinatra_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 64. Frank Sinatra - Frank Sinatra Day 64 #76 – Francis Albert ‘Frank’ Sinatra (1915–1998). Also known as ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’. American singer and film actor. Albums include: In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs For Swingin’ Lovers (1956) and Sinatra At the Sands (1966). Ol’ Blue Eyes is so distinctive this became my starting point. I arranged the words to work well in the space and kept them simple and bold. Colour was an obvious choice. But what to do to add that little extra? Thinking about eyes, I realised the apostrophe reminded me of a smiley or emoticon. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/albert-ayler monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecd77813bbee218ed0b29eb/1590524175636/42_albert-ayler_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 65. Albert Ayler - Albert Ayler Day 65 #42 – Albert Ayler (1936–1970). American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer. Albums include: Spiritual Unity (1964), The Hilversum Session (1964) and Slugs’ Saloon (1966). I started by sketching his name and the letters noticing that using the two ‘A’s’ together formed a cross – this was powerful but not enough. What else? An unconventional musician with a sharp distinctive sound, in November 1970 he was found dead in New York City’s East River, under mysterious circumstances. He was 34. It was only after reading this that I realised the X could mark the place where Ayler was found dead. I looked at different typefaces until I found something rough and more edgy. 1 hour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edd4c93df6d132bade5454c/1591561380692/42_AlbertAyler_3_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 65. Albert Ayler - The initial idea – while the chosen route tries to explain the idea, this is a stronger image. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/gil-evans monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecd79319259ee3d4510c7f8/1590524381896/34_gil-evans_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 66. Gil Evans - Gil Evans Day 66 #34 – Ian Ernest Gilmore ‘Gil’ Evans (born Green) (1912–1988). Canadian jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. Albums include: Out of the Cool (1960), The Individualism of Gil Evans (1964) and Where Flamingos Fly (1971). Evans was an arranger and this idea of organising the players in the orchestra made me think of taking apart the letters of his name and rearranging them. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/sonny-rollins monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecd79f7fd31365e4f195adf/1590524624510/13_sonny-rollins_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 67. Sonny Rollins - Sonny Rollins Day 67 #13 – Theodore Walter ‘Sonny’ Rollins (b.1930). American jazz tenor saxophonist. Albums include: Saxophone Colossus (1956), Night at the Village Vanguard (1957) and The Bridge (1962). In 1959 Rollins took a musical sabbatical and started practising for hours a day on Williamsburg Bridge. I started by using the letters to try and create a bridge but it looked boring. He recorded ‘Saxophone Colossus’ in 1956. Typing out ‘Saxophone’ in the most condensed typeface I could find, I noticed the space below the ‘P’, the perfect place to add the word colossus, which was neat and amusing it being so small. But it also suggested to me the idea of this man, playing away at night on the bridge. Adding a blue fade in the background to suggest a sky and a dark blue to suggest the river at a strong angle to compliment the angle of the type finished it off. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/charles-mingus monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecd7af095a4d74aea8d5b93/1590524825964/5_charles-mingus_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 68. Charles Mingus - Charles Mingus Day 68 #5 – Louis Charles Mingus Jr. (1922–1979). American jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader. Albums include: Blues and Roots (1959), Mingus Ah Um (1959) and The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963). Whilst researching I came across this quote attributed to Mingus and really wanted to try and use it – but how could I link it with the man and his music? It was whilst taking a walk I realised the sound hole on the double bass looked like an abstract ‘S’ – ‘S’ for simplicity. I experimented for sometime with cropping in close to the double bass but in the end – in the interests of simplicity – removed everything else just leaving the shape. The brown gradient helped link back to the instrument and splitting the type either side helped emphasise the message. 2 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/art-tatum monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecd7bc0d02304239e239f30/1590525112316/50_art-tatum_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 69. Art Tatum - Art Tatum Day 69 #50 – Arthur ‘Art’ Tatum, Jr. (1909–1956). American jazz pianist and virtuoso, born nearly blind. Albums include: Art Tatum & Ben Webster: The Album (1956) and The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Vol. 1, (1990). Art Tatum was revered by so many jazz musicians that it made sense to use this in some way. One of the most famous quotes is this one by Fats Waller. I was looking to add something else and thought about making reference to that fact he was almost blind – using braille at the bottom of the page to suggest the keyboard. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/pat-metheny monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecd7cd74cd7db0c76e32cab/1590609174801/38_pat-metheny_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 70. Pat Metheny - Pat Metheny Day 70 #38 – Patrick Bruce ‘Pat’ Metheny (b.1954). American jazz guitarist and composer. Founded The Pat Metheny Group in 1977. Albums include: Bright Size Life (1975), Offramp (1982) and Secret Story (1992). As Metheny plays the 12 string guitar I divided up the page into 12 strips. I then started exploring how to integrate the type. Listening to the music there is a sense of many instruments and overlaying harmonies emerging. I tried to reflect this with the different colours and the emerging type. 3 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/pharoah-sanders monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecec5652ab52936246e28c3/1590609507246/41_pharoah-sanders_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 71. Pharoah Sanders - Pharoah Sanders Day 71 #41 – Ferrell Sanders (b.1940). Nickname Pharoah. American jazz saxophonist. Albums include: Karma (1969), Thembi (1971) and Black Unity (1971). Sanders is a prominent figure in the development of free jazz. Some pieces are very easy to listen to, some of it takes off in different directions leading to pieces that are more challenging. This idea of deviation led to the idea of changing the shape of the letterforms. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/chet-baker monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecec683785fab3a89ddcc51/1590610138734/53_chet+-baker_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 72. Chet Baker - Chet Baker Day 72 #53 – Chesney Henry ‘Chet’ Baker, Jr. (1929–1988). American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer. Albums include: The Best of Chet Baker Sings (1956), Mulligan-Baker (1965) and Blues for a Reason (1984). Listening to his music, it often sounds beautiful, delicate and fine. In many ways a contrast to his personal life; Baker struggled with heroin addiction for much of his life. And by all accounts it contributed to his death. I went for a fine delicate typeface made of dots to reflect the playing and his addiction. By removing some of the dots I wanted to convey the affect of the drug on his life. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/john-mclaughlin monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecec90cc7e9ec7cf3418864/1590610392865/72_johnmcLaughlin_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 73. John McLaughlin - John McLaughlin Day 73 #72 – John McLaughlin (b.1942). English guitarist, bandleader and composer who formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra, fusing electric jazz and rock with Indian influences. Albums include: Extrapolation (1969), My Goal’s Beyond (1970) and The Inner Mounting Flame (1971). McLaughlin is renowned for fusing different musical styles and introducing Indian influences. I started with playing around with letterforms and noticed the two ‘J’s could make an abstract ‘f’ for fusion. Working with this I then looked at a background and started with the Indian and British flag. This was too complicated, so I fused the colours which made it simpler. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/thelonious-monk monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ecec9ed5080b661287c7e21/1590610687275/4._thelonious-monk_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 74. Thelonious Monk - Thelonious Monk Day 74 #4 – Thelonious Sphere Monk (1917–1982). American jazz pianist and composer. Albums include: Genius of Modern Music Vols I & 2 (1947–52), Brilliant Corners (1956) and Straight, No Chaser (1967). Considered one of the all time greats of American music, Monk is the second-most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington. He had an unusual technique which involved the use of silences and hesitations. I wanted to use this idea of space in the typography. After exploring various ideas I extended the letterforms and kept them white to suggest the spaces. 1 hour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edd4a572746a420fbadc0d0/1591560851317/4_thelonious-monk_4_test_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 74. Thelonious Monk - An early idea - which reviewing now is more successful with the angles and negative shapes working better https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/bud-powell monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ececb1df13530766acb4a54/1590610919028/33_bud-powell_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 75. Bud Powell - Bud Powell Day 75 #33 – Earl Rudolph ‘Bud’ Powell (1924–1966). American jazz pianist. Recordings include: The Amazing Bud Powell, Volume 1 (1951) with the composition ‘Un Poco Loco’, and Volume 2 (1953). Powell was considered a brilliant jazz pianist but in 1945, in a possible racial incident, he was beaten by police and never really recovered. He suffered with headaches and mental breakdowns for the rest of his life. He spent time in a mental hospital several times during his life. And at one point was affected by drugs taken for the treatment of schizophrenia. To reflect this racial incident and mental issues, I split the page into black and white. Using a distressed typeface, on its side suggesting a face, looked powerful. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/dave-brubeck monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ececbffdb946a588c7b5c81/1590611109844/16_dave-brubeck_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 76. Dave Brubeck - Dave Brubeck Day 76 #16 – David Warren ‘Dave’ Brubeck (1920–2012). American jazz pianist. Recordings with the Dave Brubeck Quartet include: ‘Take Five’ and ‘Blue Rondo à la Turk’ from the album Time Out (1959) and ‘Unsquare Dance’ from the album Time Further Out (1961). His music is known for employing unusual time signatures. The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s best known recording ‘Take Five’ is in 5/4 time and is on the Time Out album. I checked all the time signatures of this album and used these as the focus. I added the staff in the background to support the idea and add texture to the background. After experimenting with the titles of the tracks and different colours, I decided it was simpler and stronger with just the coloured time signatures. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/stan-getz monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ececccfc7e9ec7cf3425bdc/1590611833383/9._stan-getz_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 77. Stan Getz - Stan Getz Day 77 #9 – Stanley ‘Stan’ Getz (1927–1991). American jazz saxophone player. Recordings include: Desafinado (1962) and The Girl from Ipanema from the album Getz/Gilberto (1963). Getz is probably most famous for his Getz/Gilberto album, a bossa nova-flavoured album that was a world-wide hit. I chose colours that reflect this style of Brazilian music, developed in the 1950s and 1960s. He was known as ‘The Sound’ for his warm tone and I experimented with this for some time. I noticed whilst working with this that his name split pleasingly into two groups of four letters which worked well vertically. Repeating and overlapping the letters helped introduce rich colours. 2.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/bix-beiderbecke monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ececfaaf1cc2137b80c8b68/1590612352719/54_bix-beiderbecke_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 78. Bix Beiderbecke - Bix Beiderbecke Day 78 #54 – Leon Bismark ‘Bix’ Beiderbecke (1903–1931). American jazz cornetist, composer and jazz pianist. Recordings include: In a Mist (1927), Singin’ the Blues (1927) Ol’ Man River (1928) and the album Bix Beiderbecke, Vol. 1: Singin’ the Blues (1990). He was once called ‘The World’s Hottest Cornetist’ by the Press and I experimented with this for sometime but struggled to make it work. I kept coming back to his name which was distinctive. Picking a typeface called Broadway to reflect the 1920’s era, it still needed something extra. The dot of the ‘i’ in yellow suggesting the cornet did the trick. 2 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edd4b384b689d06b8129e72/1591561057880/54_BixBeiderbecke_5_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 78. Bix Beiderbecke - One of the early ideas looked at using the ‘T’s’ and linking with the cornet. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/mahavishnu-orchestra monthly 0.5 2020-07-25 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5eced1a44e19195862f780ad/1590612646588/48_mahavishnu-orchestra_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 79. Mahavishnu Orchestra - Mahavishnu Orchestra Day 79 #48 – Mahavishnu Orchestra, two jazz-fusion groups led by John McLaughlin, in 1971–1976 and 1984–1987. The original lineup was John McLaughlin on electric guitar, violinist Jerry Goodman, keyboardist Jan Hammer, electric bassist Rick Laird, and drummer Billy Cobham. Albums include: The Inner Mounting Flame (1971), Birds Of Fire (1973) and Inner Worlds (1975). This jazz fusion group had a line up that changed over the years, but most of the time had 5 members. I picked 5 different typefaces and reproduced the ‘O’ in different colours to represent the different musicians. 1 hour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edd4c0af092b93f313800e1/1591561283925/48_MahavishnuOrchestra_1_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 79. Mahavishnu Orchestra - The first version with the different typefaces. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-4180/charlie-christian monthly 0.5 2020-06-07 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5eced2c72264504f0570914e/1590612689264/44._charlie-christian_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 41-80 - 80. Charlie Christian - Charlie Christian Day 80 #44 – Charles Henry ‘Charlie’ Christian (1916–1942). American swing and jazz guitarist. Cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. Recordings include: The Genius of the Electric Guitar (1939-41) and Solo Flight: The Genius of Charlie Christian (1972). Two ‘C’s for Charlie Christian in a typeface that suggests strings of the guitar and when put together make an ‘S’ for Swing. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100 daily 0.75 2020-07-13 https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/horace-silver monthly 0.5 2020-07-13 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ed7f0f2e1b66d2207e6f4ab/1591211390453/26_horace-silver_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 81. Horace Silver - Horace Silver Day 81 #26 – Horace Silver (b.1928), born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva. American jazz pianist and composer. Albums include: Horace Silver Trio (1953), Blowin’ the Blues Away (1959) and Song For My Father (1964). Silver was proficient in Portugese – his father was from Cape Verde. I liked the idea of playing on his name – printing Silver in the Portugese colours. 1 hour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f0cc7628caccc33aba2eaef/1594673017234/26_horace-silver_2_test_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 81. Horace Silver - An early idea https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/charles-haden monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ed7f4d19892ee252833733a/1591211449227/57_charles-haden_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 82. Charles Haden - Charles Haden Day 82 #57 – Charles Edward Haden (b.1937). American jazz musician double bassist. Albums include: Liberation Music Orchestra (1969), Closeness Duets (1976) and Quartet West (1987). The four strings of the bass to make the three strokes of the ‘H’. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/gerry-mulligan monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ed7f5e3a94fe644d9ad3108/1591298414445/49_gerry-mulligan_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 83. Gerry Mulligan - Gerry Mulligan Day 83 #49 – Gerald Joseph ‘Gerry’ Mulligan (1927–1996). American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Albums include: Gerry Mulligan Quartet, Volume 1&2 (1953), Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster (1959) and Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band at the Village Vanguard (1961). Mulligan was one of the leading baritone saxophone players. His name on an angle reminded me of a sax, especially with the ‘Y’ at the end. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/art-pepper monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ed949914ec82f5ed4e4f273/1591298737292/40_art-pepper_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 84. Art Pepper - Art Pepper Day 84 #40 – Arthur ‘Art’ Edward Pepper, Jr. (1925–1982). American alto saxophonist and clarinetist. Albums include: Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section (1957), Plus Eleven (1959) and Straight Life (1980). A brilliant saxophonist who became addicted to heroin halfway through his life but recovered. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/weather-report monthly 0.5 2020-07-13 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ed94ac3173c0a2bfafe90f6/1591299009020/29_weather-report_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 85. Weather Report - Weather Report Day 85 #29 – Weather Report. American jazz fusion band of the 1970s and early 1980s, co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Albums include: Mysterious Traveller (1974), Black Market (1976) and Heavy Weather (1977) with the hit ‘Birdland’. The band lasted sixteen years with a continuous changing of personnel. The incredible list of musicians who played in the band became the starting point. After listening to them, I looked for a more interesting way to display the different names. Putting them in strips of colour worked well but it wasn’t until I turned them on their side that it reminded me of rain and became more dynamic. The longer strips reflecting the length of time in the band. 1 hour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f0cc7fcdebb7a6b3cc99c39/1594673173988/29_WeatherReport_3_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 85. Weather Report - The initial layout looking at all the names https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/ornette-coleman monthly 0.5 2020-07-13 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5ed9f299c690c4635f0fb917/1591439498575/10_ornette-coleman_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 86. Ornette Coleman - Ornette Coleman Day 86 #10 – Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (b.1930). American saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist and composer. Albums include: The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959), Free Jazz (1960) and Sound Grammar (2005). The music on ‘The Shape of Jazz to Come’ is free, exciting and expressive, following a path but constantly diverting. I started drawing while listening to his music. Drawing a circle to create an abstract ‘O’ I realised I could split it to create the ‘C’. I just needed some strong, bold colours give it some life. 1 hour https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f0cc85fdebb7a6b3cc9adef/1594673272474/10_ornette-coleman_sketch_jaztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 86. Ornette Coleman - The original sketch https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/george-gershwin monthly 0.5 2020-07-05 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edb70c68f535f1815b9e3c8/1591440811471/80_george-gerswhin_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 87. George Gershwin - George Gershwin Day 87 #80 – George Gershwin (1898–1937). American composer and pianist. Compositions include: Rhapsody in Blue (1924), An American in Paris (1928) and Porgy and Bess (1935) which includes the song ‘Summertime’. Listening to Rhapsody in Blue, it always reminds me of New York, Skyscrapers and the tops of buildings (too much Woody Allen maybe). Much of his most famous music was composed in the 1920s so I first selected a suitable typeface. Then looked at ways of giving the impression of skyscrapers. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/woody-herman monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edb75cb9bff4e3c66af24e3/1591453306426/83_woody-herman_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 88. Woody Herman - Woody Herman Day 88 #83 – Woodrow Charles ‘Woody’ Herman (1913–1987). American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, singer and big band leader. Many of his groups were known as ‘Herds’. Albums include: Woodchopper’s Ball (1939) and albums The Thundering Herds (1947) and Giant Steps (1973). Herman set up a number of bands, often referred to as The Herd. I just kept this one simple by playing with the letters in a small group, splitting out the words by using colour. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/erroll-garner monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edba68d4b689d06b8e7e65a/1591454539930/35_erroll-garner_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 89. Erroll Garner - Erroll Garner Day 89 #35 – Erroll Louis Garner (1923–1977). American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. Albums include: Concert by the Sea (1955), Contrasts (1955) with his best-known composition ‘Misty’ and The Most Happy Piano (1956). Whilst sketching out his name I realised his initials were ‘eg’. So I used this as the start of a list of his recordings. Putting this on the right edge suggested the edge of a long list and was more unusual. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/john-coltrane monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbab7ef510a4510b07a028/1591455183212/2_john-coltrane_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 90. John Coltrane - John Coltrane Day 90 #2 – John William Coltrane (1926–1967), also known as ‘Trane’. American jazz saxophonist and composer. Albums include: Blue Train (1957), Giant Steps (1959) and My Favourite Things (1960). Coltrane’s music developed over his short life into what some would describe as ‘free jazz’. Listening to the music, I first selected an italic typeface to hint at the speed of playing and the way the notes seem to merge into one another, then started overlapping the letters to emphasise this even more. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/dave-holland monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbaf379ae1433b3a9359e3/1591455700249/58_dave-holland_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 91. Dave Holland - Dave Holland Day 91 #58 – Dave Holland (b.1946). English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader. Albums include: Music from Two Basses (1971), Conference of the Birds (1972) and Razors Edge (1987). Looking at the letters in his surname I noticed there were four ascenders and thought I could try using these to suggest the double bass strings. By using a light typeface, Avant Garde light, and extending the ascenders, it emphasised the string idea. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/bill-evans monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbaff841190d4542dd16f7/1591456088900/12_bill-evans_jazztypes_2013_bob-myttonn.jpg Posters 81-100 - 92. Bill Evans - Bill Evans Day 92 #12 – William John Evans, known as Bill Evans (1929–1980). American jazz pianist and composer. Albums include: Everybody Digs Bill Evans (1958), Waltz for Debby (1961) and Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Bill Evans Trio, 1961). An elegant typeface for an elegant pianist. I kept the colours black and white to reflect the keys of the piano. Putting the names of some of his famous recordings helped add interest and broke up the letters. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/wynton-marsalis monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbb17bf510a4510b08495d/1591456538060/37_wynton-marsalis_jazztypes_2013_bob-myttonn.jpg Posters 81-100 - 93. Wynton Marsalis - Wynton Marsalis Day 93 #37 – Wynton Learson Marsalis (b.1961). American trumpeter, composer, teacher, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. Albums include: Black Codes (From The Underground) (1985), Standard Time: Volume 1 (1986) and Blood on the Fields (1994). Working with the ‘W’ and ‘M’ I started by playing with the symmetry and liked the idea of splitting the page in half. Marsalis is unusual in that he has recorded both jazz and classical pieces. That idea led to using two different typefaces to reflect the two types of music. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/rahsaan-roland-kirk monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbb33430d909160d15abfe/1591457040062/60_roland-rashsaan-kirk_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 94. Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Rahsaan Roland Kirk Day 94 #60 – Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1935–1977), born Ronald Theodore Kirk. Became blind at an early age. American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments and able to play several instruments simultaneously. Albums include: We Free Kings (1961), Rip, Rig & Panic (1965) and The Inflated Tear (1967). Multi-instrumentalist. Multi-coloured. Overlaying the sax image in different colours aimed to express playing the different instruments simultaneously. 0.5 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/herbi-hancock monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbb53cc796372e532d1c67/1591457630580/8_herbie-hancock_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 95. Herbie Hancock - Herbie Hancock Day 95 #8 – Herbert Jeffrey ‘Herbie’ Hancock (b.1940). American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader and composer. Recordings include: Watermelon Man (1962) and the albums Future Shock (1983) and Round Midnight (1986). His music has a strong rhythm and a repetition of strong harmonies. The two ‘H’s are so distinctive it made sense to use those and after looking at various arrangements, I settled on a pattern to reflect the rhythm and harmony. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/glenn-miller monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbb77bdf6d132badbbcbac/1591457947436/87_glenn-miller_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 96. Glenn Miller - Glenn Miller Day 96 #87 – Alton Glenn Miller (1904–1944). American big band musician, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. Recordings include: In the Mood (1939), Pennsylvania 6-5000 (1940) and Chattanooga Choo Choo (1941). At the height of his fame, Miller boarded a flight to Paris on December 15, 1944. The aircraft disappeared over the English Channel and was never recovered. He was 40. I experimented with shapes and colour and settled on the vertical wave to suggest the sea. Covering his name suggested the idea of him disappearing. 1 hour https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/louis-armstrong monthly 0.5 2020-07-13 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbb8cea3576872179a3ac1/1591458443436/6_louis-armstrong_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 97. Louis Armstrong - Louis Armstrong Day 97 #6 – Louis Armstrong (1901–1971), nicknamed Satchmo or Pops. American jazz trumpeter and singer. Recordings include: West End Blues (1928), What a Wonderful World (1968) and albums; The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings (1925–29) and Complete New York Town Hall and Boston Symphony Hall Concerts (1947). His nickname is so unusual, I decided to use that as a starting point. His success was not just down to him being a great musician, he had a warm personality and a big smile, so I wanted to find a typeface to suit. I settled on Tiffany and looked at ways of adding something extra. Using the ‘O’ to suggest the trumpet was one possibility, but I had used this before. Looking again at the photographs, what was more distinctive was his smile and whilst I liked the use of the big type, the smile said more. 1.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f0cc95ac6764331aee7bb3e/1594673532415/6_louis-armstrong_10_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 97. Louis Armstrong - An early design idea – a more successful layout than the final chosen design. https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/art-blakey monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbbaa9911f323b574450e0/1591458889235/14_art-blakey_jazztypes_2013_bob-myttonn.jpg Posters 81-100 - 98. Art Blakey - Art Blakey Day 98 #14 – Arthur ‘Art’ Blakey (1919–1990). American jazz drummer and bandleader. Albums with his band ‘Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ include: At the Café Bohemia Vols. I & 2 (1955) and Moanin’ (1958). I started with the drumsticks and spelling out his name and also tried to represent the drum, but this didn’t have enough energy. So I went back to his name and made the letters dance whilst looking through the drumsticks, but the messages were confusing. Nothing was standing out. Making the background white helped the letters stand out, so I changed the drumsticks to black. I tried to imagine the letters sitting on the drum as it was hit and repeated the letters to suggest movement. This helped add some energy. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/charlie-parker monthly 0.5 2020-06-06 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbbc95911f323b57449312/1591459164714/7_charlie-parker_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 99. Charlie Parker - Charlie Parker Day 99 #7 – Charles ‘Charlie’ Parker, Jr. (1920–1955), also known as ‘Yardbird’ and ‘Bird’. American jazz saxophonist and composer. Albums include: The Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Recordings (1944–48), Bird and Diz (with Dizzy Gillespie, 1950) and Charlie Parker with Strings (1995). His nickname is well known and referenced in many of his recordings so I looked at how best to use this. Parker was considered a highly influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of bebop. He was also considered a master of improvisation. This sense of him being free and breaking away from the set pattern suggested ways of breaking up the letters and when playing around with different typefaces, I noticed the ‘B’ could be split to suggest a bird in flight. 1.5 hours https://www.jazztypes.com/posters-81100/miles-davis monthly 0.5 2020-07-13 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5edbbd7828c2346bbd458e80/1591459201182/1_miles-davis_jazztypes_2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 100. Miles Davis - Miles Davis Day 100 #1 – Miles Dewey Davis III (1926–1991). American jazz musician, trumpeter, composer and bandleader. Albums include: Birth of the Cool (1950), Kind of Blue (1959) and Bitches Brew (1969). Widely considered one of the major figures in jazz history, his album ‘Kind of Blue’ has sold over four million albums. His career spanned every important innovation from the 1940s to the 1990s. Whilst his sound is often consistent, he constantly tried new things, working with people to push jazz in different directions. His playing on ‘Kind of Blue’ sounds clear and precise so Helvetica Ultra Light seemed to fit the bill. And to emphasise the ‘blue’ I thought I would make the trumpet blue, but struggled to get it to work. I needed to try something different, so I left the trumpet out and just worked with the type. His first and last name have the same number of letters; I wrote it out in different ways until settling on a vertical positioning to fit the space. But it was too safe. How to get across this constant changing and disrupting the status quo? Cutting the type made it more edgy. I then put the trumpet back in as this remained constant throughout his life. 2.5 hours https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eb538c7299c893819aa0d6d/t/5f0cca0438452c3f51588c11/1594673682448/1_MilesDavis_4_tests_jazztypes2013_bob-mytton.jpg Posters 81-100 - 100. Miles Davis - One of the many early ideas