"I rarely heard the music in advance as I was trying to find images that were eye-catching."
Jazz Covers. Interview with Bob Ciano
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CTI had a very unique style and image, which was very modern for its time. Now the hip hop generation is rediscovering labels like CTI with its image that you helped to create. This must be very flattering for you?
It's strange because in the last couple of years I've been called by people who collect CTI records and covers. And I know from friends that DJs are using them as well. When we were doing it we didn't have any idea of what was happening, we were just doing what we thought was right.
Can you describe the daily life at CTI?
Musicians were all around. People hung out in the art department because it was a big space.We would talk about forthcoming albums and maybe about what the titles would be. Then I would go out working with a small group of photographers and illustrators, trying to find images that might work as covers. I rarely heard the music in advance as I was trying to find images that were eye-catching. It was a small company and we had a very little promotional budget.
What would you do to make people stop and stare at a CTI record in a store?
The covers were used to promote the records in a big way.We used to print extra copies of just the cover and would send them out to stores who put them out on display. We used to give those out for free. Then we started selling the covers - just the image on the printed paper. I think they were sold for a dollar. A lot of people started collecting the covers.
You also designed covers for Creed's other labels like Kudu and Salvation?
Creed started Kudu and Salvation, which was a gospel label, while I was there. For Kudu we used a lot of illustration and different photographers. The covers were beautifully printed.
Was Kudu's image different from CTI's?
It had more of a lustred look. I set up a style which was distinctive. Each album was numbered, Kudu one, Kudu two, and so on.
How do you feel when you go to a record shop these days and see the CTI catalogue on CD rather than vinyl?
Sad. They're too small. As a designer you can't make much of a statement on a CD package. There are very few CD packages that are really distinct. The only ones that come to my mind is the stuff that Radiohead does. But as far as the jazz catalogue goes, it's very hard to do much on that size.
Can you remember the working process for designing an album cover? Let's take Prelude by Deodato as an example.
That's the one with the green cover! That had the 2001 theme on it, I remember. The process was pretty much the same for each one. Creed and I, along with some of the other people in the promotional department, would sit around just talking about the records that would be recorded that month. There were usually several. I'd go out and start thinking about what images I could use; either by photographing something myself, or I'd go to a photographer I worked with regularly to see if they had any existing images that weren't being used. Then I would make up two or three versions for each cover... show them to Creed and he would make a decision, usually picking one or two from the group. I rarely had to go back and do a whole bunch more. From there I'd put it together for the printer. The only thing I'd have to wait for would be the titles for the different tracks, which weren't often decided until late.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Page [1] [2] [3]
CTI had a very unique style and image, which was very modern for its time. Now the hip hop generation is rediscovering labels like CTI with its image that you helped to create. This must be very flattering for you?
It's strange because in the last couple of years I've been called by people who collect CTI records and covers. And I know from friends that DJs are using them as well. When we were doing it we didn't have any idea of what was happening, we were just doing what we thought was right.
Can you describe the daily life at CTI?
Musicians were all around. People hung out in the art department because it was a big space.We would talk about forthcoming albums and maybe about what the titles would be. Then I would go out working with a small group of photographers and illustrators, trying to find images that might work as covers. I rarely heard the music in advance as I was trying to find images that were eye-catching. It was a small company and we had a very little promotional budget.
What would you do to make people stop and stare at a CTI record in a store?
The covers were used to promote the records in a big way.We used to print extra copies of just the cover and would send them out to stores who put them out on display. We used to give those out for free. Then we started selling the covers - just the image on the printed paper. I think they were sold for a dollar. A lot of people started collecting the covers.
You also designed covers for Creed's other labels like Kudu and Salvation?
Creed started Kudu and Salvation, which was a gospel label, while I was there. For Kudu we used a lot of illustration and different photographers. The covers were beautifully printed.
Was Kudu's image different from CTI's?
It had more of a lustred look. I set up a style which was distinctive. Each album was numbered, Kudu one, Kudu two, and so on.
How do you feel when you go to a record shop these days and see the CTI catalogue on CD rather than vinyl?
Sad. They're too small. As a designer you can't make much of a statement on a CD package. There are very few CD packages that are really distinct. The only ones that come to my mind is the stuff that Radiohead does. But as far as the jazz catalogue goes, it's very hard to do much on that size.
Can you remember the working process for designing an album cover? Let's take Prelude by Deodato as an example.
That's the one with the green cover! That had the 2001 theme on it, I remember. The process was pretty much the same for each one. Creed and I, along with some of the other people in the promotional department, would sit around just talking about the records that would be recorded that month. There were usually several. I'd go out and start thinking about what images I could use; either by photographing something myself, or I'd go to a photographer I worked with regularly to see if they had any existing images that weren't being used. Then I would make up two or three versions for each cover... show them to Creed and he would make a decision, usually picking one or two from the group. I rarely had to go back and do a whole bunch more. From there I'd put it together for the printer. The only thing I'd have to wait for would be the titles for the different tracks, which weren't often decided until late.
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Jazz Covers
Softcover with flaps, 24 x 24 cm (9.4 x 9.4 in.), 496 pages
$ 39.99
$ 39.99
Vinyl mania: Jazz LP covers from the 1940s to 1990s
Miles Davis, Birth Of The Cool. Capitol, 1949. Photo: Aram Avakian
Duke Ellington, Anatomy Of A Murder. Columbia, 1959. Saul Bass