Ahead of The Beatles’ White Album by a full decade, Somethin’ Else by Cannonball Adderley features only a plain black background, allowing the typography to take center stage. All text is set in all-caps Franklin Gothic extra-condensed, with the album title and catalog number in white, artist name in yellow, and side musicians in blue.

As is typical with Blue Note Records releases of this era, the back cover uses mostly Bodoni, with Futura for the track titles, and some Vogue at the bottom.

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This 1959 album was originally titled simply Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, but quickly became known as Moanin’ after the first tune on the LP, and was later reissued with that title.

The original cover features the artist name and catalog number in a very narrow column of text, causing “Messengers” to be split over three lines, with a mix of condensed and extra-condensed Franklin Gothic.

The reissue instead uses a single line of Grotesque No. 9 that spans the width of the cover.

The back cover is mostly Bodoni, apart from the song titles, set in Futura Bold, and the bottommost line in Vogue.

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The Rumproller is a 1966 album from trumpeter Lee Morgan (1938–1972) released on the Blue Note label. The album cover was designed by Reid Miles, and features the title and artist name in Franklin Gothic Extra Condensed, highly distorted to the point it’s reminiscent of funhouse mirror.

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Cover of the stereo release, 1973

The back cover features Bodoni. Track names and Leonard Feather’s liner notes are set in Futura.

Hi Voltage is a 1968 album from American tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley (1930–1986), released on the Blue Note label.

The striking cover design is by Reid Miles, who set the album title and artist name in the bold weight of City on both the front and back cover. Cover photo by Francis Wolff.

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The back cover including Leonard Feather’s liner notes are set in Helvetica.

Empryean Isles is an acknowledged classic 1964 jazz album from Herbie Hancock, featuring the rest of the rhythm section from the famed second Miles Davis Quintet (Ron Carter and Tony Williams) and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.

Cover design by Reid Miles, with photography by Francis Wolff and typography in all-caps Trade Gothic Condensed.

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Takin’ Off is jazz pianist Herbie Hancock’s debut album, released by Blue Note Records in 1962. It features one of his best known compositions, “Watermelon Man”, which he would later remake in a funk-fusion vein on his 1973 Headhunters album.

Cover design and photography by Reid Miles, who used Trade Gothic Extended for another album from that year, see Dexter Gordon’s Go.

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A Swingin' Affair is a 1962 jazz album by saxophonist Dexter Gordon, recorded two days after his best-known album Go!, and with the same line-up. The all-caps typography uses partially slanted Onyx, with secondary information in Trade Gothic.

1975 reissue(?)

1983 Japan Mono LP release.

This cover was designed in 1963 but the record was not released until 1986.

“THE SIDEWINDER” appears to be lettering based on Standard Extra Condensed or some other gothic.

CD reissue

1st release

CD reissue

CD reissue

While Reid Miles’s signature is clearly on this cover, several sources also credit the design to Andy Warhol who worked on a few jazz covers in the 1950s during his career as a commercial artist. The disctinctive Warholian lettering is evidence that he played a role. But Warhol often asked his mother, Julia Warhola, to add her signature calligraphy to his work, and the lettering here is very close to her well-documented handwriting for The Story of Moondog. So you could make a case for crediting all three individuals for this great cover. Incidentally, several digital fonts seek to emulate the Warhols’ lettering. FF Pepe may be one of these.

“MONK” (likely wood or photo type) is perhaps Tempo, not Futura. The tip-off is that Tempo is clearly used on the reverse side of the sleeve — see the distinctive Heavy ‘K’. Vogue is used for text on the back. The two typefaces also have a long history on Blue Note records.