Sahara by McCoy Tyner (1938–2020) was the jazz pianist’s first album to be released by Milestone Records. With more than 100,000 copies sold, it was his commercial breakthrough.

Cover design by Ron Warwell, with a photograph by Clarence Eastmond.

The title is set in a novelty face that started life under the name Freak. It was conceived by Ernst Lauschke (1872–1944), a German-born designer who worked for Barnhart Brothers & Spindler in Chicago. Freak was patented in March 1889. The design has wide proportions with a short x-height and is distinguished by the unconventional modulation with strokes that look a little like drawn-out inkblots. In the early 20th century, this combination of unfamiliarity and perceived calligraphic nature must have reminded the foundry sales force of Asian scripts: by 1925, Freak was renamed to Bamboo, and advertised with references to Chinese arts. BB&S did similar things with Wedge Gothic (→ Japanet) and Dormer (→ Pekin). It goes without saying that these designs in fact have nothing to do with Hanzi or other Asian scripts.

Sometime between 1969 and 1972, VGC issued a phototype adaptation – which probably is the version seen here, used with supertight spacing. There are digital interpretations as Freak by HiH and as Bamboo by Solotype.

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30 point Freak as shown in a specimen from around 1900

A specimen from 1925 shows the design under its new name, Bamboo.

Text on the back cover – including the liner notes by Bob Palmer – is set in the IBM Selectric version of Univers Condensed. The Milestone logo uses Cooper Black Italic.

God Rest Ye Merry Jazzmen is a compilation of Christmas songs featuring The Dexter Gordon Quartet, McCoy Tyner, The Arthur Blythe Quartet, The Heath Brothers, Paquito D'Rivera, and The Wynton Marsalis Quintet.

Art direction by Carin Goldberg. Cover illustration by Robert Weaver. The names placed between the portraits are supported by an overline, for better cohesion. For a second, this makes Glaser Stencil resemble an Indic script like Devanagari. The J in “Jazzmen” was enlarged so that it looks like stylized saxophone.

[More info on Discogs]