Album Covers

In the late 70's I became passionately interested in jazz of the 20's, ragtime piano, and stride piano. I collected recordings, and went out to hear live music whenever I could. I became a fan of the New Black Eagle Jazz Band from Boston, MA, and I was a regular at their gigs at the legendary Sticky Wicket pub in Hopkinton, MA. I also loved to listen to the great jazz pianists who played in New York at that time, like Dick Wellstood, Ralph Sutton, Art Hodes, and others. In Boston, I loved to listen to Dave McKenna. My wife and I travelled to Europe to attend the jazz festival in Breda, Holland, and we made a trip to England just to hear the great trumpet player, Humphrey Lyttelton.

At about this time, there came into being Stomp Off Records, which was devoted to traditional jazz bands and pianists. I not only collected their records, I illustrated covers for the label. That led to illustrating covers for some of the bands' own labels, too. I illustrated about 60 album and CD covers including a recording of Cajun music for children by Michael "Beausoleil" Doucet.