Fred Wesley «From The Blues and Back»
Album cover design for vinyl, CD and booklet
Back to the roots: A hand-drawn cover for Fred Wesley
Back in summer 2023, I was given the opportunity to design the cover of Fred Wesley's blues album «From The Blues and Back». Due to time constraints, I had to produce it «conventionally», i.e. using offset printing, but I wanted to give Fred's record an «analog feel». To achieve this, I worked with a completely hand-drawn motif of a trombone that winds its way through all four sides of the album - as a symbol of Fred's life path from blues, to jazz, to funk and back again. The collaboration with him and his daughter Joya was great and unforgettable. It is truly inspiring to experience so much enthusiasm and gratitude even from such musical greats.
One week for the blues: Creating the album cover
When Little offered me to design the album for Fred, I was obviously thrilled and, above all, grateful. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The only catch was that I was only given about a week to do it because the record had to go to press. I would normally have turned it down, but I couldn't resist this opportunity, because although I had personally met Fred from time to time, I was never given the chance to work with him.
In addition, I already explored the topic of blues intensively 20 years ago during my design studies. Back then, I used every free minute to work with the wonderful presses and font library at ArtCenter Archetype Press.
For this reason alone, I would have loved to create everything in my beloved letterpress studio, but that was obviously not possible in terms of available time. Nevertheless, I wanted to give the cover an “analog feel”, which is why I toyed with the idea of illustrating everything by hand. But first I had to come up with an idea.
One of my early works on the subject of blues. Archetype Press at ArtCenter College of Design, 1998
The idea
With “From The Blues and Back”, Fred Wesley returns to his musical roots. The album is a tribute to the blues that shaped him as a child, growing up next to a juke joint and listening to the sound of the blues. From his first gig with B.B. King to his iconic years with James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic, the blues has always resonated in Fred's music.
The album cover visualizes Fred's musical journey: A trombone winds its way across all four sides of the cover and leads back to the mouthpiece, like a circle that closes in on its origin. I showed the idea to Little, Fred and Joya on a piece of paper. Fred laughed out loud when he saw it, which I took as a positive sign. So we decided to implement it in exactly this way.
First sketches of ideas and illustrations “From The Blues and Back”
The final result
The album is well worth listening to and viewing. It was praised by critics and fans alike and received positive reviews for its authentic interpretation of the blues and its energetic performance.
The project was recorded analog by mastering engineer Little Konzett at LITTLE BIG BEAT STUDIOS in Liechtenstein. Konzett was also co-producer alongside Fred, and the album is released on his label LoEnd Records. It contains classics by artists such as Champion Jack Dupree and Tommy Tucker as well as original compositions by Fred and other band members.
The vinyl, CD and booklet can be purchased at Fred's Live-Concerts , or at LITTLE BIG BEAT STUDIOS. More Info
Fred Wesley and the New JBs
Fred Wesley – trombone and vocals
Bruce Cox – drums
Dwayne Dolphin – bass
Peter Madsen – keys
Reggie Ward – guitar
Ernie Fields Jr – saxes and flute
Gary Winters – trumpet
Phillip Whack – sax
Martin Real – harmonica
I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to Fred, Joya, Little and the whole LITTLE BIG BEAT team. This wonderful project has once again given me the chance to combine my passions - music and design. The human, creative and musical experience that came about during this collaboration exceeded my wildest expectations.