Burt Goldblatt (''né'' Burton George Goldblatt; 11 December 1924, in Dorchester, Massachusetts – 30 August 2006, in Boston) was an American art director, graphic designer, photographer, and author. He was best known for designing the covers of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

albums.

Biography

Goldblatt fought in the Pacific theater as a member of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. After the war he attended the

Massachusetts College of Art Massachusetts College of Art and Design, branded as MassArt, is a public college of visual and applied art in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1873, it is one of the nation’s oldest art schools, the only publicly funded independent art school ...

, and took a job in a print factory while doing contract work as an artist in Boston. In the early 1950s, he relocated to New York City, and in 1953 took a position with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, where he worked until 1955 doing advertising and design of show credits. During this time, as the

long playing record The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...

became commercially viable, he began designing album covers for both major and independent labels, including

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, a record label * Decca Gold, a classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, a musical theater record label * Decca Studios, a recording facility in W ...

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, Savoy, Roost, and

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

, as well as the bootleg label

Jolly Roger Jolly Roger is the traditional English name for the flags flown to identify a pirate ship preceding or during an attack, during the early 18th century (the later part of the Golden Age of Piracy). The flag most commonly identified as the Jolly ...

. Among those he designed covers for were Chris Connor, Duke Ellington,

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet (inclu ...

Carmen McRae Carmen Mercedes McRae (April 8, 1920 – November 10, 1994) was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpre ...

, Charles Mingus,

Oscar Pettiford Oscar Pettiford (September 30, 1922 – September 8, 1960) was an American jazz double bassist, cellist and composer. He was one of the earliest musicians to work in the bebop idiom. Biography Pettiford was born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, United ...

Eddie Shu Eddie Shu ''(ne'' Edward Shulman; 18 March 1918 New York City — 4 July 1986) was an American jazz musician who played saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, harmonica, and accordion. He was also a comedic ventriloquist. Career Shu learned violin and ...

, and Kai Winding. While best-known for designing jazz covers, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, he also did some work for gospel, pop, and rock albums. Goldblatt regularly visited jazz clubs and studio recording sessions to photograph, some of which were incorporated into his album covers. He was well-known by jazz musicians; Bud Powell wrote a song titled "Burt Covers Bud" in tribute to Goldblatt. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote that his style "encompassed black-and-white portraits and studio photographs, inspired by film noir, as well as gritty street scenes, often abstractly overlaid with flat colors, evoking a sense of urban night life. Expressionistic line drawings of performers in action were also in vogue." Later in his career, he concentrated on work as an author, writing or co-writing books on film, music, sports, and

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 pe ...

. He died of

congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...

at age 82.

Bibliography

*Theodore O. Cron, Burt Goldblatt: ''Portrait of Carnegie Hall: A Nostalgic Portrait in Pictures''. 1966 * Paul D. Zimmerman, Burt Goldblatt: ''The Marx Brothers at the Movies''. New York, Putnam's 1968 * Robert Shelton and Burt Goldblatt: ''Country Music Story: A Picture History of Country and Western Music''. New Rochelle, Arlington House 1971 *Burt Goldblatt and Chris Steinbrunner: ''Cinema of the Fantastic''. New York, Galahad Books 1972 * Hank Messick and Burt Goldblatt: ''The Mobs and the Mafia. The illustrated History of Organized Crime''. New York, Th. Y. Crowell 1972 *Hank Messick and Burt Goldblatt: ''Kidnapping: The Illustrated History''. 1974 * John Devaney and Burt Goldblatt: ''The Stanley Cup – A Complete Pictorial History.''. Rand McNally & Company. Chicago, 1975 *Martin Appel and Burt Goldblatt: ''Baseball's Best: The Hall of Fame Gallery''. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1977 *Burt Goldblatt: ''The

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hir ...

: The Illustrated History''. New York, Dial Press, 1977 *John Devaney and Burt Goldblatt with Barbara Devaney: ''The World Series: A Complete Pictorial History''. Chicago, Rand McNally, 1981

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldblatt, Burt 1924 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American photographers American graphic designers Album-cover and concert-poster artists United States Army personnel of World War II