A certain attitude
Visual concept for the band and album artwork.
As soon as I heard the name of this freshly organized jazz quartet, I knew this was going to be interesting. Syncopated harmony of rhythms and sounds by Matthias Gmelin on drums, Henning Sieverts on bass, Tony Pancella on piano and Gregory Rivkin on trumpet.
My first phase was to dive into the process of listening to the record repeatedly on different days on various mindsets. Any design, which is related to the music, should support its content and reflect the moods with colors, compositions and proper typography. This album represents a modern interpretation of a subgenre of Jazz - “Hard Bop”. This meant to me that I might consider searching and obtain my inspiration from the classics of 50-ies and 60-ies design.
Soon enough I decided to go with a different approach. The individuality and state of mind we all tend to possess. The essence of it is what makes us unique and leads us up to our independent thoughts and actions. So I chose a timeless urban winter photo, which, according to my intuition, could depict or evoke the feel of the Present Tense of our days or of a few decades ago. I found my ” Hero” in an image of a drifter and put him on a cover. Bonded together with his/her alter-ego, the drifter is always on a way somewhere, armed with a personal approach to reality and a free-spirit certain attitude. The collage of New York’ skyline and a forest gave me the impression of parallel realities of the Universe. This music may lead you to different paths. Thus, The Grand Central station is here to support the concept, which I had in my mind.
The whole look and feel of this work projects individuality, as these four great musicians gathered from different locations of the World to a crossroad, where they created this cultural meeting between them. Like four drifters, carrying their own baggage and personal attitudes, they made this music happen by communicating their souls and talent through the use of their instruments.