Album Cover Design

I have a confession to make, I was chucked out of art school! I know, that is pretty hard to accomplish, but I managed it with flying colours. I was studying graphic design in a college near London. At the time sex and drugs and rock and roll, seemed much more enticing than life-drawing and lithographs. For a while after that I worked as a photographer, but then changed my career path totally to more academic pursuits.

Many years latter in the northern city of Hull I started to DJ and have continued with that intermittently for many years. About ten years ago I began post my DJ work to MIxCloud and have been posting mixes up until I stopped in 2022. If you are interested you can check my DJ work here: https://www.mixcloud.com/tony-todd/

One of the most interesting parts of posting to MixCloud for me was designing the covers for each mix. I most posted jazz music, so many of the covers are heavily influenced by Blue Note covers and some of the other jazz labels. Most designs were off the top of my head, somehow suggested by the music, others are pure pastiche. I had a lot of fun designing them, so I thought I would share some below. They are in no particular order. If you like the design, maybe check out the music, you might like that as well.

A big shout out to the photographers whose images I have used. I don’t know all your names, but credit to you for outstanding work.

Leeds Jazz Club

Leeds UK has always had a great reputation for Jazz DJs and Leeds Jazz Club for the last five years (2017 to 2023) has showcased some of the best. Check out below a photographic record of the club in action. Best looked at with some classic Blue Note sounds playing on your turntable.

The Jazz Label Series

It’s a New Day, It’s a New Dawn

I can’t believe it over a year since we last updated this blog. No excuses, We had other fish to fry. But, as the caption says: “It’s a New Day…” We had thought about updating of the music mixes of our mentor DJ2tee, but to be honest he has had enough exposure on the blog. If you want to check out his work, then this is the place: https://www.mixcloud.com/tony-todd/ Highly recommended, but then we would say that wouldn’t we! Instead we though we would concentrate on some of the Weird Jazz Collective musical melanges produced by ourselves and other mixmasters.

Firstly, we start with a mix by obscure UK DJ Uncertain Messenger. A shadowy figure, that to our knowledge, has never posted on MIxcloud. This mix appeared in our Dropbox by magic and features some old school downtempo stuff that UM used to play at Club Atlantis back in the day.

Next up, a mix features some old school jazz and hip-hop from Hamburg DJ Deutsche Byte and Wilmslow’s DJ Red Shift. If you like your hip-hop jazzy this mix will float your boat for sure. Some real classics in the mix!

For the next brilliant mix we hired Australia’s DJ Mr Lob to navigate you through dangerous latitudes of phantasmagorical music to an island where sweet tinges of sunset skies and dark woods harmonise with your musical soul. It is not down in any map; true places never are. Fire your torpedo’s of jazz Mr Lob, let no one in the musical doldrums be spared. Okay that was a bit pretentious, but the mix is brilliant. More excellence in mixing can be found here: https://www.mixcloud.com/MrLob/

Our guest mixer for another stellar mix was the man know as Nick Eachus AKA Nike Sparx who hails from Wallasey a town on the mouth of the River Mersey. Nick is know for his “Cabin Fever” mixes which present an eclectic mix of musical genres. Like those, this exclusive mix he has made for Weird Jazz Collective, features a wide-range of sounds and textures. If you like this mix, then check Nick’s output at: https://www.mixcloud.com/NikeSparx/

And, finally Weird Jazz Collective are proud to present a mix by DJ Hetty Morris. She is virtually unknown outside of her locality, but is worshiped by a small coterie of loyal fans. Hetty, who hails from Warwickshire in the UK is known primarily as the singer in the band “The Little Vagabond” who are known for their odd melange of folk and jazz music. Hetty for the most part, keeps off the radar, but Weird Jazz Collective, through an intermediary, managed to get hold of this exclusive mix. We hope you enjoy it. We did.

Catch Up! | DJ2tee

Not posted for a while. I’m currently researching for a historical novel. Well I should be, but sometimes music gets in the way, as only music can. Which is generally in a good way. I’ve been managing to fit in some real DJ work lately. That is – two decks and a bag full of vinyl, as opposed to a memory stick of MP3s. Having said that I still practice the way of the virtual selector. Below are some of my more recent mixes. So get in touch with your magical jazz bone by playing one of these, or even better all of them.

 

 

Film and Music | DJ2tee

If like me you love American “film-noir” and French “New Wave” then you will know what a huge effect the music has on the atmosphere of such films. And, unsurprisingly, the music most associated with these movies is jazz. This mix represents a selection of music from fifties and sixties films that I love. It features tracks from Miles Davis,  Joseph Gershenson,  Andrzej Trzaskowski,  Alex North,  Krzysztof Komeda and more.

So, sit back, close your eyes and imagine you are sitting in a smoky club in Paris. Up on the bandstand Miles Davis is blowing horn and at the next table Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jeanne Moreau are smoking Gauloise and drinking Absinthe. Fade to black….

---

I have to admit it! I have been rather lax with this blog of late. I have not been keeping you up to date on my latest musical mixes. Well, there is rather a backlog of other stuff you absolutely must check out, if you are a jazz music fan. So check out all the mixes below. If you like them, let me know, I love to get feedback.

---

Landmarks

A landmark is an object or feature of a landscape or that is easily seen and recognized from a distance. Landmarks can enable you to establish your location. For me, landmarks can mean more than one thing. For instance, I have always associated music with place. When I first moved to Leeds in the UK, I went out looking for music and the landmarks for me were the clubs that played jazz, latin and soul. Club nights like the Cooker and Casa Latina where you could hear Curtis Mayfield segued into Pharaoh Sanders via Marcos Valle. Predominantly, those heavyweight nights were run by Leeds Dig collective. DJ Lubi Jovanovic, Gip Dammone, Chico Malo and DJ Ez. These nights were landmarks in Leeds musical heritage and made a huge impact on my musical consciousness. This mix is dedicated to them and hopefully gives a little flavour of those incredible times.

Leeds Cityscape by Lizzie Prestt

International Jazz Day | DJ2tee

In November 2011, UNESCO officially designated April 30 as International Jazz Day in order to highlight jazz and its role of uniting people in all corners of the globe. International Jazz Day brings together communities and jazz enthusiasts all over the world to celebrate and learn about jazz and its roots. Each year on April 30, this international art form is recognized for promoting peace and dialogue among cultures. 

This year I will be taking part in International Jazz Day by spinning some of my favourite tunes on Ness Radio along with some of the world’s best jazz DJ’s.

I hope you will take some time out to listen and support one of music’s greatest artforms. Not only will you hear music that moves your feet, you will also hear music to move your soul. In my selection, expect to hear John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Art Blakey, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Charles Mingus and many more. So please give the music a listen, as Art Blakey said: “Music washes away the dust of every day life”.

Scenes of Jazz Life

A bit like waiting for a bus, you are expecting a DJ2tee mix, then suddenly two come at once!  Volume One features music for millennials or perhaps made by millennials. All the tracks are bang up to date with post-modernist vibe. It starts with a winning groove from beat scientist Makaya McCraven, son of jazz drummer Stephen McCraven (Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp) and Hungarian folk singer Agnes Zsigmondi. Justin “Justefan” Thomas features on vibes. The vibes continue with Mexico’s Incognito Traveller followed by master drummer Herlin Riley. Delta Saxophone Quartet create beauty – GTQ create funk. Mosaico get hip with some beat vocals – Larry Stabbins of Working Week fame, channels Coltrane. Beautiful vocals from Dionne Bennett complement Jason Rebello’s pianoistics. Florian Pellissier covers Harold McNair’s The Hipster, then we end with an excellent track from Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodríguez. 

Volume Two features some old favourites and some new favourites. Generally, a more straight-ahead jazz feel to this mix, although we begin with a funky session from African Roots of Jazz featuring current hip cat Carlos Niño. Next up a couple of big bands, firstly trombonist Scott Reeves Orchestra, then the Swiss Jazz Orchestra featuring Mike Mainieri & Peter Erskine. Following that some modernism from Empirical’s new album “Connection”. Then we get into an elephantile vibe from sax player Derf Reklaw (The Pahrohs), possibly dedicated to the next artist Hannibal Lokumbe. Ian Shaw then vocalises sweetly on a cover of Traffic’s Low Spark of the High Heeled Boys followed by our finale an amazing track from Open Source Trio featuring Bulgarian pianist Momchil Atanasoff.

 

Roy Ayers – Fire Weaver | DJ2tee

My new mix is a tribute to Roy Ayers, one of my favourite musicians. Roy was born in 1940 and hails from South-Central Los Angeles. Roy started recording as a bebop sideman in 1962 and rose to prominence when he joined jazz flutist Herbie Mann in 1966. In the early Seventies Roy formed the band Ubiquity and became one of jazz-funk’s leading proponents. My musical choices on some of the many tracks Roy wrote or played on as a sideman. I have avoided the usual favourites, but I couldn’t resist Everybody Loves the Sunshine! At seventy-five Roy is still going strong and I can personally vouch that his live act is stunning. A true giant!