fontana new jazz series - Colectivo Futuro

Thanks to our fellow bloggers and well informed music writers at Concepto Radio (spanish only), we recently discovered a magnificently illustrated and extremely rare series of jazz records titled Fontana New Jazz Series. Comprising 16 records, the collection was designed by dutch artist and actress Marte Rölling. The entire series features multicolor, portrait style illustrations printed using Rölling’s preferred technique: litography. Having a quick glance at the artwork, it’s easy to see why these fetch exorbitant amounts individually or as a collection.

According to the info shared on this here web archive, the covers were inspired on original photographs of the musicians involved in each record. The artwork offers some stunning color combinations and if you have a closer look you can find loads of symbolism embedded within each cover. It’s hard to say why these have remained in obscurity for so long given nowadays easy-access to mostly anything ever released. We can only hope for another re-issue to pop up just to get our hands on the beautiful illustrations.

The series features recordings and sessions from the 60s; a very fertile time for avant-garde and free jazz. This, alongside appearances by top class musicians such as Archie Shepp, Paul Bley, Cecil Taylor, and John Tchicai; can serve as clear indication that this is some serious and quality jazz music. So far, we’ve only managed to find George Russell’s The Outer View (albeit with a different artwork), which you can stream via spotify. In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye out for these gems!