Burt Goldblatt, 82; Designer of Album Covers for Jazz Artists

Burt Goldblatt, 82, who designed album covers for jazz artists Billie Holliday, Herbie Mann, Charles Mingus and others, died Aug. 30 in Boston. The cause was congestive heart failure, his wife told the New York Times.

Goldblatt used black-and-white photographs for his LP album covers, including studio shots and portraits that captured musicians in simple, unguarded moments. He also made line drawings of musicians and instruments that he used on his album covers.

A lifetime jazz buff, Goldblatt got started as a jazz artist by making caricatures of Louis Armstrong and other favorite musicians he went to see perform. After the shows, he would send his drawings backstage with a request that the musicians autograph his work. Many times they did.

At the height of his career in the 1950s and ‘60s, he got to know Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and others well enough to spend time in the studio or backstage photographing and drawing them while they worked. He made album covers for labels including Columbia, RCA and Decca, as well as smaller labels.

Goldblatt was born in 1924 in Dorchester, Mass., served in the Army during World War II and later studied at the Massachusetts College of Art.

In addition to album cover design, he worked as an illustrator for Harper’s magazine and as a designer for various departments at CBS Television during his career.

He co-wrote a number of books, including “Starring Fred Astaire.” He also compiled several books of his jazz photographs, including “Burt Goldblatt’s Jazz Gallery One.”