Leo Meiersdorff - Jazz Painter

A few years ago I picked up a collaboration by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis called Consummation. The album was recorded in January and May of 1970 at A&R Studios in New York. Scott Yanow in his AllMusic review calls it the best of the Jones/Lewis collaborations: "The all-star cast (which includes flugelhornist Jones, drummer Lewis, trumpeter Marvin Stamm, trombonist Jimmy Knepper, tenor great Billy Harper, the reeds of Jerome Richardson, Jerry Dodgion and Eddie Daniels, keyboardist Roland Hanna, and bassist Richard Davis, among others) is well served by Thad Jones' inventive and swinging arrangements. A classic." The album was released on Blue Note, catalog number BST 84346. My copy is a clean VG+.

And while the music is fine -- straight ahead, ensemble jazz with nice orchestrations -- what really attracted me to the album was the cover. I love the wonderful watercolor painting of Thad and Mel. It seems to capture the essence of jazz in its bright colors and angular lines. The art on the gatefold jacket actually wraps around, and the back side (at left) includes more of the band. The credits on the inside of the jacket indicate that the illustrations are by "Meiersdorff." I was curious about the artist and jumped on the Interwebs to find out more.  

Leo Meiersdorff was born in Germany in 1934. After the war, his family moved to Berlin, where he finished high school. Although his family objected, Leo decided to pursue a career in art. He financed his studies by working on fishing trawlers in the North Sea and as a merchant seaman. In the 1950s, back in Berlin, Meiersdorff began to follow the many American jazz bands that were playing in Europe. At some point, he entered a contest to design the cover for a jazz album being recorded in Berlin by the famed American record producer Norman Granz. Meiersdorff won the contest, and the rest is history. 

Well, not quite. In the late 50s and early 60s, Meiersdorff traveled to the U.S. where he met fellow artists and became more immersed in the jazz scene in New York and L.A. In 1966, Meiersdorff moved permanently to New York to seek his fortune as an artist. While experimenting with expressionistic canvases and large mixed-media works, Meiersdorff hung out at jazz clubs and began to make friends with some of the musicians. He began sketching the artists and painting pictures of jazz groups. The musicians liked his work, and his reputation spread. Soon, Meiersdorff was making a name for himself as a "jazz" painter, designing backdrops for TV programs and album covers for various labels.

Over the last couple of years, I have found two more albums with covers by Meiersdorff, both on the Chiaroscuro label.

Chiaroscuro Records was founded by producer Hank O'Neal and former jazz musician Edwin Ashcraft III. In a fascinating bit of musical history, O'Neal and Ashcraft met in the 1950s when they both worked at the CIA. Ashcraft, who had been a fairly well-known jazz musician in the 20s and 30s, was by now the Director of the Office of Operations and was heavily involved in the CIA's investigations of UFOs! At the time they first met, O'Neal was apparently a junior recruit. Years later, in 1964, the two would team up to begin the Chiarosucro record company, a budget outfit with the aim of recording older jazz musicians who had fallen off the radar in the era of hard bop.

The top cover is a 1972 release by an all-star lineup including Eddie Condon on guitar, Wild Bill Davison on cornet, and Gene Krupa on drums. It's a one-off jam session put on for students at the New School in New York City. Hank O'Neal is the producer.

The second album is a 1970 release by cornetist Bobby Hackett. It was recorded during a two-month residence at the Roosevelt Grill in New York in April and May of 1970. Once again, the producer is Hank O'Neal.

Anyway, back to Meiersdorff. In 1970, he moved to New Orleans and opened his own gallery. Once there, his style became brighter and much more commercial (see the example below). After all, he was trying to catch the eye of the tourists who wanted to take home a nice souvenir of the Big Easy. As a chronicler of the food and music scene in New Orleans, he was a huge success. Before he died in 1994, Meiersdorff had become enormously popular and had sold thousands and thousands of prints of his work.

About a year ago I got the idea that it would be nice to own an original Meiersdorff painting. While his New Orleans work is colorful and fun, I prefer his paintings from the 60s in New York, when he was immersed in the jazz scene there, sketching musicians. I did some research online, and soon found a number of his paintings for sale at galleries, Ebay, and on an official website that markets some of his work. Meiersdorff originals are not cheap, and much of what is available is from his New Orleans period. However, after some months of searching, I found a New York painting available at an online auction site. I made a successful offer, and am now the proud owner of this 1967 original watercolor by Leo Meiersdorff (below). It would be fun to know if the musicians are based on any particular artists. But a trademark of his New York style is that the musicians' faces are never clearly visible. I like to think that he sketched my painting while sitting in a smoky club listening to a hot jam session. 

Enjoy the music (and the art)!