Freedom Rhythm and Sound, a new book compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker and published by an offshoot of record label Soul Jazz, charts jazz cover art from 1965 to 1983 focusing on the independent and radical music culture of the period, “an untold journey” according to Stuart Baker in the book’s introduction, charting a musical universe light years away from the output of most commercial jazz labels of the time.

The small run albums were put out by a range of labels which believed in the artistic and experimental jazz of the period at a time when jazz even in the mainstream was going through a dip in popularity. Their adventurous artwork were often a mirror of the risks taken by the musicians, with strong graphics featuring the work of designers such as Jerry Harris, Gilbert Moreau and Brenda Reid.

Baker describes how African American artists took the means of production into their own hands as a way of dealing with the apathy and artistic constraints of the mainstream record industry and also as a way of not diluting their avant garde music by ceding artistic control including both the look of the album and the musical concepts. “Black power encouraged economic empowerment”, he says. “Anyone looking for the source of this DIY culture night care to look towards the original Afro-futurist, Sun Ra.”

Labels featured in the book include Delmark, Strata-East, ESP-Disk, Zulu, Flying Dutchman, India Navigation, Mustevic and Impulse. Key artists whose albums are shown and described in accompanying essays include John Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, Pharoah Sanders, The Last Poets and Horace Tapscott.

– Stephen Graham