Modernism and Record Covers: Raising the Status of Jazz in Sweden

Mischa Van Kan

doi:10.1177/17499755211052363

Abstract

By introducing a wider understanding of the discourse of modernism at the time that record covers were introduced, this article investigates record covers as a means through which various actors in the Swedish jazz scene connected jazz with modernist art forms. In the 1950s, specific designs for record sleeves became integrated into the ways in which jazz was mediated in Sweden, which coincided with wider debates about whether jazz could be seen as an art form. The main question of this article is: How did the artwork on record covers influence the acceptance of jazz as an art form in Sweden? In responding to this question, the article aims to demonstrate that, in addition to written discourse, visual objects – in this case record covers – were of great importance to the rising status of jazz in Sweden in the 1950s and 1960s. More broadly, I argue that the visual elements in music cultures can be just as important, if not more so, than written forms of discourse, for negotiating the social status of music.

Highlights

Much research on jazz and its history has focused on written discourses surrounding jazz culture, jazz musicians and jazz as music, concentrating on articles and reviews in specialized jazz magazines
The analyses show how visual elements in music cultures have been used to express ambitions, or claims, for the social positions of specific styles of music
Another important reason why the association with modernism was a successful strategy for jazz was because the aesthetics of modernism had begun to be spread widely, reaching beyond artistic spheres: ‘It became established at a time of heightened visual modernity, when the codes and forms of the visual cultures had been subject to an expansion, without historical parallel, in advertising, television, film, logos, the daily and weekly press, comics, record covers, product design and posters’ (Hayden, 2018: 250)

Summary

Introduction

Much research on jazz and its history has focused on written discourses surrounding jazz culture, jazz musicians and jazz as music, concentrating on articles and reviews in specialized jazz magazines. I want to provide a more sophisticated understanding of how modern art and jazz were connected on record covers and thereby investigate how visual elements were relevant for the position of jazz in cultural fields in Sweden.

Results

Conclusion