HAL'S RECORD

We invite you to take a look at this selection of covers from famous jazz albums and performances, as well as covers that are recognized on their own. Each has a story to tell.
While researchers say the peak of the Jazz Age was in 1920, there were very few 78 rpm SP records and no record covers at the time. Entering the 1950s, the 33 rpm LP record was invented, and in the same period that technology allowing longer recording times developed, bebop would culminate into modern jazz. Modern jazz records would then experience a golden age. Looking at the recording years of the items in this selection, you’ll notice they were all recorded in or after 1955.
First pressing covers, such as these from well-known albums, possess qualities not seen today due to factors including the types of colors used in their printing. While first pressings are difficult to obtain, having become comparable even to valuable works of art that sell for several hundreds of thousands of yen, we nevertheless did our best to select examples of either first pressing covers or, when a first pressing cover was difficult to get hold of, covers from other pressings that are close in appearance.