Burt Goldblatt, a prolific designer of moody jazz LP album covers for artists like Herbie Mann, Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae and Charles Mingus, died on Aug. 30 in Boston. He was 82.

In the early 1950’s, after the introduction of the LP, the most progressive American cover designs were created for jazz albums, and Mr. Goldblatt was among the pioneers in establishing the cool-jazz style. It encompassed black-and-white portraits and studio photographs, inspired by film noir, as well as gritty street scenes, often abstractly overlaid with flat colors, evoking a sense of urban night life. Expressionistic line drawings of performers in action were also in vogue.

One of Mr. Goldblatt’s earliest covers, from 1950, was a bootleg album by Holiday for the Jolly Roger label. Like his contemporaries Bob Jones, Reid Miles and David Stone Martin, he alternated between using photography and drawings, always focusing on emblematic details of the trade. A series of distinctive covers shows close-ups of musicians blowing their instruments. He also mastered a wide range of methods, including collage, montage and even X-rays.

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You can read an in-depth interview with the man here.