Gifts for Music Lovers

A Chicago Tribune 2020 holiday gift guide pick

AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) was founded on the South Side of Chicago in 1968 by a group of five young Black artists. Today, it is one of the oldest continuously active American art collectives. The pronunciation—Af-FREE-co-bruh—emphasizes the second syllable, signaling the group’s central principle grounded in Black liberation: creative expression reflecting the Black experience and Black influences.
AfriCOBRA’s founding artists—Jeff Donaldson, Jae Jarrell, Wadsworth Jarrell, Barbara Jones-Hogu and Gerald Williams—differed in disciplines and artistic vocabularies but were brought together by the common aspiration to create work that speaks directly to Black people utilizing an identifiably Black aesthetic. This publication celebrates the fifty-year anniversary of AfriCOBRA’s founding and marks the collective’s powerful relevance today. AfriCOBRA: Messages to the People documents two exhibitions curated by Jeffreen M. Hayes, PhD: one at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, and another as an official collateral event of the 58th Venice Biennale. It features more than 80 works by the original members as well as those by Sherman Beck, Napoleon Jones-Henderson, Omar Lama, Carolyn Mims Lawrence and Nelson Stevens.
More than a historical overview of AfriCOBRA, this book is a response to the artists’ continuing contributions and influence, connecting their works to the contemporary moment through essays, archival photographs and ephemera, exhibition views, and contemporary photographs that celebrate the impact of this revolutionary art collective. As their name states, the artists and artworks of AfriCOBRA were as relevant in 1968 as they are today in the continued struggle for Black liberation.

Porcelain Elvis Presley collector mug with 24k gold trim and a song story on the back.  Mug has been custom poured by Glow to Grow for A.MANO Brooklyn with Black Violet + Saffron vegan soy wax. 

Glow to Grow Inspiration:  There is a flower named 'Velvet Elvis', which is a striking combination of masses of Lavender and Violet inflorescences on very attractive deep forest green foliage with stems and undersides of the leaves a dark purple black. Also, Elvis had a song called Violet.

Ice Cold: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History presents the bling culture of rappers and their jewelry. Using 40 years of iconic imagery and compelling stories, this visual history shines a light on the world of hip-hop, where mega stars from Run-DMC to Tupac and Jay-Z to Migos and Cardi B flash brilliant custom pieces to show status and personal style.

By the start of 1966, the Rolling Stones’ position as rock gods was established. They were making serious money and splashing out on new homes and cars. Their official photographer and friend, Gered Mankowitz, was invited to shoot an “at home” session with each member of the band. “They hated the idea of unknown photographers visiting their private sanctuaries … If I did it then the press office would have a large selection of this type of image and could fulfil any magazine request without having to bother the band.”

Mankowitz kept these photographs in supermarket carrier bags stashed under his desk for several years, “getting in my way and frequently wondering why I continued to hold on to them.” This is the first time these sessions have been collated and published. The book includes both iconic and unseen photographs: Mick in a kipper tie turning on his new television and posing outside with a new Aston Martin; Keith, Lord of the Manor-style, with his blue Bentley and antique sword at his East Sussex home; Charlie grinning next to lingerie drying in the garden; Brian in obligatory silk shirt in front of a handpainted mural; Bill in the kitchen with his dog.

Goin’ Home with the Rolling Stones ’66 is a beguiling collection of images, shot with incredible skill, that offers that rare thing in Stones photography—a fresh perspective. It features an introduction by Mankowitz and a foreword from the Rolling Stones’ legendary manager, Andrew Loog Oldham.

Fashion photographer Arthur Elgort has loved jazz since he was nine years old, when a childhood friend introduced him to the music; he soon found himself frequenting jazz clubs all over his native New York City.

The dynamic style that made Elgort such a sensation in fashion photography was directly informed by his love for jazz and dance. His talent as a photographer grew alongside his interest and knowledge of jazz. By the time he was a well-known working photographer, Elgort could parlay his influence into meetings with his boyhood idols, requesting to have his favorite musicians appear in both his fashion and personal work.

Countless jazz greats have appeared in front of Elgort's camera, including Illinois Jacquet, Dexter Gordon and Dorothy Donegan. Each sitting produced not only images but memorable stories: the time Elgort took Dorothy shopping at Chanel; what it was like to shoot Dexter in his Hell's Kitchen apartment; getting to know Illinois and his wife personally. Arthur Elgort: Jazz collects these moments and more, exploring for the first time the creative exchange between the photographer and his musical heroes.

Arthur Elgort (born 1940) studied painting at Hunter College but quickly transitioned to photography, finding painting too slow and solitary. Elgort attributes much of his spontaneous and liberated style to his lifelong love of music and dance, especially jazz and ballet. In his long career he has worked on many major advertising campaigns, including for Chanel, Valentino and Yves Saint Laurent, shot countless fashion spreads and published several books.

This book features more than 150 rarely seen images documenting the rise of hip hop in the early 1980s, taken by French photographer Sophie Bramly. Bramly lived in New York during this period and became firmly embedded in the emergent scene. The book features many stunning, intimate images of a star-studded roll call of legendary hip hop figures, all of whom were only just getting known or in their ascendency. These include Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmixer DST, Jazzy Jay, Red Alert, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow, Lisa Lee, the Fat Boys, Run-DMC, Beastie Boys and many more.

Bramly knew that hip hop was becoming a cultural force rather than just a musical fashion, and spent many hours photographing the four essential elements of this new world: the emcees, the deejays, the graffiti artists and the break dancers. Here you will see legendary graffiti artists captured at work and play, such as Keith Haring, Dondi, Futura, Phase One, Zephyr and Lady Pink, and break dancers including members of Magnificent Force, Dynamic Breakers and the Rock Steady Crew.

Bramly’s photographs also chronicle the desolate cityscapes from which hip hop emerged; the energy of the fans who first embraced hip hop; and the crucial players behind the scenes (Bill Laswell, Bernard Zekri, Rick Rubin, Fun Gallery co-owner Patti Astor).

Finally, this book also includes a bonus section documenting the rise of hip hop in Europe. Bramly returned to France in 1984 to find herself once again at the center of a new cultural phenomenon, helping bring the first US hip hop artists to Europe, including Fab Five Freddy, Futura 2000, Rocksteady Crew and many more.

A custom poured candle by Glow to Grow for A.MANO Brooklyn with Honeysuckle Jasmine / Sea salt Orchid vegan soy wax in an Elvis Presley Collector Highball Glass.  

Glow to Grow Inspiration: Elvis' favorite flower was the Orchid and there is an Elvis cologne that has notes of Jasmine.

• 12.75 ounce / 361g vegan soy candle
• 76.5 hour burn time
• Hand-crafted wooden wick, eco-friendly and clean-burning, made from FSC Certified Wood
• Elvis Presley Collector Highball Glass 3 1/4" diameter x 4 1/8" high.  

Specially handmade by the KT Collection. 

Approx. 3” x 3”

CERAMICS ONE-NOTE WHISTLE

4X4X2"

The Udu drum is a ceramics instruments of Nigerian origins. This piece produces a low vibrating tone when struck.

9X6.5X6.5"

The Udu drum is a ceramics instrument of Nigerian origins. This piece produces a low vibrating tone when struck.

12x6x6.5"

Since the 1980s, Dutch artist Anton Corbijn has cemented Depeche Mode’s cutting-edge reputation as the world’s biggest cult band. This wallet-friendlysuccessor to our 2020 limited edition, created in collaboration with the band, has over 500 photographs from Corbijn’s archives, plus his handwritten observations.

Hardcover, 9.6” x 13.4”, 512 pages

A custom poured candle by Glow to Grow for A.MANO Brooklyn with Black Violet and Saffron vegan soy wax in an Elvis Presley Collector Highball Glass.  

Glow to Grow Inspiration: There is a flower named 'Velvet Elvis', which is a striking combination of masses of Lavender and Violet inflorescences on very attractive deep forest green foliage with stems and undersides of the leaves a dark purple black.

• 12.75 ounce / 361g vegan soy candle
• 76.5 hour burn time
• Hand-crafted wooden wick, eco-friendly and clean-burning, made from FSC Certified Wood
• Elvis Presley Collector Highball Glass 3 1/4" diameter x 4 1/8" high.  

Produced in collaboration with the band, who gave unprecedented access to their archives in London and New York, this is a book to get you infinite satisfaction. More than 450 richly illustrated pages chart the remarkable scope of the Stones’ almost 60-year history and mesmerizing on- and off-stage presence—featuring the work of legendary photographers David Bailey, Herb Ritts, Peter Beard, Andy Warhol, David LaChapelle, Albert Watson, Annie Leibovitz, Ethan Russell, Gered Mankowitz, Cecil Beaton, Anton Corbijn, and many more.

Compiled by famed nostalgia enthusiast Jonny Trunk (owner of record label Trunk Records, and author of The Music Library, Own Label and Wobbly Sounds), and with a foreword by Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, Wrappers Delight is crammed with more than 500 examples of British candy-wrapper designs from the 1960s to the 1980s—the first and only overview of Britain’s drinks and confectionery industry during this period.

The book catalogs the amazing collection of a man named John Townsend, who collected candy cigarette boxes, wax gum papers, potato-chip bags, soda cans, rock labels, stamps, transfers, coupons, recipe cards, tickets, odd boxes, badges, cards, stickers and much more. All these items have been carefully documented, presented in alphabetical order by manufacturer and reproduced here in the highest quality. Among the confections and manufacturers to be found here are Cider Barrel, Cresta, Tip Top, Pacemakers, Lollygobblechocbomb, Kung Fueys, Fizz Bang, UFO sweet cigarettes and other TV tie-ins, Furry Friends and Fingammies.

This book will come as a delightful revelation (or a happy reminder) for graphic designers and nostalgia aficionados everywhere.

Carefully curated with full access to the Jim Marshall Archive, this powerful oversize volume offers the definitive view of Johnny Cash's prison concerts at Folsom in 1968 and San Quentin in 1969. Jim Marshall was the only official photographer present, and was granted unlimited access.

Backed by June Carter, Carl Perkins and the Tennessee Three, Cash performed two shows at Folsom. The resulting album was a hit in the United States, and reached number one on the country charts and the top 15 of the national album chart. Its popularity revitalized Cash's career and led to a follow-up album, At San Quentin, the following year. San Quentin became Cash's first album to hit number one on the pop charts and both it and its predecessor remain two of the biggest-selling live albums of all time.

From rehearsing with the band, to arriving off the bus outside the imposing prison walls, to shaking hands with prisoners and performing until sweat dripped down his forehead, Marshall captured the passion, authority and intimacy of Cash's legendary penitentiary performances. His "JC Flippin' the Bird at San Quentin Prison" has become one of the most iconic and most-copied photographs of the 20th century, a result of Marshall asking Cash to express what he thought about the prison authorities: "John, let's do a shot for the warden."

Johnny Cash was one of Jim Marshall's favorite subjects, something that is evident in his Folsom and San Quentin photographs. This body of work showcases some of the most arresting photographs of the country music star ever taken.

With its roots in Detroit and Chicago in the early 1980s, electronic dance music was popularized across Europe through underground rave parties and clubs. Its impact on contemporary culture is still unfolding today. Containing interviews with early pioneers such as techno legend Jeff Mills, The Designers Republic’s Ian Anderson, and those pushing the political dimension of electronic music, such as ballroom dancer and DJ Kiddy Smile, Electronic bears witness to the shifting nature of the genre.

Illustrated with over 300 images, some published here for the first time, Electronic features Jean-Michel Jarre’s virtual studio; work by pioneer Daphne Oram of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop; audiovisual performances by musicians like Bicep and the Chemical Brothers; fashion collections by Raf Simons and Charles Jeffrey of Loverboy; iconic photography by Jacob Khrist and Tina Paul; artwork by Christian Marclay; club graphics from Peter Saville and Mark Farrow; tons of album cover designs; and iconic venues such as the Haçienda, Gatecrasher, Fabric, Berghain and the Warehouse Project.

The first ever book about Cuban record sleeve design, compiled by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker, Cuba: Music and Revolution features hundreds of rarely seen vinyl records from the start of the Cuban Revolution at the beginning of the 1960s up until 1985, when Cuba’s Special Period, brought about by the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the withdrawal of Russia’s financial support for the Cuban government, led to the demise of vinyl-record manufacturing in Cuba. The artwork here reflects both the cultural and musical depth of Cuba as well as the political influence of revolutionary communism.

Over the past century, Cuban music has produced a seemingly endless variety of styles—rumba, mambo, son, salsa—at a dizzyingly fast rate. Since the 1940s a steady stream of Cuban musicians has also made the migration to the US, sparking changes in North American musical forms: bandleader Machito set New York’s jazz and Latin scene on fire, and master drummer Chano Pozo’s entry into Dizzy Gillespie's group led to the birth of Latin jazz, to name just two.

After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the new government closed American-owned nightclubs and consolidated the island’s recording industry under a state-run monopoly. Out of this new socialist agenda came new musical styles, including the Nueva Trova movement of left-wing songwriters. The 1980s saw more experimentation in modernist jazz, salsa and Afro-Cuban folkloric music.

Generously illustrated with hundreds of color images, Cuba: Music and Revolution presents the history of Cuban record cover art, including many examples previously unseen outside the island itself.

The iconic black-and-white photographs of Hamburg-born photographer Frank Habicht (born 1938) reflect the spirit of the Swinging Sixties in London. In the 1960s, the conservative postwar years in England gave way to a period of upheaval, with a younger generation dreaming of an unconstrained life, one full of free love, peace and harmony. On the streets of the British capital, Habicht began photographing the profound social and political changes that were underway.

Habicht, who has lived in New Zealand since 1981, has produced photographs for many international magazines and newspapers, such as the Guardian, Die Welt, Camera Magazine and Twen. His photographs were recently exhibited at the Barbican in London, and he has made portraits of music and film greats such as Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, Jane Birkin, Christopher Lee and Vanessa Redgrave.

Frank Habicht: As It Was collects Habicht’s photos from the 1960s in an opulent book. A unique collection of images of the swinging, groovy, hippie and psychedelic ‘60s in London, it offers an eye-opening contribution to the history of a country that is currently undergoing yet more social transformation.