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Mid-Century Modern Jazz Illustrations

By Tony Guerrero
August 8, 2021
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Drawing was a part of my world long before music (I wanted to be a cartoonist as a young kid) but I've only recently rediscovered it as something I genuinely love. It has become a fulfilling creative outlet and a way for me to combine my musical sensibilities with my love of Mid-Century Modern design and illustration.

A note about one of the images: Around 1990-91, I had a few single-panel cartoons published in Contemporary Jazz Review, a popular music magazine at the time. One of them (included here) is a single panel cartoon which shows

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane at a Jack-In-The-Box. At the time, the fast-food chain offered a Chicken Supreme sandwich, hence the gag (it's no longer offered, so now this cartoon needs explanation, and double that if the person isn't familiar with Coltrane's music already!). The cartoon found a second life when it went viral in the 2010's and was shared by musicians all over the world. It even got sent to me several times as if I'd never seen it (I used the pseudonym "MAG"—my legal name initials—so it wasn't associated with me at first.)

View Slideshow

Coltrane Cartoon

TeeGee BANJO

TeeGee SAX

The Cats - Trombone

TeeGee TRUMPET

The Cats - Bass

The Cats - Sax

TeeGee SINGER

The Cats - Singer

The Cats - Trumpet

The Cats - Piano

The Cats - Drums

TeeGee PIANO

Spotlight Trumpet

The Cats - Guitar

Charlie Parker

TeeGee BASS

TeeGee GUITAR

TeeGee TROMBONE

TeeGee FLUTE

TeeGee DRUM

TeeGee CONGA

TeeGee Band

Duke Ellington

Spotlight Male Singer

Spotlight Bass

John Coltrane

Spotlight Sax

Chet Baker

Beatnik

Ella Fitzgerald

Art Farmer

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