Author/designer Gary Scott Beatty’s book is being honored with a Xeric award. Jazz: Cool Birth is a murder mystery in the jazz bars of 1957 and features art and typography based on 1950s album cover design. The book is now available for preorder through September’s Previews magazine under Aazurn Publishing at comic book shops. 

Beatty said, “Jazz album typography fascinated me at an early age, and album graphics are some of my earliest memories. I always loved the type, hand drawn and typeset, carefully kerned and arranged by hand. My mother still has many beautiful jazz albums and cool jazz was the soundtrack to my young life.” He continued, “What ’50s designers lacked in modern printing methods they made up for in raw skill with their tools. I’m still in awe over what they were able to accomplish by hand.” 

A few major influences on Jazz: Cool Birth are Steinweiss, Jim Flora, Lou Peters, and Tom Oreb. However, Beatty said that the majority impression of his book comes from unknown, unaccredited artists from the ’50s. 

It took a lot of hard work and studying for Beatty to get where he is today. He said, “The section of my brain I’ve developed through decades of printing project prep, surprisingly, took over. Balance and imbalance, emotion with color, storytelling with graphic symbols and type as art all sort of changed my view of what comic book art should be.” 

The Xeric Foundation Selection Committee was impressed with Beatty’s book and rewarded him during the Spring Xeric Awards. Jazz: Cool Birth can be ordered through comic book shops through September’s Previews order magazine under Aazurn publishing. 

Aazurn Publishing and more Jazz: Cool Birth information, including a blog detailing the steps behind starting the company, can be found at Aazurn.com and GaryScottBeatty.com.