For those who wonder about the beautiful cover of Onra and Buddy Sativa's last album as Yatha Butha Jazz Combo, you should know it's a detail from a painting called "Conceptual Tree" by artist Abdul Mati Klarwein, king of visionary psychedelia, who died in 2002.
Recently, Frank151 took the opportunity of this release to sit down with Klarwein's son, Balthazar, to talk about Mati's art.
The story of Klarwein is a one-of-a-kind : born in Germany when the Nazis seized power, raised Jew in Palestine, he fled to Paris when it became Israel. He then lived all around the world, meeting great artists who influenced his style and whom he influenced in exchange. It's easy, for example, to link his style to Salvador Dali.
Among his work, there are a lot of album covers, such as the mythical "Bitches Brew" by Miles Davis, and "Live-Evil" by the same Miles Davis. Other clients include Buddy Miles, Earth, Wind & Fire, Eric Dolphy, Leonard Bernstein, The Chambers Brothers, Santana, The Last Poets, Osibisa, Joe Beck, and even Malcolm X.
The bound between Mati's art and music was immortalized in a book, titled "Mati and The Music: 52 Record Covers 1955/2005", a limited edition of 500 numbered copies including a double album by the great Miles. It seems that it's still available online.
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