"Soul Voyage"

Michel Mainil - Vincent Romain Quintet

Igloo Records

CD cover for a soul jazz album, released on the Belgian label Igloo Records.

The idea was to put the accent on the freshness of the jazz subgenre called "soul jazz", which knew its glory days in the 60's and 70's. This music to me has always been summery and full of nice grooves and vibes.

During this era, the use of photos and portraits became a lot more frequent on album covers. A few labels, like Blue Note for example, even called mannequin agencies. Also in the 1960's, the Afro-American people began to proudly show their origin, among many examples the famous "Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud" by James Brown. Magnificent colorful portraits of women then started to illustrate jazz album covers.

With this in mind I opted for a Black woman on the cover of "Soul Voyage", in reference to this era, wearing a slightly retro swimsuit. The travel theme is represented by the boat and the infinite horizon, all those horizontal elements giving a peaceful feel to the cover.

I had the chance to work on this project released on the prestigious Belgian jazz label Igloo Records (Philip Catherine, Jacques Pelzer, Steve Houben, Charles Loos, Maurane, Mélanie De Biasio, Antoine Pierre, etc.). In order to keep a graphic line related to the label, the illustration was cut like a stencil and highlight by the white background, fresh as possible.