The co-founder of the Jigsaw Seen 25 years ago (alongside ace guitarist Jonathan Lea), former all-Maryland high-school soccer player Dennis Davison gets his exercise these days as a professional dog-walker. Strolling L.A.’s concrete canyons gives him ample time to do what he does best: write distinctively original lyrics and melodies that give off the mere whiff of former heroes such as the Bee Gees, Who and Love. Unlike previous albums, Old Man Reverb, Jigsaw’s fourth set of originals in the past four years, has a unified sound running throughout. Davison and Lea will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on the Jigsaw Seen.
Lea: Saul Bass is easily my favorite graphic designer. Though his most well-known work might be his corporate logo designs for AT&T, United Airlines, Quaker Oats and many others (my favorite being Warner Communications from 1971), what attracted me were his highly effective, minimalistic, yet stylized movie poster designs such as Man With The Golden Arm, Vertigo and Anatomy Of A Murder. (In the early ’90s I parodied the Anatomy poster with a sleeve I designed for the Jigsaw Seen’s single “Murder At The Luau,” which, unfortunately, was never released.)
Mr. Bass passed away April 25, 1996, at the age of 75. A few years later his house in Altadena (Case Study House #20) went on the market. I immediately made arrangements with the agent to view the house, which was absolutely incredible. It was a great feeling to stand by the pool and appreciate the “open” quality of that house.
For the complete “anatomy of a designer,” I highly recommend the book Saul Bass, A Life In Film & Design by Jennifer Bass and Pat Kirkham.
Video after te jump.
