Jazz Gothic is a digitization and expansion of an early 1970s film type from Franklin Photolettering called Pinto Flare.

This type became an instant titling classic with jazz and soul album designers; then it caught on wildly with film and television designers. Blue Note and Motown would not have been the same without this face.

Jazz Gothic is a simple geometric idea, quite likely originally inspired by the heavier display weights of Futura. The resulting product is a versatile message-driver that stands quite strong and cherishes the limelight, yet shows a playful and artistic side within its curvy thick swashes and rebellious unicase forms.

In the hands of a good designer, Jazz Gothic eliminates any doubt about the delivery of the message or the attractive purposeful way it is delivered. It is the kind of typeface that loves a design program’s bells and whistles.

Knock it out of dark or light backgrounds, shade it, mask-alize it, roughen it, stretch it, squeeze it, and the message will still stand larger than life. Jazz Gothic comes in two fonts, a main one with a full character set to accommodate the majority of Latin-based languages, and a second one that contains about 50 alternates and swashed forms.

The OpenType version is a single font that has all the alternates and swashes at the disposal of the buttons of OT-savvy program palettes.