Nino Tempo & 5th Ave. Sax – “Sister James” / “Clair de lune” French single cover
5th Ave. Sax was a studio project by saxophonist Nino Tempo (1935–2025). Theorchestral funk track “Sister James” reached #53 on the Hot 100 on October 27, 1973. Often classified as an example of Northern Soul, it became one of the first instrumental disco records to score the national charts.
Shown here is the sleeve for a French pressing on A&M Records from 1974. The title is presented in a bichromatic setting of Arabian Variegated, a phototype adaptation of a design that originated around 1901 under the name Sezessions-Grotesk. The name of Tempo and his band are added in Bernhard Fashion (1929), used with its alternate A and the peculiar ampersand. The smaller text shown at the top left uses Linotype’s Erbar-Grotesk Bold Condensed in all caps.
