Album Covers and Setups?

It occurs to me that many of us use/have used album cover photos to infer what kind of equipment prominent players used at different periods.

This may not really be all that accurate. Now I would think most players showing up for a photo session would probably bring the horn they were currently playing; but I suspect it's not so reliable when it comes to mouthpieces. I was thinking about this when I saw today a Coltrane album cover where he's playing a Selmer scroll type hard rubber piece.

Now we all know Trane was a big experimenter with mouthpieces. It seems like a totally plausible scenario would be that he gets a phone call, "the photographer will meet you at such and such a place, at such and such a time; bring your horn." He's been practicing with the scroll shank piece for a week or two, it's in the case, so he grabs the case and off he goes. When he gets to the photo shoot they say "OK, put the horn together and let's get some playing shots" so the photographs show that mouthpiece.

There's nothing to say that he actually used that MP when recording the album in question. Heck, he might have tossed it into the drawer the next day and never taken it out again.

I'm going to suggest that unless you see gig photos or photos taken at the actual recording session, it's by no means certain that the mouthpiece you see on someone's horn on the album cover was used on the album.

Now obviously there'll be exceptions, those players who are known for playing the exact same thing for years on end.

Thoughts?