Building a Life/ Vinyl Collection
the trained ear vs the trained eye
Good design opens doors to sensory experiences and vinyl records are no exception. Music is an integral part of the designed experience. A feeling can only be enhanced with sound, which is why I’m focusing on music for today’s newsletter.
From all of the music I’ve been exposed to, I’ve had the most fun watching my husband collect vinyl. It’s been a joy to accompany Justin to record stores wherever we go, near or far, and also see what he’s found when a record gets delivered to the house. Because he’s the most fond of jazz, I’ve benefited from the seeing the most brilliant cover art. We’ve been talking these past few days on what covers really are the best and why, and whether or not they are as good as the music they represent.
VS: Tell me about Chick Corea’s Return to Forever. This is an album you had before we met. I personally love the cover art. It’s so calming.
JS: It’s an ECM album. More Jazz fusion. More groovy. I found it in 2013 at Kobe’s Swap Meet in San Diego. It includes Stanley Clarke, one of the greatest electric bassist to play. My song recommendation would be: Return to Forever, the title track. It starts off like movie music and takes you on a journey.
VS: The Sonny Rollins cover is very cool. Beyond the pink filter, there’s a mystery there of who Sonny is, and what’s behind the shades.
JS: I don’t collect a lot of live music generally because there’s usually not a lot available. I had a CD of his in college, and it had Sonnymoon for Two, published in 1957. A lot of people integrate lines into their songs. This is a standard song that a lot of players will learn to play. It’s medium tempo, it’s fun, it’s bluesy.
VS: Chartreuse is such a beautiful, bold color, and I love how it’s used here for the Mose Allison cover.
JS: I haven’t listened to this a lot, but I also love the cover. I found this in San Diego at Folk Art Records. Have seen it in books about Prestige covers/ online lists. It’s got a very midwest farm field look to it.
Blue Note & Beyond
VS: Most of the early collection was Blue Note. I’ve been into Mid-Century Modern Design since before me met and Blue Note was where your interest in jazz and my interest in design collided. I read Reid Miles and Francis Wolff pioneered the legendary Blue Note aesthetic in the 1950s and ‘60s. Miles approached his type design like musical improvisation.
JS: Blue Note does a really great job photographing the artist. One cover that specifically comes to mind is Art Blakey’s Search for the New Land. It’s almost like a vision of what they’re going to do in the album. There’s a premium on Blue Note albums and they are usually not available in your big city record stores. Often times we found them in unexpected places, like an antique store in Purcellville, Virginia.
VS: Would you say there’s a connection between the colors of these albums (above) and the music?
JS: Sure, there’s color contrasts. Bright colors. Monotones.
Song recommendation: Maiden Voyage. It’s like a lusciously colored and textured tone-poem, as Hutcherson compositions almost always are with obliquely related tonalities. There’s the warmth of the pink. Vibraphone can feel sparse. Herbie is soloing here. There’s a sensual feel to it.
Song recommendation: Since I fell for you. A standard. Blue Hour is very bluesy. Emotional. Down and Out. The blue is sad—Stanley Turrentine would go on to his own lane.
Song recommendation: Listen to the The Cape Verdean Blues…It’s Hard bop. ‘66. Mid-Century. Jungle feel which mimics the greenery of the cover art. It’s upbeat. The snare is turned off.
Thoughts on Collecting
VS: The trained eye might gravitate towards collecting for cover art rather than loving the music. Sometimes those two things don’t work together. What are your thoughts on this?
JS: The cover above is Luis Gasca, a trumpet player. Loved the cover art, which feels spiritual. Also had some significant accompaniment including Stanley Clarke. I wasn’t really into this album when I first bought it. I really just bought it for the art. We just listened to it the other day for the first time in years, and it’s actually better than I remembered.
VS: What’s your advice for beginning collectors?
JS: Step 1—Determine your taste.
Taste is subjective. Everyone has a different identity/ different experiences.
I grew up in Springfield, Illinois. My interest in Jazz came from choosing the trumpet as an instrument.
Step 2—Don’t just listen to music, read about music.
It’s about curiosity. Who made the music and why. It’s what separates enjoying music to seriousness about music.
Step 3—Conversations
Determine whose taste you admire in music and talk to them.
The Home Experience
VS: We had this Monk cover art hanging up in your old office during the pandemic. It was one of the highlights of all the time we spent at home, working full-time while taking care of two young children!
JS: I bought the Monk album because of Sony Rollins, who is more of a melodic player. He’s more of my style and what I like to listen to.
VS: How do you think playing vinyl at home shapes our time together as a family?
JS: It’s important to have a space in our home for intentional music.
VS: We’ve heard quotes like, “You should use the good silver everyday.” Is there something comparable to music?
JS: That’s what great about cultivating a wide range of stuff. When you have a feeling, you can access the right sound. Even with artists, I don’t necessarily want to listen to Sunlight Herbie, I want to listen to Speak Like a Child Herbie. That’s almost two different people. When I have a feeling, I can access it.
VS: What about at dinner, even when it’s just us?
JS: I gravitate towards what’s not necessarily background music, but something that doesn’t need a lot of effort to be appreciated. Ahmad Jamal, and other piano-led music so that it doesn’t feel overwhelming.
VS: This Blue Note album art is amazing, and totally different that it’s type driven. The colors are great, and the the layering of the letters makes you think you’re going to hear something with speed.
JS: An underrated trumpet player, Kenny Dorham was a hard bop trumpet player that was able to fill a void after Clifford Brown passed away. You’ll find fast passages similar to Dizzy Gillespie.
Song recommendation from the album: Mamacita as Kenny Dorham was known for his latin songs.
VS: I absolutely love some of the ECM cover art that have made their way into the collection. This Weber album has to be one of my favorites.
JS: This album came from conversations I had online with other jazz heads. Eberhard Weber is a bassist.
Song recommendation: Sand-Glass. Song includes a synthesizer. Most ECM feels ambient, but there’s urgency in this.
VS: Love that.
Like home cooking, eating dinner together at the table, and using your best dishes daily, music is a way to enrich the everyday.
x Vanessa
Hi Vanessa, I loved this post! Thanks for sharing, jazz is so fantastic agreed, music is part of the layering of a beautiful home! My husband also collects vinyl and we sip cocktails in the music room and chat sometimes at the end of the day.
Records are everything!!! Beautiful collection. Loved reading this!