blue note

So I went on a rampage this weekend. Buying CDs. I tend to do this every once and a while. Just blow out the bank. I picked up 16 CDs. All jazz, all Blue Note. Everything was $10 and they were about to stop pressing the albums. At least until the next time :).

I just love Blue Note. There just hasn't been a more consistent label. Almost every single album I've ever bought has been good to great. I bought all these without having heard any of them. And so for we are 5 for 5.

But the other thing I love about Blue Note are the album covers. They along with 4AD are one of the few labels that puts out gorgeous album covers. And most of that was due to Miles Reid - the man who designed the covers during the 50's and 60's.

Miles was a graphic designer working in New York. I've heard 2 stories. One that he loved the music so much that he approached the owner Wolff and ended up working for the company. I've also heard he hated jazz but was asked by Wolff to make his covers. It would seem hard for someone to put so much passion into his work without liking what was in it. He worked closely with a photographer, Francis Wolff. I have seen very few covers that I did not stare at. In fact DJ Smash, who inherited a large Blue Note collection from his father, has said he pulls them out more often to look at them rather than play them. It's a shame that CDs are what they are now - smaller canvases to view his work.