La estilización del jazz: la era Reid Miles en Blue Note Records

Abstract

During the decade between 1955 and 1966, Blue Note Records hired graphic designer Reid Miles as its chief art director. The result was an aesthetic that continues to define the label’s identity. This article analyses the visual language developed in these album covers, which would go down in jazz history. Following historian Peter Burke’s method for interrogating images as sources for historiography, a series of recurring visual themes has been identified in these covers, along with their roots in historical, material, and social circumstances. The text identifies four essential contextual pillars that shape the identity of the designs: the artistic philosophy of bebop, directly linked to its origins; the characteristics of the label itself, both in philosophy and physical circumstances; the representation of black musicians themselves as opposed to racist caricatures; and the trends in the visual arts of the time that influenced Miles’ style. The analysis seeks and identifies direct visual correspondences to these elements in the visual aesthetics of Reid Miles and Blue Note Records.