ADVENTURES IN ALBUM ART: Jews on Vinyl: "And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl"
Josh Kun and Roger Bennett’s book And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl, a survey of obscure Jewish records has been turned into an exhibition at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco (Feb. 6-June 9, 2009). According to an article in the SF gate the exhibit is “about tracking down some of the interesting alleys of Jewish music that might otherwise be forgotten or overlooked.”
The origins of this collection come from co-author Bennett’s vinyl inherentence from his mother. “Suddenly it occurred to me that there was a whole different world of Jewish music and one with a far more complicated story. I soon discovered records with African Americans playing Jewish music, Jews playing Latin music. I became fascinated with this whole world of lost Jewish vinyl whose shoulders Barbara (Streisand), Neil (Diamond) and Barry (Manilow) were standing on.” Bennett said in an interview.
Since I am Jewish (and totally psyched that this collection exists!) and this series is about sleeve and cover art, I have selected some of my favorites from the collection. There is a richness and playfulness to all of them which is hard not to love. Of note is the Gershon Kingsly sleeve, not only because of its style but also because of its title and the fact that Kingsley is an extraordinory musician and pioneer of early electronic music (Art in the Age included one of his works “Pioneers of the Stars” in our “Space is the Place” Mix a few weeks ago).
You learn more about the book and the music on the And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of Our Vinyl blog.
