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great.
Truly, the basement collection is the record of a “century of sound.”
In here, between the corridors of brown-paper sleeves of sound, Dick Pierson comes alive. His hands fly up and down the rows of discs, quickly verifying his knowledge of the music and the organization of his collection.
He pulls 78’s from their storage with a seemingly hasty motion, yet each is handled like one would a newborn babe, each place is saved and when the disc is removed from its playing position it gets stored neatly back in its brown-sleeved wrapper again.
Mr. Pierson plays one recording after another, showing his familiarity with the discs as he quickly locates the particular track he seeks. He knows where the disc hits the high notes, he knows at which meter the voice begins and the orchestra quiets and the name of each musician as if they were family members just living here, amid the custom-made shelves Mr. Pierson designed and produced for his collection.
Words from a century of song fall from his mouth as he compares the early 20’s with the late 40’s, or hillbilly music with country music, or musicians and styles spanning generations of American music.
He becomes his own cross-reference, knowing the number of times the song was produced, the names of the voices it
See SOUNDS, p. B-7
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