A Visit to A Record Store, Part 3
Feb 15, 2010 Jazz Memoirs
So many comments to follow up on, but first let me finish my little trilogy about my visit to Infinity Records. Given the market conditions for music the days, it’s easy to assume that the days of the brick and mortar record store are numbered. In the mainstream music market, CDs are collapsing as the medium shifts to an online digital model. In the collectibles market, eBay has become the dominant sales medium. But, for now at least, it seems there is still room for a few places where people can physically walk into a store and purchase music. I happened to be in lower Manhattan a few weeks ago with time to kill and I popped in to J&R Music. It was jam-packed with people. And I was amazed to see the rows and rows and rows of CDs. They even had four bins of new vinyl — lots of recent Blue Note pressings — as well as a wall full of collectible vinyl that featured autographed covers, including Billie Holiday, Dexter Gordon and others. The key was that they were comprehensive: You got the sense that if there was a jazz CD you wanted, you’d be able to find it there — as opposed to walking into a Border’s or Barnes and Noble, where the music is clearly secondary. There is also room, I think, for good record stores that understand the collectibles market. I spoke to Joe Ostermeier at Infinity — that’s Joe in the picture, standing in front of his wall of records — and he said business is still solid, no major let up as the music world has
Tags: Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Infinity Records, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Tal Farlow, Teddy Charles
A Visit to a Record Store, Part 1
Feb 13, 2010 Jazz Memoirs, Norgran
I had a yen to go to a record store the other day. I don’t go to record stores much these days. First of all, there aren’t too many record stores remaining. Secondly, I’m trying to get rid of records, not add them. But it was my birthday last week and I’ve always gotten records for my birthday — even if I had to buy them myself — and perhaps it was merely just a Pavlovian reaction from years of training: Birthday = records, records = record stores. So I took a drive out to the last remaining great record store on Long Island: Infinity Records in Massapequa Park. I’ve been going there for at least 20 or more years and there was a time I would probably take a ride out at least every other week as part of my regular route of scouring all the local stores. This time, I hadn’t been out in at least a year or so. My first stop was to check out “the wall.” The store’s owner, Joe Ostermeier, always hangs some of his best records on the wall and he always has some good jazz. Sure enough, there were three or four items of interest. Among the records I wanted to check out was one of my all-time favorites: The Tal Farlow Album, Norgran 1047. I happened to remember that my copy of this record, the
Tags: Infinity Records, Tal Farlow
Today on Ebay, January 28, 2009
Jan 28, 2009 Blue Note, Jazz Vinyl, Jazz Vinyl on eBay
Quite a lot to view today on a snowy day in New York. Here are some of the nicer and more interesting items we are watching at Jazz Collector: This is one of our favorite records from one of our favorite sellers: Art Taylor, AT’s Delight, Blue Note 4047. This is an original West 63rd Street pressing being offered by Euclid Records. The vinyl is in M- condition and the cover is VG++. The current price is about $230. Also from Euclid Records is a beautiful copy of John Coltrane, Blue Train, Blue Note 1577. This one is currently priced at $365.
This is one of interest to us: Johnny Glasel, Jazz Session, ABC Paramount 165. This is also from one of our favorite sellers, Analogman on Long Island, aka Infinity Records. About 25 years ago we purchased a collection and this record was in there primarily, we think, because of the presence of Dick Garcia on guitar. So it’s one of these records that’s been sitting on the shelf for 25 years and we’ve never played it. We’ve also rarely seen it on eBay, so we’re interested to see what it will sell for. We’ll try to listen to it later today and give you a report.
Tags: ABC Paramount, Art Taylor, Dick Garcia, Euclid Records, Infinity Records, John Coltrane, Johnny Glasel
