Comments on: Report From the WFMU Record Fair

By: Herb

Herb — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 22:13:59 +0000

Would be happy to receive notices
about upcoming fairs, auctions, etc.

Thank you, HG

By: Zeno

Zeno — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 04:25:11 +0000

After hours of morning trunk sales, pre 4 P.M. openings, the anything worthwhile of reselling overseas is long gone. The Japanese and other buyers of any kind of brains buy tables and sell them under cost and attach themselves as “helpers” to get in early. This has been going on for years. A lot of off condition and eBay rejects are of plenty.

By: Terry Knapp

Terry Knapp — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 01:23:16 +0000

Thanks to all for the details on the show. Those of us out here in Iowa flyover land (we do have live jazz every Thursday night) appreciate the vicarious shopping. The more details the better.

By: DaveS

DaveS — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 11:34:58 +0000

Hey:

You NY guys are blessed. At the local record shows here in the Southeast, dealers won’t even bring jazz records because nobody is interested in looking at them. Of course if any one of you is looking to trade some BNs for some Allman Brothers, I am sure I can arrange a deal 😉

By: Gregory the Fish

Gregory the Fish — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 19:54:22 +0000

that’s true. we should do that. i would be interested to see what we all look like, too.

let’s not forget!

By: ceedee

ceedee — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 13:11:25 +0000

oops-“What you buy is good..”

By: ceedee

ceedee — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 13:10:21 +0000

“but I did leave feeling like I had missed out on the LPs I really wanted to have.” -Phil.
Now if that doesn’t sum up the “collector experience”,I dont know what does. Why you buy is good,but what you COULD have had-now that would have been GREAT!(lol) BTW,it looks like there were a number of NY locals that attended. It might have been fun to grab a meal afterward to compare “war stories”. Maybe next year?

By: Gregory the Fish

Gregory the Fish — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 20:20:31 +0000

phil, that’s the sense I got too.

by the time i found the euclid records table, with several of the impulses i had been looking for, i only had enough for one of them, as opposed to all 4. but i got nice records that i wanted, either way. you get a different experience going in different directions.

i wonder if anybody got the $400 copy of cecil taylor’s “jazz advance”? too rich for me. goodness.

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 18:49:16 +0000

I went Saturday for the first two and a half hours the show was open. WOW. Very intimidating only in the number of sellers there. I went in with a plan, bought something from most of the dealers I absolutely planned to check out, but I did leave feeling like I had missed out on the LPs I really wanted to have.

One gentleman was there for only Saturday and specifically mentioned jazz on his listing. I got two things from him, including a Jaki Byard New Jazz that I wish weren’t as marked up as it was, but I feel I got a fair deal.

I bought from two reputable sellers, both of which sell a lot online. The records I got from them are VERY nice but, trying not to blow all my cash on just one or two LPs, I did not leave the table with their nicest records. Instead I grabbed two things of interest to me, including a Search for the New Land with an ear, something that seems to be scarce.

I spent a LOT of time looking at one table full of Blue Notes and Prestiges that I never get to see in person. Condition was a little too beat or price was just a little too high, though. There was a stereo copy of Unity with ears for $125 that I wish I had taken a swing at, but I don’t remember if it was in truly nice shape.

Finally, I doubled the number of LPs I took home visiting a table on a whim where the seller had large batches of Prestige and other labels. He was one of those strange “price as you go” kind of guys who went mainly on condition. I picked up some unplayed but lightly marked up Savoy original pressings, a beat up but playable All Day Long on NY labels, a Mal Waldron on New Jazz that is noisy but was a steal at less than $5, and a few other things, for the price of just one of the other nicer records I had bought. I guess what I’m getting at is that if I had visited a completely different quadrant of the fair earlier on, I bet I would have walked away with completely different records, perhaps a different persepective of the craziness of the whole thing, and probably still would have left with an empty wallet.

By: pastime253

pastime253 — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:46:17 +0000

Every record fair I’ve been too has been the grip and flip mentality. I can’t knock it, because as both a collector and seller, it’s always nice to find the random grail that you can flip. that helps feed my collecting.