Category: Features

Who’s Alive?

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Roy Haynes

Living in New York City and being a somewhat infamous collector of jazz records, people often ask me if I still see a lot of live jazz. My standard reply is “no because anybody I would really want to see is dead.” I realize this is a flippant response and not 100% true because I do occasionally see live jazz, but it still sometimes gets a chuckle and in my business you never cut funny. In any case, I was thinking about that this morning and my mind started racing and trying to remember who actually is alive from the era that we write about here at Jazz Collector. Read more

The Jazz Collector Inbox: A New Vinyl Store, Dex Bio, Strayhorn, Etc.

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Being an infamous jazz vinyl maven and member in good standing of the Jazz Journalists Association affords me the pleasure of having my name appear on many mailing lists for press releases, other announcements and the very occasional free record, CD or digital download (whether I want it or not).  Which is a roundabout way of saying that I am going to use this post to clean out my inbox.

Most of my inbox is filled with releases from a guy named Jim Eigo at Jazz Promo Services, a service I used a couple of years ago to try to bring greater attention to the post I wrote after the election called Chasing Trane: A Review, an Appreciation, a Spiritual Awakening. It looks as if Mr. Eigo has taken the plunge that has often been a pipedream of my own and has opened a brand new vinyl record shop called Original Vinyl Records in Warwick, NY.

This is yet another town in the Hudson Valley of New York, which, for some unknown reason seems to have become a mecca for vintage vinyl shops. According to an interview in Goldmine, Eigo chose this location for a pretty simple reason: It’s a minute from his home and the price was right. Read more

Have I Ever Mentioned That I Like Buying Jazz Records?

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Time to close the books on the latest round of stories and sprees that sprung from my first visit to Spike’s Record Rack in Castkill, NY a few weeks ago. You may recall that I purchased about 15 records, which I somehow found to be more than somewhat rejuvenating in terms of listening to music and appreciating the breadth and depth of my collection. After I got home from that first visit to Spike’s with the 15 records, I did what I typically do, which is clean the records, listen to a few and sort out which ones may be duplicates with records I already own, so as to ensure that I keep the copy in best condition for my own collection. In this case, I was surprised to see that I did not have a copy of Oscar Peterson Plays Irving Berlin on Clef. Certainly I’ve had one in the past, but I must have weeded it out based on the condition.  I gave it a quick listen and it was about what would be expected, perhaps even a bit better because the sound quality was quite good and the condition was excellent.

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Feeding the Obsession, Yet Again

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So that trip to Spike’s Record Rack in Catskill, NY, sparked a bit of inspiration for me, as far as listening to records and enjoying my collection. First of all, I realized, one again, and this is obvious to everyone who knows me, including all of you here who know me but don’t actually know me, that I really enjoy buying records. I know, it’s a big reveal, but sometimes it’s easy to forget. For years it has seemed that the era of going to record stores and actually finding collectible jazz records in nice condition was over and never coming back, having evolved to an online/eBay world. Who would have thought that there would a vinyl revival, not just in records but in stores that carry jazz vinyl and cater to vinyl enthusiasts such as us? It is a pleasant and wholly unexpected surprise that an activity that has given me so much enjoyment all of these years is now something I can do again. Now, if my knees would cooperate with basketball and my arm with stickball, I’d really be drinking from the fountain of youth. Read more

A Visit to A Record Store, Upstate NY Edition

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Sometimes you are lucky enough to  find a decent jazz vinyl score where you would least expect it. Here’s one for you. The other day I was scheduled to pick up The Lovely Mrs. JC at the Amtrak station in Hudson, NY, for a weekend in The Berkshires. I’ve already checked out the record store in Hudson more times than I can count, so not much interest there. But I happened to do a search of record stores in the region and, voila, there was a complete guide to them all, courtesy of an online publication called Chronogram. I have wanted to check out the one in Beacon, NY, called Hudson Valley Vinyl, because our friend and sometime-contributor Clifford has recommended it to me in the past. Not to mention that it is on the way when I drive up from Manhattan to The Berkshires. But, alas, timing hasn’t worked out, yet. In the meantime, I noted one of the stores was a new one, just opened in April of this year. It is called Spike’s Record Rack and it is in Catskill, NY, just 10 minutes or so from the Hudson Amtrak station. The listing in the article was quite sparse because the store was quite new when it was written, but I had some time to kill before The Lovely Mrs. JC’s train was due to arrive, so, I figured, what the hell. At the very least I would get a lovely drive over the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and the Hudson River during the peak of fall foliage up here in the mountains. Read more

A Misadventure in Jazz Collecting, Part 5

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Five hundred thousand. Dollars. Half a million. That’s what Debby told me her collection was worth. After all the research she’d done, the piles she had pulled together, the broken dining room table, the $250 Woody Hermans and Benny Goodmans, the Japanese reissues and Blue Note originals, after all of that, the grand total was $500,000. And that’s not all. She’d had several subsequent conversations with the Big Shot Record Dealer From Chicago, who shall henceforth be known here as the BSRD from Chicago. He told her that he would pay her half of the retail value for her records.

I tried not to choke. I tried to remain calm and cool as I explained to her, for at least the tenth time, how things actually work in the real world. That what she thought the retail value of her collection was worth, would not be the same as what the BSRD from Chicago would think it was worth. That dealers are in business to make money and they need margin, they need to account for their time, they need to clean the records, put them on eBay, pay the fees, deal with fickle buyers who return items for no reason at all. That any buyer would have to transport the records, ship them, rent a truck to haul them, who knows. Read more

A Misadventure in Jazz Collecting, Part 4

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Back on the phone with Debby. She’s reading titles, again. I can’t stop her. She doesn’t listen when I talk, she talks over me. So I listen. I’m hardly paying attention. But this I hear.

“Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd on Blue Note.”

“Which one?” I ask.

“Freddie Redd, Shades of Redd on Blue Note.”

“What’s the address on the label?”

“47 West 63rd. That’s an original, right?”

“Right.”

The collection just got more interesting to me. I realize there is no logic to this. As I’ve said before, I can go on eBay any time, now, this minute, and buy a copy of this record. I can listen to it on vinyl right now in either my house in the country or my studio apartment in the city. So why do I care that it is in this collection that I may or may not be interested in purchasing?

It’s the existential question for many of us, isn’t it? What is it about the pursuit that makes it better, more intriguing, more rewarding? Why do I want to find and purchase this record the hard way, rather than the easy way? Read more

A Misadventure in Jazz Collecting, Part 3

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Debby and I spoke again on the phone and it was another one of those hour-long conversations. She would tell me about the records in her $250 and $350 piles, the Woody Hermans and Charlie Barnets mixed in with the occasional original Riversides, Prestiges and Blue Notes. Then she would pick up a pile of records and start reading titles and telling me what they were worth.

I’d try to explain that the Goldmine price guide was inaccurate, but she would just move on to the next record. Normally, I tell people who really want to know the value to look at completed listings on eBay or to look at Popsike, but I was hesitant to do that with her. That’s all she would need – seeing a $7,500 price tag for Hank Mobley Blue Note 1568, she’d be starting a $7,000 pile and who knows what would end up there.

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A Misadventure in Jazz Collecting, Part 2

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If only I’d been prescient enough to record my calls with Debbie, then I’d be able to provide an accurate blow-by-blow account of the roller-coaster ride she took me on over the next six weeks, but, then again, reliving it in all of its sordid detail might have proven too much for my sanity. I had a pretty good sense of what was to come during our first phone call. I was feeling things out, not necessarily interested in buying the collection for myself, but genuinely interested in providing help and guidance. For all I knew she was a widow who desperately needed the money.

Turns out her hub, as she called him, was alive and relatively well, at least as far as I could tell, and, while I never did actually speak to him, there were several phone calls where I could hear him yelling in the background advice to the effect that I was trying to rip them off because I was telling her that the Japanese pressings of Blue Notes were not of the same value as original pressings, even though, as hub said, they were great records and should be worth a lot. But I am getting ahead of myself.

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A Misadventure in Jazz Collecting, Part 1

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I feel guilty for being away so long, so I return to regale you with a story. It will probably be in two or three parts, but I promise it will all be posted this week, no more lengthy gaps. I’m actually on vacation from my real work.

Like most of the stories here, this one starts with an email.

May 10, 2018. Email to Al. Subject: Old original jazz collection

Hello. Was wondering if you know anyone interested in buying a pretty great collection of old (pretty sure collectible) jazz records? My hub amassed a big collection over the years and many are blue notes verve prestige and other unique labels. We r in Rochester, NY. Have been looking through many and have only gone through half prob near four thousand records at least. Looked some up on the Goldmine most recent book. Thank you 🙂 Debbie.

May 11, 2018. Email from Al to Debbie: Subject: Re: Old original jazz collection

Hi, Debbie. I know of several dealers who may be interested, and I may be interested myself as a collector. Sounds like you are interested in selling the collection as a whole? Do you have a list or any pictures? Condition is very important. Have you talked to any dealers yet? I’m happy to help you. – Al

May 11, 2018. Email from Debby to Al. Subject: Re: Old original jazz collection

Hi Al, Will send a few pics off to you! Yes Tom Cohen here in Rochester (bop shop) was supposed to call waited for a while then did last nite. Don’t think he’s interested in whole collection and really want someone who would love them and pay a fair price. Records are pretty mint but a few covers have dingy from the 50’s and some sellers marked prices on the, way back when! Hope to be in touch and maybe call . . . Debbie Read more

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